The first day of 2015 means it’s the first day we can turn, look back, and reflect upon 2014 as a whole. Today, I aim to present the results of my own introspection and analysis on all the anime I watched in 2014. I will present my final thoughts on the most remarkable, memorable and outstanding anime that aired in 2014 by revealing lists for both my favorite characters of the year and the top anime of 2014. So, how exactly will I remember 2014, and which of the anime that aired is simply the best to me?

A quick note before beginning: the lists for 2014 will have 14 characters and 14 anime because it’s the least I could do to honor 2014. Additionally, these lists are just on the television anime of the year and will not include movies or OVAs. Furthermore, it includes any anime that aired in 2014 regardless of when it began or when it ends, so some of the anime and characters from previous years will be making appearances again.

Top 14 Characters of 2014:

Honorable Mentions: Naoto Shirogane (Persona 4 the Golden Animation), Dio Brando (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders), and Akane Tsunemori (Psycho-Pass 2)

All three characters appeared in this favorite character list for previous years when their original anime aired. However, the reason they failed to make the list for 2014, despite retaining most of their strong characterizations and commanding influences in their franchises, is either due to their reduced roles in anime this year (Dio) or a significantly substandard sequel or spin-off of the original anime (Naoto and Akane) that affected my perception of them this year. For example, Naoto didn’t really change as a character for Persona 4 the Golden Animation, but she never shined like when she had her character arc or when she helped solve the murder mysteries like in Persona 4 the Animation. I want to take a moment to still acknowledge their place as some of my favorite characters of all-time, as I still have high praise for each. However, given their lack of screentime or disagreeable sequel/spin-off, I feel that they don’t meet the same criteria as the candidates for Top 14 Characters of 2014.

14. Inari Fushimi (Inari, Konkon, Koi Iroha)

Inari’s selflessness and unyielding resolve to help her friends through Inari, Konkon, Koi Iroha made this special lass one of my favorites. Combine that with her frequent comical situations and her bright cheery smile, and it’d be impossible to dislike this sweetheart protagonist.

13. Aoi Miyamori (Shirobako)

Aoi Miyamori is our perspective to the modern anime industry, were we view our five heroines maturing as young professionals while also learning the inherent hardships with anime. What makes Aoi such a remarkable character is how well she relates to everyone around her and how easy it is for us to relate to her. Due to her characterization, it is easy for us to understand her trials and triumphs as well as her passion for anime. Aoi is also extremely expressive, thanks to the wild array of reactions and expressions she has. She is a fun, optimistic character and an outstanding lead for Shirobako.

12. Saber (Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works)

What makes Saber so notable is the contrast between her serious and sensitive sides. In battle, her gallant and altruistic personality is incredible as she does whatever she can to protect her master, Shirou. But outside of battle, Saber is a thoughtful, compassionate girl who works to make her allies better people. However, in making everyone better around her, she makes herself the best character in FSN: UBW.

11. Aki Mikage (Silver Spoon S2)

Aki is a gentle and amiable farm girl who always wears a smile on her face. Aki might be a little dimwitted, but she is continues to diligently work on improving herself, her farm and those around her. Aki manages to make everything around her better, and her character improved in this second season by revealing some complexity to her character and her situation with the family farm.

10. Tokaku Azuma (Akuma no Riddle)

What I find impressive about Tokaku’s character is how she evolved throughout Akuma no Riddle. Her story is one of how ignored her duty as an assassin and fought to protect Haru’s life, becoming the exact opposite of what she was. We watched Tokaku develop from an emotionless, cold-blooded assassin to a thoughtful, benevolent person. And though she never really expressed her emotions, she you could tell she was happy with her new life. Moreover, this process was due to her choice, under her own willpower, and she labored to make herself a better person which is why I think so highly of her character.

9. Aoi Yukimura (Yama no Susume Second Season)

Aoi Yukimura was always timid, fearful, and nervous when trying new things, and throughout Yama no Susume, she retained these characteristics. Still, that did not prevent Aoi from attempting something new, and we saw her grow through each challenge. Her character development was rich throughout, and we always were around to witness her anxiety and share in her achievements. She even became more knowledgeable and outgoing and ambitious, and even made a friend in Honoka before the season ended. Aoi’s development as a character climbed to new heights in this second season, yet she still felt like the same character in the beginning given her chemistry with Hinata.

8. Hiyori Iki (Noragami)

Hiyori continues along with this theme of generous and kindhearted characters, as her role was memorable in Noragami for working hard to support both Yato and Yukine rather than solving her own problem of leaving her body for long periods of time. What puts Hiyori high on my list is her comedy and curiosity, how she was frequently in a humorous situation and how she explored the world of the gods and tried to improve it despite being merely a human. Also, that cat tail that linked her soul to her body was both innovative and very cute.

7. Najenda (Akame ga Kill!)

Strong and resilient, Najenda was a lone beacon of that stood for justice and integrity in a world drunk on brutality, sadism, corruption. She deviated from the norm, from her comfortable home in the Empire, and reinvented herself, making her life a mission to return peace and safety to humanity. Najenda is also intelligent, smooth and actually quite friendly, and works to act as a mentor for the young assassins she trains. In an anime thronging with characters you’re supposed to disagree with or dislike, Najenda was there for you to admire, respect and agree with. Because of how well she contrasts everyone else in Akame ga Kill!, I adore her as a character that much more.

6. Yaya Sasame (Hanayamata)

For me to enjoy a tsundere, there needs to be a balance between the two halves and more than just that one-dimension to their character. Thankfully, Yaya embodies these qualities and much, much more in Hanayamata. Despite her calm and cool personality, Yaya struggled with jealousy and dishonesty, was unsure how to express herself, took it out on her best friend and nearly lost her for it. As her story arc resolved, Yaya displayed outstanding character development and evolved into a compassionate friend that reflected how Naru treated her. Moreover, she continued to keep that happy and suave personality and continues to work hard to support Naru and the Yosakoi Dance Club.

5. Naru Sekiya (Hanayamata)

Remember that tidbit of Yaya almost losing her best friend? That’d be Naru. Like Yaya, Naru faced her own challenges in Hanayamata, which was that she lacked self-confidence, was always nervous, and easily frustrated. Yet, she was the friendliest, gentlest girl and loved everyone around her. Naru would always strive to make everyone around her better, even if she was afraid or didn’t know what to do. Throughout the series, she supported every character through their difficulties and she matured as a result. Naru’s story in Hanayamata is easily one of the best of the year.

4. Mako Mankanshoku (KILL la KILL)

Although Mako’s role in KILL la KILL was primarily comic relief, Mako was the only one to support Ryuuko throughout the series. From start to finish, Mako was almost always there for Ryuuko to fall back on. Her blissful, optimistic personality was always the right ingredient to push Ryuuko in the right direction, and her encouragement was integral to the success of the anime. Additionally, Mako had some significant roles later in the anime, which is a reflection of her admiration for Ryuuko. This is what a supporting character should be like in an anime, both in terms of their role as backing, as friends and as comic relief.

3. Joseph Joestar (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders)

They took the best JoJo and made him even better in Part III. Even though Joseph Joestar was spectacular as the protagonist in Battle Tendency, his supporting role in Stardust Crusaders made him even more enjoyable. Joseph still retains some of his childish charm from the first anime, but he now is the rock for Jotaro and the others. Joseph is now wiser, more sensible and even more cunning than he was before. Additionally, his humor has evolved greatly, especially with his trademark exclamations in English. Joseph was always a beloved character, but now he is so much more. I am eager to see what happens to him in Egypt, especially since it will do more to his character in relation to his role in the story.

2. Ginko (Mushishi Zoku Shou)

Ginko is a phenomenal person with such meticulous detail in his character. Everything from his clothes to his tobacco to his hair and one green eye and his life have all been described and detailed somewhere in this series. Additionally, he represented more than just himself, symbolizing the transition of an evolving Japan. Additionally, his philanthropic personality as a mushishi allows him to positively affect the lives of society, diagnosing a person’s ailment and providing them the means to fix their problems. Ginko is truly inspiration as a character and a significant reason why Mushishi is one of the most beloved and celebrated anime of all-time.

1. Ryuuko Matoi (KILL la KILL)

Ryuuko continued to develop as one of my favorite characters of all-time in the latter half of KILL la KILL. With the second half of the anime, we understood more about her character, and how she continued to be lost and contradict herself, even becoming the enemy she was attempting to defeat. However, as she fought through her battles and was supported by those around her, Ryuuko finally found harmony in herself. Ryuuko ultimately became the person she always wanted to become, and we saw her display this new, positive persona in the KILL la KILL OVA. Combine that with everything else I wrote about her yesteryear, and it’s actually quite straightforward as to why Ryuuko is one of my favorite characters of all-time.

Favorite OP and ED of 2014:

OP: Yama no Susume Second Season OP1 (Natsuiro no Present [Summer-Colored Present])

Of all the anime openings this year, Yama no Susume Second Season OP1 has the best combination of song and visuals. While there is more than handful for my favorite OP song of the year, none even compare to the sensational colors, animation and themes present in this OP. The OP does an outstanding job of representing this remarkable anime, and its catchy, upbeat song does well to mirror the enthusiasm of the girls as they set off on their outdoor adventures.

ED: Witch Craft Works ED (Witch Activity)

Were you expecting anything else? After writing about the Witch Craft Works ED for my 12 Days of Anime post, is there any surprise to see it here? While it is true that I never watched any of the TV anime, the ED is so endearing and cute that I can’t help but listen to it over and over again. There were a few other EDs to consider here, but not brought the same level of enjoyment as this one.

Top 14 Anime of 2014:

Honorable Mention: Silver Spoon S2

Silver Spoon S2 is exactly 15th on my list (the only anime that I ranked a 9 to miss this list), so it’s very fitting to see it here as the honorable mention for 2014. The primary reason why I wanted to include it here over some notable movie or OVA is that I found this second season to be a significant improvement from the first, principally in how Hachiken’s character matured, how the events of the episodes was more challenging, and how the content of the stories affected the characters. The leap from S1 to S2 is one of the greatest in all anime for me.

14. Noragami

A pleasant blend of rich comedy and charming characters made Noragami a delightful anime for 2014. What made this anime memorable, and one of the most impressive shows of the year, is the dazzling chemistry between the main characters, Hiyori, Yato and Yukine, and how all three brought a different personality and perspective to both amusing and severe situations. The drama and story had some weaknesses, and the romance was nothing special, but they did little to really detract from the overall enjoyment of the series.

13. Aldnoah.Zero

Aldnoah.Zero had its faults, sure, but the anime developed and continued a distinctive theme throughout, both for its story and characters. It also impressed with its depiction of real robots fighting against super robots, making it one of the few anime to combine the two. These exceptionally different fields within the mecha genre provided a great contrast between the two armies, and it helped show the resourcefulness of Inaho. However, given that Inaho never changed, that most of the cast was underutilized, and that the action scenes were mediocre, Aldnoah.Zero places low on this list despite some of the best ideas and concepts of the year.

12. Space Dandy

Every episode was a unique adventure, leading the anime to fluctuate wildly between highs and lows. However, the finale did a marvelous job of unifying each individual story and provided an acceptable answer to why every thing was everything in Space Dandy. Furthermore, the artistic creativity and exceptional storytelling for most episodes made this anime one of the most unforgettable of 2014. I wouldn’t mind more projects like or Sengoku Collection this in the near future.

11. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders

Although Stardust Crusaders is a step down from Phantom Blood and Battle Tendency, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure continues to impress in all major phases: art, characters, entertainment, setting, story, and sound. Of particular note is how the series managed to stay diverse in how it utilized each Stand despite repeating the same story pattern for a majority of its run across two seasons. The anime depended heavily on each Stand and each story, but the anime was consistently great with only a few episodes dropping to merely ‘good’. Still, I expected more after the success of S1, and I’m curious to see how this anime improves with the Egypt Arc beginning in January 2015.

10. Inari, Konkon, Koi Iroha

Easily one of the biggest surprises of the year, Inari, Konkon, Koi Iroha was notable thanks to its lead character, Inari Fushimi, and some of the best comedy of the year. Inari’s unyielding dedication to helping her friends and strangers was a bright spot in each episode, especially as she continued to mess things up and make situations even more awkward given her ability to transform into other people. Still, you couldn’t help but cheer for Inari and how much she cared for everyone around her. The setting was enchanting, the stories were thorough, and the characters beautifully detailed and developed, but I think the humor and amusement are what I’ll remember first when thinking back to Inari, Konkon, Koi Iroha.

9. Shirobako

Shirobako is a brilliant anime that embraces realism in its story, characters and setting. And while the anime follows the lives of five friends trying to survive in the difficult animation industry, their struggles and challenges are very relatable to anyone who is beginning a new career. Shirobako allows the audience to laugh, cry, empathize and understand its characters, which is truly a marvel for both its content and characterization. Shirobako is also an outstanding ambassador for the animation industry and provides educational context within its stories. Fortunately for us, this is not the end of Shirobako as the anime will continue into 2015. Still, the 12 episodes we received in 2014 are easily one of the best of the year, and there is a good chance that it will be one of the best in 2015, too.

8. Yama no Susume Second Season

Yama no Susume Second Season turned a pleasant short about mountaineering into a charming, encouraging and satisfying anime about attempting new things, friendship, and growing-up. To me, most of the appeal of Yama no Susume was watching Aoi face her fears, try something new, experience a setback and actually work to overcome her challenges. However, what raised the series to prominence is how the anime handled the climb up Mt. Fuji and the episodes after the descent. The anime always had a high level of entertainment and education, and each story was crafted for the audience to have fun, learn something new, and watch these four girls grow up and grow closer together. With the anime introducing Honoka at the end and with Mt. Fuji still unresolved, I am hoping for another season sometime soon. Yama no Susume is a beautiful and gratifying anime, and I am can’t wait for it to continue.

7. Hanayamata

Hanayamata was spectacular in every category, but its charm, chemistry, and its utilization of its characters made it one of the best anime of 2014. Hanayamata has a fantastically special and exceptional identity thanks to its uplifting characters, heartwarming aesthetics, and Naru continuously striving to improve herself and inspire others around her. The chemistry between the characters was perfect, as each would support another through their hardships, and there was balance with their different personalities. However, my favorite part is that all six characters had their own convincing and distinctive stories intertwine with each other, and each of their conflicts were appropriately resolved throughout the series. And all this without once mentioning its matchless setting on yosakoi dance, its elegant dancing animations, its meticulous dedication to details and motifs, and its delightful comedy with chibi characterizations. Don’t get me wrong, Hanayamata is an anime about cute girls doing cute things, but you’d hardly notice given that the anime is so rich, so powerful, so expressive, and so remarkable.

6. Toaru Hikuushi e no Koiuta (Pilot’s Love Song)

The setting is the foundation for every anime, and Toaru Hikuushi e no Koiuta had perhaps the most striking, picturesque, imaginative and comprehensive setting of the year. However, what elevates Pilot’s Love Song to the pinnacle of settings is that it is enriched by its connected with other works, including one of my favorite anime movies of all-time, Toaru Hikuushi e no Tsukioku (The Princess and the Pilot), and two other novels on other pilots in this world. And built from this setting is a very solid anime, about a story of friendship, discovery, betrayal, and romance with a pleasant cast of students going into war. The anime did have a number of setbacks, including some dreadful art/animation, awkward pacing and storytelling clichés, but the anime was innovative with its content and featured countless elements that I adore in an anime. I am very fortunate to have watched this anime in 2014, and I strongly recommend both this and The Princess and the Pilot to any and every fan of anime.

5. Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works

Since I am new to Fate/stay night, I am unspoiled to its characters, the mechanics of this world, its setting and its story. For someone naïve to the franchise, I have been constantly intrigued and engaged with the story which is why FSN: UBW ranks so highly. However, the art is breath-taking and unparalleled this year, especially with its serene backgrounds and elaborate prop design (the best prop design I have ever seen in an anime). The battle animation is unsurpassed too, with each battle feeling overwhelming in terms of significance. The fights are so beautifully choreographed and precise that even the fights alone, with no context to the story or characters, would be among the top anime of the year. It’s also worth mentioning how interesting the Holy Grail War is to me with each master and servant. The only aspect keeping this anime from being higher is that there are lulls in the series when the dialogues and conversations seemingly last forever. Still, without a doubt, FSN: UBW is one of my favorite anime of 2014, and I’m excited to see it continue in 2015.

4. Ping Pong the Animation

Ping Pong the Animation is an incredibly cerebral and visionary anime that marries artistic symbolism with a methodical story. Everything in Ping Pong is clear and calculated, and the characters and story slowly evolve naturally around the five primary characters. The maturity of the characters is truly inspiration. Ping Pong also featured some of the most remarkable animation this season with the matches having unequaled cinematography, utilizing the camera like no other anime this year. The anime was often both exhilarating and mentally-stimulating, making it delightful for people who enjoy artsy anime and those who enjoy entertaining anime. No question, Ping Pong is simply one of the best anime that aired in 2014.

3. Nagi no Asukara

I frequently claim that romance is my least favorite genre in anime, but that’s more a critique about the quality of romance in anime than how I truly feel about the genre. Nagi no Asukara embodies all the correct qualities in a romance anime, which are conflict, emotion, comedy, and an overarching story beyond the romance that its grounded in or related to the romance. In a sense, Nagi no Asukara is one of the few perfect romances for me. The anime successfully narrated a story for each of the 7 primary characters, with each having an influence on each other and having a significant impact on the overall story. The setting, an amalgamation of two passionate, yet conflicting societies, a graceful and violent mythology, and a timeskip that completely altered the dynamic of the story and characters, is absolutely one of the best this year. Oh yes, and the scenic backgrounds throughout were truly a delight for my eyes. Nagi no Asukara is an incredible anime that helped reawaken my attention for romance anime.

2. Mushishi Zoku Shou

Mushishi Zoku Shou is a model of consistency, in that every episode demonstrates an astounding quality in its narrative, storytelling and themes. Mushishi Zoku Shou is masterful with its stories, not only being very eloquent with its characters, but relating their own personal struggles with the supernatural mushi of the week. Every episode is poetic and expressive, and every story is enjoyable to watch as it unfolds. Ginko’s kindheartedness and knowledge are particularly fascinating, since he provides each patient with the method to cure their ailment without doing everything himself (although sometimes, he pretty much does all the hard work). There’s also that level of mysticism and fantasy that makes every episode enchanting, and the setting is a personal favorite with its structureless world and scenic landscapes. What helped bump this sequel above the original for me is that I felt the content of the stories were improved, and the art took a step in the right direction. Thanks to Mushishi Zoku Shou, this franchise has quickly become a favorite of mine and is now one of my top anime of all-time.

1. KILL la KILL

Is there any surprise to see KILL la KILL as the top anime of 2014? KILL la KILL is everything I love about anime. With its unrelenting passion and unquenchable vitality, KILL la KILL was brimming with emotion in every episode, and it was illustrated through its glorious animation. The action was beyond ideal, with so many fights performed with so much energy. Its personality is highly explicit and unique to anime, and every episode exemplified its uncommon style, in terms of its characters, its visuals, its story and comedy. Yes, there are faults with this anime, like with every anime, but it excelled more than anything else in recent memory to me thanks to these points. The experience of watching KILL la KILL is unbelievable and one that I will truly cherish. Yes, without a doubt, KILL la KILL is the top anime of 2014 for me and safely within my top anime of all-time.

This post reviews: Yuri Kuma Arashi, Kantai Collection (KanColle), Junketsu no Maria (Maria the Virgin Witch), and Koufuku Graffiti.

Since this season is light in terms of new anime, and there aren’t too many shows I am planning on watching this season, there will only be 2 installments of my first impressions posts. Since the anime in these posts are always grouped by the dates they are released, I think all that will be needed are two for Winter 2015.

Watching:

Yuri Kuma Arashi

The highlights of Yuri Kuma Arashi are its storytelling and its visual presentation. The execution in this first episode was brilliant, and helped lay the foundation for what should be an intriguing story about love between two conflicting and divided sides. In terms of the characterization, there isn’t much to say beyond identifying each girl’s primary personality, but it’s how they’ll change that will intrigue me. The content of the first episode did little to inspire me, but the storytelling was remarkable in how it constructed this delicate situation. But perhaps the most imposing fact about this first episode is its visuals. It won’t have the best art or animation this season, but its cinematography was superb in how it diversified its shots and scenes. A great example of this is how it positioned its characters with Ginko and Lulu were walking down the spiral staircase. In all, about what I expected given the pedigree of the production staff, though I will admit that I am not as enthused on this anime as I originally thought.

Kantai Collection (KanColle)

I might have a think for military-themed, all-girls anime like Strike Witches, Girls und Panzer, and now Kantai Collection. What immediately stood out to me with this first episode was the duration and quality of these naval battles. It helped that the 3D animation was both gorgeous and smooth, but it was the length and complexity of the battle (18 ships were shown, not to mention countless Zeros) is what I’ll remember the most from this first episode. Unfortunately, I don’t know how often the anime will be able to present naval warfare like this, but at least it was a demonstration of its skills, and it provides me with some hope for a grand finale. With regards to its cast, I’m conflicted. In a sense, I’m happy to see a diverse cast of characters, but the breadth combined with the short course of the anime means each girl will be shallow or one-dimensional except the handful of primary characters like Fubuki, Yuudachi, and some of the aircraft characters. I wish I could see each character developed, but they’d need to make KanColle about 100 episodes for that to happen. Hopefully the anime focuses on some of the more interesting characters. The content of the first episode was a bit of a cliché, but that weakness was fortified by its distinctive setting. Sure, outside the naval themes and alien invaders, it’s pretty much a school setting, slice-of-life anime, but that is never a negative if those aspects are performed well. And, well… the school aspects in this first episode were satisfactory. It wasn’t anything exceptional, but it wasn’t anything terrible either. I’m looking forward to seeing how this anime develops, though I expect the content in the next few episodes to be primarily on school and mock battles against other girls. I am kinda curious if the anime will ever have a beach episode…

Junketsu no Maria (Maria the Virgin Witch)

From the creator of Moyashimon, comes Junketsu no Maria, an anime about a witch who hates warfare in medieval France. But perhaps more significant than the story are the underlying themes of the anime, perhaps most notably are the two main characters, Joseph and a virgin named Maria… huh. Not only that, but there is also some conflict between the church and Maria, as well as the church’s role in the war, and there are some underpinnings to this anime that are laying a solid foundation for a fascinating story. Outside of that, the setting is spectacular in how it mixes its fantasy and realism. The soldiers of Gaul were a ragtag bunch of peasants, which is counter to most fantasy anime, where every soldier has full plate armor, a longsword, and at least 3-months training at the local military academy. There’s also the realism in the peasant village and how the battle progressed (although the number of arrows was exaggerated). Then there are the fantasy elements with Maria and Artemis, performing their magic and transformations and whatnot with ease which provides a pleasant contrast to everything else. I don’t have much to say on the characters at this point other than that Maria and Artemis feel a bit more cartoony than everyone else, even the little peasant girl, Anne. The art and animation are easily some of the strongest this season, given its attractive character designs and fluid battle animations. It is worth noting the anime is a bit ecchi with having Maria naked a few times and Artemis’ outfit, but it’s blended in fairly naturally and not in-your-face or distracting. Overall, one of the most impressive first episodes this season and on its way to being perhaps one of the top anime of the season.

Undecided:

Nothing here, which means…

Dropped:

Koufuku Graffiti

Although the individual elements of Koufuku Graffiti were fine, the whole product as an anime failed to hook me. What interested me the most was that cooking was a focal point of the anime, yet it felt underserved compared to the characters and their stories. In fact, besides the opening scene with Ryou cooking and describing her directions, the cooking felt like an afterthought, and the theme transitioned to general “food” and “eating” themes rather than “cooking”. To me, “food” wasn’t a problem, but the orgasmic eating scenes were ridiculous and served well to fragment the scenes between slice-of-life and erotic fanservice. It didn’t help that the characters felt shallow with their problems (one wants someone to eat their food, the other wants to go to art school), but their behaviors were fine given the topic of this anime. The art and animation were enjoyable, and helped create a pleasant personality for this anime. But what keeps this anime from inspiring me to watch more episodes is that I really don’t care about the characters, their issues, and how the theme of food, cooking and eating is presented. I will say that this first episode wasn’t terrible – in fact, it was mildly enjoyable – but there isn’t enough in this anime to keep me going. So, given this judgment, I’m dropping Koufuku Graffiti.

This post reviews: Death Parade, The iDOLM@STER: Cinderella Girls, Assassination Classroom, The Rolling Girls, Soukyuu no Fafner – Dead Aggressor: Exodus, and Yoru no Yatterman.

Most of the anime I’m watching this season are sequels which explains why these First Impressions posts are so light and infrequent this season. However, this season appears to be about as busy as any other, in terms of total anime, considering the number of sequels I’ll be watching in addition to all the new anime. If you were curious, here are some quick thoughts on the sequels that I’ve elected to continue during Winter 2015:

Aldnoah.Zero (S2): Completely ignoring the finale of S1 will mean a quick decline in S2. So disappointing.

Dog Days” (S3): A vast improvement over S2, likely to the reappearance of an actual story.

Durarara!! X2: A reintroduction to our memorable cast with new elements merged nicely throughout.

Gundam Reconguista in G: The most consistent thing about this anime is that I don’t understand anything.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Stardust Crusaders (S2): I knew I was going to dread Iggy, so at least I was able to prepare myself. JJBA is best when there is a strong antagonist, so until Dio appears, the series might struggle. Still, the Egyptian Deity series of Stands should be better overall than the Tarot series.

Kamisama Kiss S2: …were there always this many males? All I remember, or that I want to remember, from the first series is Nanami and Tomoe disguised as Nanami.

Watching:

Death Parade

For those who watched Death Billiards, the first episode of Death Parade provided a warm welcome back to the series by reminding us again of its shocking concepts, sophisticated setting, and stoic protagonist, Decim. For those who are completely new to this franchise… well, how was that for a first episode? I will admit, I did enjoy how closely this first episode mirrored Death Billiards, though I am thrilled they took the situation in a separate path this time. The key difference between the episodes is that this featured two sides cooperating in their game versus the standard competition in the OVA. And that leads me to my main thought with this series… where will it go? What does it want to do with its characters? With Decim? With Onna? Whatever it is, I’m certain it’ll be intriguing and stimulating considering the content of its episodes, but it does have a larger cast than I was expecting as shown in the OP. Still, with its superiority in storytelling, its appealing design, it’s curious characters, those gorgeous visuals, and that elegant setting, I must say that Death Parade is gonna be a fun anime to watch this season.

The Rolling Girls

The phenomenal art and magnificent animation of the Rolling Girls is reason enough to watch it, but it’s the absurdity of the setting and its ridiculous characters that will keep the anime fresh and exciting every week. However, that remains to be seen given the peaks and valleys in this episode. The fight at the beginning and the ramen-eating race were easily the twin pinnacles of this episode (I might be biased to the ramen scene myself) and the anime was running on a sugar high. The rest of the episode… well, that’s the crash. That’s not to say these scenes were bad, but just a completely different flavor, a different energy than the action scenes. I really wonder if this anime will be like a rollercoaster, cycling between peaks and troughs depending on the quality and quantity of its action sequences. If it’s anything like this first episode, great. If it’s anything less, that’d still be fine because the visuals are as equally impressive. Use of lighting and color have always been two of my favorite aspects of aesthetics in anime and this probably has the best use of color of any anime this season. Add in its charming animation, and this anime is certainly pleasing to my eyes. And yes, the absurdity of its world is certainly encouraging too, being as wacky and senseless as it wants to be. I’m still a bit weary of how the characters and the story will turn out, but the anime is no-doubt entertaining and meaningful to watch. It has a few areas it can improve upon and it should once this anime finishes these introductions.

Soukyuu no Fafner – Dead Aggressor: Exodus

Perhaps the most crucial, most valuable lesson learned from this first episode of Soukyuu no Fafner – Dead Aggressor: Exodus, at least from my perspective, is that you don’t need to sit through the originals to watch and enjoy this anime. Without having watched the TV anime from 2004 or the movie from 2010, I was able to understand and appreciate the background, the setting, and the characters. That being said, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were a number of references and other tidbits that hinted back to the original series that I completely missed, but I’m fine with watching Soukyuu no Fafner without it. However, I will admit that this first episode was a bit underwhelming. If I were to give this episode a review in a single word, I wouldn’t have any qualms with saying, ‘mediocre’. But this mediocre isn’t bad… it’s not mediocre in the overall field of anime, just mediocre in my personal field… which means it’s actually pretty good. In fact, I think I enjoy just about every aspect of this anime from its art, to its action, to its characters, to its story, its setting, its everything. But what gives it that mediocre tag is that nothing blew me away. It was underwhelming in that nothing stood out to me about this anime to make it exceptional or memorable. Fafner is an enjoyable anime, one that I will likely enjoy watching each week, but there’s nothing special about this anime… yet.

Undecided:

Assassination Classroom

First, this was a markedly improved product over the Assassination Classroom OVA that debuted in 2013 (although this was expected). However, the leap in quality might not be enough to warrant keeping this anime. While I did enjoy the dazzling art and cinematography and found the storytelling and comedy a plus over the OVA, I worry about the story, the characters, and the comedy for the remainder of the series. This first episode did a sufficient job of introducing the background, the main character, Nagisa, his motivations, and the antagonist, Koro-sensei. Really, that’s all it needed to do. But the middle of the series will likely be like that of the OVA… some sentimental stories that’s heavy with absurd comedy and failed assassination attempts. I figure a few episodes here and there might be fun, but this pattern will likely get tired pretty fast. This style of shounen comedy really didn’t work for me before, and it probably won’t work for me now. Still, I do want to see what the content of the second episode is like and whether the comedy improves or if the other characters are as interesting as Nagisa. In fact, if either is true, then this anime might be saved. Until then, consider the anime doubtful, though it deserves another episode at this point.

Yoru no Yatterman

Yoru no Yatterman might eventually be one of the best anime of the season, but it’ll need one more episode to convince me it’s worth watching. Even though it had one of the best opening episodes of Winter 2015, I realize the content of the episode is not representative to how the rest of the series will perform. Still, just about everything about this episode was impressive, especially its art, animation and cinematography. At the very least, I know Yoru no Yatterman will be one of the most delightful aesthetically this season with outstanding visuals like these in every episode. What I’m worried with the series is the story. Given the storytelling of this first episode, I’m sure the narrative of the story will be fascinating, seeing as that we’re witnessing this world through the eyes of its supposed anti-heroes. However, I am not sure if this will be standard hero vs. villain battles or if the series will be creative in how the story and the world develop. However, I am fairly confident that the character development will be handled carefully and skillfully given what this first episode demonstrated. That being said, I don’t really care for any of the characters right now, but I care what they stand for… and that’s actually pretty big for me to say this early in an anime. There’s a high probability that I will keep this anime after watching the second episode, but it has to go in the direction I want for its story, its characters and its setting. If not, I wouldn’t mind dropping Yoru no Yatterman, but given that this first episode greatly exceeded my expectations, I think that the chances of that are unlikely.

Dropped:

The iDOLM@STER: Cinderella Girls

I’ve never been big on idol anime. In fact, the only idol anime I’ve watched as it aired since the inception of this blog has been the original The iDOLM@STER (as well as its spin-off chibi comedy, Puchimas!). What’s the difference, you might ask, considering the two anime are virtually twins of each other minus the characters? Well, it’s that the first episode of the original series had a hook. This one didn’t. What the first episode did was introduce the entire cast through an interesting method of interviewing each and demonstrating to the audience what the series had to offer. Cinderella Girls focused on only three. The original iDOLM@STER offered more diversity in its cast to start, featured a number of different stories (why each girl wanted to be an idol), and presented it in an innovative way. This one did not. Cinderella Girls took a fairly standard anime approach to opening its story, and it fell flat. And while I did enjoy the original anime, I can’t say the same for this one. There was no hook, and as a result, there is no real motivation for me to keep watching.

This week: analyzing the delicate balance between entertainment and realism in Shirobako, questioning the subjectivity of evidence and judgments in Death Parade, justifying what makes the setting so successful and vibrant in Durarara!!x2 Shou, and gushing about the unique personality in The Rolling Girls.

Best episode of the week: Death Parade

Anime trending up this week: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders – Egypt Arc (S2)

Anime trending down this week: Yuri Kuma Arashi

Aldnoah.Zero (S2) (Episode 14)

Inaho’s new robotic eye is pretty great, right? I mean, with this new robotic eye, he can create 3D images of girls (I’m assuming he’s been spying on Inko for a while now with that eye), he can calculate mass by watching something move, he can zoom with his eye (which must be really disorienting if he has his other eye open), and he can use it to detect fluctuations and variations in sound waves or some bullshit. It was essentially the difference in the most recent ‘Inaho-saves-the-day’ battle by being able to track the movement of these mecha by calculating the changes in wind (?) and the gravitation pull of tiny space rocks (???) to blow shit up. So tell me, if these robot eyes are so useful, why doesn’t everybody have one? Hell, why doesn’t everybody have two of these things? Imagine if everyone had these god-like robotic eyes that can pretty much do everything. The war would essentially be over now. Princess Asseylum would probably be cured by now. And the rest of the anime would probably fanservicey beach episodes, just like the creators always wanted.

Death Parade (Episode 2)

Is Decim really wrong? Did he really make a mistake? Considering how subjective the evidence is and considering how the material is presented to these arbiters, you could make an argument that Decim is correct in his judgment between Takashi and Machiko. In fact, I’m surprised that Decim did not explain his rationale further after Onna, his new assistant, countered him with her rationalization of Machiko’s actions. For example, Decim could have retorted that Machiko’s latest actions were only after she realized she is dead which then changed her behavior, her subsequent actions, and ultimately ended the evaluation period. Then again, that isn’t to say that Onna and Nona are wrong either; in fact, they’re probably more correct than Decim in this case. Still, I would have figured that Decim would rationalize his thoughts further, but I suppose that’s just the way he is. And who knows, maybe that’s the real story that this anime wants to tackle with introducing Onna to Decim.

Dog Days’’ (S3) (Episode 2)

The first season of Dog Days was dedicated to Shinku’s adventures as the Hero of Biscotti. The second season of Dog Days had a special focus on Becky, elaborating on her relationship with Shinku and also becaming the Hero of Pastillage. So, if the pattern continues, perhaps the third season will place a special emphasis on the third human hero, Nanami? The first two episodes of Dog Days’’ seems to be leaning that way, at least for now.   Each episode has put Nanami in a central role, pairing her with Shinku at the start, having them travel to Flonyard together, and then beginning the first adventure of this sequel with them immediately getting lost in the Dragon Forest. Nanami was never featured this much before, and was never seen alone with Shinku besides a couple of fights early on in Dog Days’. Perhaps the creators are shaping this season with Nanami as one of its primary characters? After two episodes, it certainly seems like this is Nanami’s season of Dog Days.

Durarara!!x2 Shou (Episode 2)

Durarara!! has one of the most dynamic and enthusiastic settings in anime, thanks principally to how well it manages its enormous cast. Not only do each of these characters have some degree of depth and a definable personality, but they continue to remain relevant to Ikebukuro even when they’re outside the primary storyline. That is to say, they continue to have an influence on Durarara!! despite not being in the immediate focus of the story. The reason for Durarara!!’s success here is that it continues to tie characters together for relevant reasons. Mikado and Anri are unsure in Ikebukuro to show Aoba, so they enlist help from Walker and Erika. Namie Yagiri, the main antagonist for the first part of Durarara!!, is still the underappreciated secretary for Izaya, but she provides an opportunity for exposition through openly spying on her boss and his twin sisters. Furthermore, the anime is continuing to build connections between characters even now, such as Emilia with Shingen, Shinra and Celty or even between Anri and Shingen in this episode. The way Durarara!! utilizes its cast is nothing short of exceptional and it gives the anime a unique feel to how the city lives and breathes. And as the series continues to grow, so does Ikebukuro, and the setting only continues to improve as a result.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders – Egypt Arc (S2) (Episode 26)

Jotaro is a dick. Did he really just spend all afternoon and into the early evening digging a grave for N’Doul instead of going back and telling his friends that he successfully defeated the Stand user and that they could move and make sounds again and get out of the desert sun? Like, shouldn’t the first thing you do is go back and make sure your friends that are bleeding to death are okay? Or maybe tell Avdol that the Stand was ‘Geb’ an Egyptian god and seek clues about the other possible Stand users? Don’t get me wrong, digging a grave is respectful and honorable, but couldn’t he have done that after helping his companions?

Kamisama Kiss S2 (Episode 2)

From here, Kamisama Kiss can go in a number of directions, such as developing Nanami’s spiritual powers or continuing the romance between her and pretty much every guy in the series. The direction that intrigues me the most, however, is the one on Tomoe’s past, specifically his relationship with Akura-ou (his demon buddy you see with Tomoe at the start of episode 1) and his romance with Yukiji. I am thankful to see that Akura-ou is back in the anime, in the body of Kirihito, since this means that the anime is intending to explore Tomoe’s past this season. Whether that is the main storyline or just a tangent remains to be seen, but I am looking forward to learning about Tomoe’s past and how he has evolved as a character throughout his life and throughout the series.

Kantai Collection (KanColle) (Episode 2)

It might not be a surprise to some, but it’s a surprise to me how much fanservice there is in Kantai Collection. Considering its premise and its setting, I expected there to be some fanservice, such as damage shown by torn or ripped clothes and the inevitable bathing scenes, but not in this volume or in the form of numerous pantyshots. In fact, the main broadcast version for episode 1 was somewhat ‘censored’ compared to other versions with a comparison between the two below:

Still, despite the fanservice, Kantai Collection manages to maintain its somewhat-serious and militaristic themes. Again, I suppose that’s not a surprise to some when there are pseudo-military anime like Strike Witches, but I expected something more thoughtful and mindful than that with KanColle. Then again, there have only been two episodes, so maybe the anime will mature as the story and the characters progress.

Shirobako (Episode 14)

One of the paramount aspects of how Shirobako appropriately represents the anime industry is how it manages to skillfully balance realism with entertainment. Without the value of amusement, scenes describing the industry in Shirobako would become monotonous and lackluster, concentrating on disclosing as much information without any flare or character to lighten the mood. Without it, these scenes would feel heavy and dense, and leave the audience feeling tired or bored after a while. And this is where entertainment or amusement comes in. Shirobako uses these variables to its advantage, and it’s able to create scenes that are humorous to watch while still being educational and realistic.

A great way to understand this is by examining two scenes with differing amounts of entertainment to demonstrate how well Shirobako uses this key feature. For example, when Miyamori and Kinoshita met with Atsumi in the restaurant, the scene had a low amount of entertainment, thus giving it a serious and heavy feel, while the audition meeting scene had extensive comedy while still being representative of the industry. Both scenes are realistic, to a certain degree, but this is more difficult to manage when the scene is meant to be hilarious. The audition meeting scene was rampant with jokes and parodies about the axillary industries, thanks primarily due to some phenomenal work by Takehito Koyasu, but because the scene captured how these other influences are attempting to sway the anime industry to promote their own profits, it made the scene both hysterical and informative. By contrast, the scene with Atsumi was highly informative, describing how an artist values and appreciates his work, but the scene was not nearly as entertaining, making the balance less noticeable. Then again, the scene was never meant to be amusing, so it’s important to factor in where high amounts of humor can be used and cannot be used. The scene with Atsumi was meant to be serious, so Shirobako used an appropriate mood to supplement the content presented. That isn’t to say the balance between realism and entertainment is unimpressive when compared against the comical scenes, but it does demonstrate how well Shirobako manages the two in serious scenes, only using humor in small doses, careful not to tip the scale in the wrong direction. The point is, Shirobako is outstanding with handling these elements, and it’s able to use it to its fullest advantage. Because of how well Shirobako is directed, Shirobako is able to be both entertaining and realistic in how it describes the many features and aspects of the intricate and amusing anime industry.

Soukyuu no Fafner – Dead Aggressor: Exodus (Episode 2)

To me, the most important feature of any mecha anime is that the mecha are distinctive and memorable. Without it, the central element and the main selling-point of the anime are virtually lost. The best the anime can hope for at that point is to simply be mediocre. Thankfully, for Soukyuu no Fafner, the mecha are notable and have a pronounced effect on the anime. Compared to other mecha anime, the Fafners as a whole have their own defining characteristics through their appearance, their interfaces, and their fighting styles, to create a style that is unique to this anime franchise. It may not be my favorite style, but it’s a step in the right direction for Fafner, and it’s a step that’s essential for every mecha anime to me.

The Rolling Girls (Episode 2)

The Rolling Girls bleeds personality. The entire anime is an imposing statement of its individuality. Its vibrant aesthetics, enticing motifs, charismatic animation, enchanting characters, ridiculous setting, delightful comedy, and sensational fights are all an integral part of this wonderful anime’s charming personality. Sure, you might try to make comparisons or try to find analogous examples between other anime, but everything about The Rolling Girls in these first two episodes is really its own. It’s distinctive. It’s in a category all by itself now. And it’s only just the beginning. The introductions set an exceptional foundation for this anime to build from, and it will only grow up from here. The creativity, imagination and artistic ingenuity have been incredible in these first two episodes, and I am excited to see what happens with the main storyline of this fantastic anime.

Yuri Kuma Arashi (Episode 2)

Given what we’ve witnessed in the first two episodes of Yuri Kuma Arashi, it seems that there are two methods of eating. The first, and probably most remarkable, is the “eating” that’s done in the human-bear form, popularized as ‘lesbian lily-licking fellatio’. The second form of eating is actual eating, performed in the chibi-bear form where the bears actually kill and devour the humans. It’s interesting to note how the two styles contrast each other at this point. On one hand, you have the yuri style of eating which is strictly reserved for successful completion of a sexy bear trial while the other one is without the prior consent of Life Sexy and bearkind. On one hand, you have a form of eating that is analogous to love, and the other is genuinely hate. I’m curious to see if these two styles will eventually overlap or share elements with each other, given how they share a few similarities at this point. However, given the fact at how differentiated they are at this point, I wouldn’t be surprised to see these two forms of eating eventually evolve into separate entities, becoming more like love and hate.

Last week: analyzing the literary conflict in Yuri Kuma Arashi, appreciating the non-linear yet logical storytelling in Durarara!!x2 Shou, acknowledging the effectiveness of the “business card” introductions in Shirobako, and thoughts on the contrasting fashion and sexual themes in Junketsu no Maria.

Best episode of the week: Durarara!!x2 Shou

Anime trending up this week: Kantai Collection (KanColle)

Anime trending down this week: Aldnoah.Zero (S2)

Death Parade (Episode 3)

Although Death Parade dwells in rather serious subjects, there is some lighthearted humor in the anime thanks to the wonderful chemistry between Decim and Onna. The host and hostess of the Quindecim complement each other well, in that they each cover for the other’s flaws; Decim’s familiarity and understanding makes up for Onna’s inexperience, and Onna’s humanity and emotion are the missing ingredients from Decim’s stoic and heartless personality. The outcome of such a partnership is a pleasant balance for the two lead characters. Furthermore, since the subjects of each episode are primarily subjected to discouraging, gloomy or woebegone misfortunes, it’s up to Decim and Onna to provide the comic relief in a series such as this. And while the primary focus is on the stories between the two fated participants, the humor is utilized well in this series to provide unexpected breaks in the overall depressing mood. It adds another flavor, another spice to the series and helps highlight the differences between the indifferent Decim and the expressive Onna. And as the series continues, I think it will be these differences are what Death Parade hopes to explore with this new season.

Dog Days’’ (S3) (Episode 3)

Remember when the Hero Crystals first appeared in the seventh episode of Dog Days’ (S2)? At the time, they seemed like they were just some silly mechanics that were introduced as a joke. As the episode went, all the girls were afflicted by the power of a giant demon rat and turned into younger, childish versions of themselves while Shinku and Gaul were given superpowers that made them look much older and much manlier. The joke there was that the ages of all the characters were distorted while also giving the characters a method for defeating the demon and for all the girls to rip their clothes and end up naked again. Fastforward from 2012 to 2015 and we’re seeing the Hero Crystals again in Dog Days, but with a decisively more serious tone in nature. Here, the Hero Crystals are the deciding factor in destroying the parasitic demon. Furthermore, Becky and Nanami each have their own Hero Crystals now that give them these silly transformations that make them look much older, too. And while the joke in the appearance is still there, the mood of these Hero Crystals is entirely different. And it marks a step in a different direction for Dog Days. While Dog Days’ (S2) was almost entirely fun and games and fanservice, Dog Days’’ (S3) is attempting to describe a story with its world with significant and consequences and fanservice. And looking at how the Hero Crystals are used in this episode of Dog Days’’ (S3) is a great indicator for how this season will be different than Dog Days’ (S2).

Durarara!!x2 Shou (Episode 3)

With so many energetic characters and such a dynamic setting, it only makes sense for there to be multiple stories occurring at the same time. And as one would expect from such a lively world, Durarara!! has adopted and perfected a tremendous method of non-linear storytelling, where every individual line is not necessarily chronological but instead, logical. In the end, all these discrete storylines and all these distinct characters blend together to form a single coherent story about the special inhabitants of Ikebukuro. For example, with this third episode, you might assume that it occurs after the events of the second one and even the first episode since that is typical for a majority of methods of storytelling. In reality, the content of the three episodes occurs almost simultaneously, and there are clear markings where each diverges and reconnects. This style of non-linear storytelling is crucial for the success of Durarara!!, and everything it has done up to this point has been sound, consistent and coherent.

Junketsu no Maria (Maria the Virgin Witch) (Episode 3)

The contrast in fashion between Maria and her cronies and the rest of the cast is rather striking. While everyone else in Junketsu no Maria is mainly dressed appropriate for the time-period (there are too many people wearing footwear at this time period), Maria and her friends wear tight, revealing outfits. Although Artemis is the most notable example when it comes to sexy clothing, Maria’s skin-tight dress barely reaches her thighs, and Priapos, Maria’s incubus, is by far the least clothed of all the males in this anime. Considering the emphasis on sex and virginity in the anime, there should be no surprise to see fanservice in the how these characters dress, especially with Artemis who uses her seductive body for adulterous purposes. Still, the ecchi clothing is a huge contrast to the historical accuracy of the anime given how well Junketsu no Maria works to incorporate so many fine details about the period and setting into this story. And while I’d argue that the conflicting dress works against the historical aspect of the anime, it does well to differentiate Maria from the rest of the world, given her views of war and religion. In fact, it might be ideal to have Maria and her companions stand out so well from the rest of the characters considering that they are unalike anyone else. Because of this, it makes sense for Maria and her friends to dress so differently than everyone else in Junketsu no Maria.

Kantai Collection (KanColle) (Episode 3)

Since I am unfamiliar with Kantai Collection, I do not know how many ships a player can have in their navy at a time. I am assuming six is the magic number for each squadron since every skirmish thus far has featured six – and only six – ships at a time (though the first episode had a fleet of 3 squadrons and thus, 18 girls). But given how many girls there are in Kantai Collection, I can’t help but wonder how they plan to use them all. Or maybe I should phrase this question: do they plan to incorporate all the girls in this anime? There’ve been a handful of girls in the backgrounds of scenes, so maybe the anime is planning to use cameos as a means of highlighting the entire cast. But even with that plan, that would mean a large cohort of girls in the background doing nothing in every episode to meet that demand. And since the anime seems to be focused on the adventures of Fubuki and the Third Torpedo Squadron, the rate of background girls in each episode will need to be absurd to include everyone in this anime. I’m really curious to see how Kantai Collection manages this huge cast and if every ship makes an appearance in one form or another.

Shirobako (Episode 15)

The way Shirobako introduces its characters is one of my favorite aspects of this anime because it places an immediate and pronounced emphasis on each person’s job. Whenever a new character is introduced on screen, a block of text appears next to them that displays both their name and their occupation. It’s like receiving a quick business card of everyone in the anime. Not only does it help us connect a name to a face to a job, but it shows how important these jobs are within Shirobako… that as soon as you meet someone new, you get their name AND their job. Furthermore, Shirobako continues to display their names and occupations the first time you meet these characters again in future episodes, with this trait being extremely noticeable at the start of the anime when everyone was new. It’s a minute detail that has a considerable effect on this anime and demonstrates how significant these positions are, that as soon as you meet someone, you’re introduced to their work as well. The reason why Shirobako constantly reminds us who is an animation director or production assistant or voice actor is because the anime wants us to know who these people are and how they work together to create an anime. What’s even more impressive is how this method of information actually works and that when you begin to learn a character, you also begin to learn their work. It’s amazing how well this unique characteristic of Shirobako works, and it’s one of the details that I admire the most in this anime.

The Rolling Girls (Episode 3)

One of the most fundamental qualities of the setting in The Rolling Girls is how each nation is distinctive and distinguishable from each other. Considering that The Rolling Girls takes place in a Japan where every region is fragmented into an assortment of countries, the anime needs each land and each population to be unique compared to the rest. Even better is how The Rolling Girls uses the appropriate local cultures as an accent or emphasis to each country’s personalities. For example, this episode took place in Tokyo and parodied the otaku culture by having everyone cosplay in this country. The first two episodes featured a war between Tokorozawa (in Saitama prefecture) and Higashimurayama (in Tokyo prefecture) and highlighted the difference between Tokyo and its neighbors. And given the wide variation in culture and customs between prefectures in Japan, you can figure that The Rolling Girls will use this to its advantage and make every new country feel different from the rest. Not only will it help provide evidence that the girls are in new places, but it will help highlight the diversity and distinction within Japan – one that provides a new focus on what makes these other areas of Japan different than each other. For someone who is always curious to learn more about Japan and its cultures, I’m excited to see how The Rolling Girls uses this setting to highlight the individual cultures and personalities of these various “countries”.

Yuri Kuma Arashi (Episode 3)

The literary conflict in Yuri Kuma Arashi is not human versus bear… it is bear versus bear. While it’s true that Kureha is actively fighting against all bear-kind, there is a considerable conflict between all the other girls who are after Kureha. In fact, almost everything in this anime has been bear against bear at this point, especially with Mitsuko’s involvement in these latest episodes. Even the Yuri Trials are a conflict between bears, or rather bear versus bear society, with Ginko’s and Lulu’s decisions to feast or famine based on yuri bear laws (with the added layer of Life Cool arguing against Life Beauty). I’m beginning to think that the narrative of Yuri Kuma Arashi isn’t so much of one where humans are against bears, but one where bears are against bears with Kureha as the prize.

A while back, whenever Week 4 was: appreciating the change from producing episodes to producing an anime series in Shirobako, teenager mecha pilots who actually act and behave like teenagers in Soukyuu no Fafner – Dead Aggressor: Exodus, questioning Lulu’s character development in Yuri Kuma Arashi, and finally realizing why Fubuki is the main character of Kantai Collection.

Best episode of the week: Durarara!!x2 Shou

Anime trending up this week: Soukyuu no Fafner – Dead Aggressor: Exodus

Anime trending down this week: Kamisama Kiss S2

Death Parade (Episode 4)

Considering that this limbo has existed since the dawn of humanity, if not longer, I wonder how the Quindecim and other locations in purgatory have changed throughout the millennia. Did the hunter-gatherers who die come to this modern, sophisticated bar and play video games? Did people who predate alcohol suddenly wake up in an elevator, walk into a bar, and listen to Decim speak a language surely no one would understand?

“Yeah, I know you’re just discovering agriculture and whatnot, but here, play this special version of Street Fighter to see who gets reincarnated. Oh yeah, we also have clothes for you if you want.”

What about people from the Heian or Edo periods, how did they react to such a distinctly westernized setting for which they play billiards or air hockey? Or even, depending on how this anime progresses, what about thousands of years in the future when the state of humanity is at the boundaries of our imagination? An analogy for this would be if someone who dies in the present would be sent to some ancient Roman locale where everyone wears togas and they raced chariots or played knucklebones or something. Actually… I’d like to see chariot races in Death Parade. Is it too late to make a suggestion to the writers?

Dog Days’’ (S3) (Episode 4)

How do chairs work in Dog Days? Considering that the entire population of Flonyard has tails in one way or another, ranging from Vert’s tiny bunny tail to Couvert’s giant squirrel tail, one should really question the necessity of the backs to these chairs. Take Couvert as an example and watch how she sits in chairs. Her tail is so enormous, she always has her ass on the edge of her seat and with her tail off to the side. Why hasn’t anyone realized this and designed chairs that are suitable for her body? Why hasn’t she complained about how uncomfortable these chairs are? Does anyone actually use the backs of these chairs either? I can understand for some of the smaller tails, maybe, but it seems counter-intuitive, especially in Pastillage, when everyone has huge squirrel tails. Please, won’t somebody think of the tails…

Durarara!!x2 Shou (Episode 4)

The various anime advertisements and references in the backgrounds of Durarara!! are a staple of the series, dating back to the first episode where Walker and Erika were wandering about Ikebukuro with a cardboard cutout of Horo from Spice and Wolf. It’s nice to see that the advertisements are still there, and it makes me wonder what kind of deals or agreements are made between owners and studios to have their anime appear in Durarara!!. It also makes me wonder why we don’t see this in other anime too, especially ones that revolve around anime or otaku culture.

Junketsu no Maria (Maria the Virgin Witch) (Episode 4)

Since Priapos’ missing penis seems to be brought up every episode as one of the few jokes in this anime, let’s talk about it a bit. From what we’ve seen, an incubus is a magical being that doesn’t need to eat or drink, so it doesn’t seem like Priapos needs one to urinate… or that’d be a separate issue altogether. However, Priapos was originally an owl, and he can still transform back into an owl, so does he gain and lose a penis every time he changes forms? What about the bodily functions of him as an owl, does he still need to eat and drink? And is it just a penis he’s missing? Is it intended that he impregnates the women he sleeps with? If not, then why does he even need a penis if he can pleasure women some other way? He can still be of some use if he can seduce women to serve Maria’s purposes of ending or avoiding war.

Kamisama Kiss S2 (Episode 4)

The second season of Kamisama Kiss is a testament to how much Tomoe has reformed and matured over the 500 years since his split with Akuraou, his demon partner-in-crime. These flashbacks to Akuraou are evidence of how destructive and malicious Tomoe was when he was a rogue youkai paired with Akuraou. Of course, Tomoe wasn’t quite on the same level as Akuraou, but considering their companionship, not to mention everything we heard about old youkai Tomoe in the previous season, it shows how malign Tomoe once was. Now, contrast that to the Tomoe that we’re accustomed to, the familiar who serves Nanami at the Mikage Shrine. The two personalities couldn’t be further apart with the former Tomoe being completely selfish and the modern Tomoe acting selfless. Just about every episode in this season of Kamisama Kiss has done well to demonstrate just how much Tomoe has changed, even if most of the proof has been indirect. And not only does it help add significance to Tomoe as a character, but it also places some weight on Mikage, the previous God of the Mikage Shrine who helped tame and improve Tomoe into the familiar we see today.

Kantai Collection (KanColle) (Episode 4)

Before the Kantai Collection anime, I would only recognize a few of the character. Of course, the most notable and prominent was Shimakaze, but most of the aircraft carriers were recognizable too, especially Akagi and Kaga in their kyudo (traditional Japanese archery) outfits. Recognizing most of the other girls was challenging since they are depicted in various school uniforms or sukumizu, much like any other anime franchise, but there were a few I could promptly distinguish as Kancolle. Tenryuu’s character design is probably my favorite, so I was able to identify her as part of Kancolle, but I’d always struggle with just about everyone else if they weren’t equipped with their battle equipment.

When I heard news of a Kantai Collection anime, I figured the main character would be one of those famous characters, like Shimakaze or Akagi. After all, Akagi was the star of the first PV that was released last summer, with Kongou second and Fubuki kinda just being there. So consider my surprise when the main character of the first episode is some newbie destroyer in a standard serafuku named Fubuki. I immediately thought to myself, what’s so special about her, why not Shimakaze or someone more interesting? Maybe it’s just her for this first episode and they trade off? Well, after finally meeting Shimakaze, Akagi, Kongou, and most of the fleet… I can understand why Fubuki is the main character now. Although I might enjoy the anime more through the perspective of Shimakaze or Kongou, Fubuki is an ideal character to lead the anime since her personality matches well with the other girls and both the comedy and action themes present. It makes sense to me now, and I think Fubuki would be the only one for Kantai Collection to work the way it does.

Shirobako (Episode 16)

To me, the best thing about the second half of Shirobako is that it focuses on an entirely different realm of anime production than the first half. Whereas the first half of Shirobako focused on Aoi being a production assistant (PA), working on episodes and going from episode to episode, the second half of Shirobako, with Aoi now the production desk manager (PM), focuses on the production of a series as a whole. Instead of focusing on the construction of an episodes and highlighting the difficulties and hardships, the second half of Shirobako looks at how an anime series is created as a whole. For example, in the first half, we saw that there were issues with keyframes being wonky and how the inbetweeners would have complications and that the animation in that scene would suffer. Now, we’re seeing issues with the character designs, which not only could cause problems for the keyframe animators and inbetweeners for every episode but also create challenges with the artistic design and personality of the anime. It’s absolutely wonderful to see how the anime is continuing to create new content for the viewers in this second half, especially since the first season was all on the micro-scale and the second season is all on the macro-scale.

Soukyuu no Fafner – Dead Aggressor: Exodus (Episode 4)

What irks me about mecha anime is how they try to pass off their pilots as teenagers. Often, these characters feel like adults or mature soldiers despite being clean-cheeked youngsters who look like they don’t own a razor blade or acne cream. Soukyuu no Fafner understands this and presented its new generation of Fafner pilots as prodigy teenagers who – get this – act like they’re actual teenagers. Sure, these kids are special, but they lack that maturity that you always see in other mecha anime. For example, the contrast between their excitement and the parents heartbreak is easily the best evidence to show how these kids are still kids. When the teenagers got their assignments, they were excited and were concerned about the names of their mecha and the paint schemes. Not much longer after that, we’re meeting their parents, breaking the news and watching them react with heartbreak and anxiety. The kids are kids and they don’t even realize their lives are at stake. Their parents, who understand what is happening and what might happen to their children, react with such sober and somber emotions. I love it. For once, we have an anime where the mecha pilots are kids who act like kids. I hope the next step that Fafner takes is to show these kids what the battlefield is like and for them to realize that everything from here on out, even the names and color of their mecha, is no longer a game.

The Rolling Girls (Episode 4)

Is it wrong for me to admit that my favorite part of this episode was the comic shown during the ending credits? It was something so simple yet unexpected and all the while completely delightful. It described the story of the girls riding from Tokyo to Nagoya. Not only is it a little gift describing the events of what happened during their trek, but it provides a bridge between episodes 4 and 5, meaning no downtime at the end of 4 or the beginning of 5. Additionally, it described a quite series of events in a brilliant comic style that provided some content and humor while the ending credits rolled. I wish, oh I wish, how every episode had a cute, little story like this. Or better yet, I wish every anime had stories like this at the end of their episodes for their ending credits.

Yuri Kuma Arashi (Episode 4)

So this episodes narrated the story of Lulu, who was once a egocentric, immature princess bear who never realized the gentle warmth around her. Thankfully, we were able to see her struggle through such hardship to overcome these flaws and develop into the altruistic and thoughtful bear that we see today… or not. Has Lulu really matured since her days as a young princess? No, not really. She’s still a selfish and self-serving bear who seeks her own pleasures and fulfillment first, second and last. It’s actually rather bizarre to consider the events of this episode, one that was supposed to highlight her character and how she has changed since running from her kingdom to pursue the ‘promised kiss’. Or perhaps, it wasn’t meant to show how she changed, but to rationalize her selfish and self-serving nature. Maybe it was mention to put her personality under a magnifying glass to expose her flaws rather than to show how they’ve healed. Whatever the reason, the result is quite clear that Lulu hasn’t really changed all that much or hasn’t changed in a significant way since her days as a princess.

For Week 5: analyzing the role of the ‘colorless’ background characters in Durarara!!x2 Shou, a tribute to the border security girls running the checkpoints in The Rolling Girls, issues with how the fights end in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders – Egypt Arc, and wondering about a future business opportunity for Shinku and the others in Dog Days’’.

Best episode of the week: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders – Egypt Arc (S2)

Anime trending up this week: Yuri Kuma Arashi

Anime trending down this week: Yoru no Yatterman

Aldnoah.Zero (S2) (Episode 17)

Was Aldnoah.Zero originally supposed to only be a 12-episode anime? Given the lack of substantial content since the ‘dramatic’ non-end to the first season, the woeful reset to start the second season, and the insertion of several new character (most of who were never even mentioned in S1), I’m beginning to endorse the idea that the original concept for Aldnoah.Zero was 12 episodes. This entire second season has done nothing to advance the story and has done little to show character development outside of Slaine’s inconsistent representation. It’s just fluff now, making us wait through weeks of non-story to get to the end where we’ll probably find ourselves facing another disappointing conclusion to another season of Aldnoah.Zero. Fun, isn’t it?

Death Parade (Episode 5)

I’m actually rather happy the series told us, unprovoked too, that Onna is a dead human. To me, it means that this isn’t the big reveal at the end of the anime. To me, it means that there’s more to the series than telling us that Onna died on Earth and is not of the same mystic origin as Decim and Nona and Ginta and the others. It means that the anime has a narrative that doesn’t culminate in a shocking twist. It’s a signal that this bit of information is merely another puzzle piece to the viewers, and that the anime has a narrative of greater substance and significance than one character’s roots.

Dog Days’’ (S3) (Episode 5)

Since the governments of Flonyard have seemingly perfected the dimensional portal technology that allows Shinku, Nanami and Becky safe passage between Earth and their magical realm, why not consider the possibility of starting a tourism business on Earth where humans pay outrageous prices to go to a world where everyone is a cute girl with animal ears and an animal tail? I mean, imagine the demand; imagine the money they’d make. Shinku, Nanami and Becky would become millionaires overnight and never have to worry about going to school again. And imagine all the new foods, technologies, industries and whatnot that’d benefit the citizens of Flonyard, too. I’m guessing it’s only a matter of time before one of those kids enters business school and puts two and two together.

Durarara!!x2 Shou (Episode 5)

The monotone background characters in Durarara!! help create a division in the anime between the meaningful characters and the mass of others who populate the streets of Ikebukuro. Without these background characters filling the streets, the restaurants and the other public areas, the hustle and bustle of the dynamic Ikebukuro would feel empty and lifeless. There needs to be a constant presence of others to make the crowds we always see, to showcase and highlight the spectacle that the special characters of Durarara!! always seem to create. They’re a bunch of nobodies in the world of Durarara!!, but at the same time, they’re somebodies given the role they have in creating a living, breathing city. However, the choice to color them a monotone grey is also appropriate given some of the content of the series.

True, if the throng of grey, monotone background characters were colored normally, it would take away from the visual draw that the main characters have. The use of a constant grey takes away from their presence and gives a stronger emphasis to the acting characters in Durarara!!. But there’s more to it than that. In Durarara!!, the gangs all have specific colors… except, of course, for the Dollars, which are frequently cited as the colorless gang. If you remember back to the first season, to episode 11 of Durarara!!, it was that mass of colorless people who revealed themselves to all be members of Dollars. At that moment, they were wiped of their “colorlessness”, and they each revealed their true colors. Turns out, that each person in this crowd had their own unique colors, their own unique appearance, but were all one part of a greater cause. Now it doesn’t mean that everyone, everywhere in Ikebukuro is a member of Dollars, but it does give a bit more significance and meaning to the grey background characters that reside in this borough of Tokyo. Combine all these elements together and what seems to be a simple aesthetic decision for a single palette for background characters suddenly means so much more when looking at everyone, everywhere in Durarara!!.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders – Egypt Arc (S2) (Episode 29)

As Stardust Crusaders has progressed, the stands have become more creative and more intimidating. As a result, the battles against them have become more intense and noteworthy, with Anubis being one of the best battles yet in Part III. However, the comedy at the end, as has been the case recently, really undermines the greatness and sensation of the fights. Although this style of humor is a staple of JJBA, the endings to fights like these disagrees with me, by giving me a sudden change in flavor when I’m still enjoying the achievement of defeating a powerful, and above all, serious enemy. It works perfectly fine for comical battles, like those between Khnum and Tohth, or most recently with Bastet, but I would’ve preferred a more thoughtful tone to Anubis’ demise than what we saw.

Kantai Collection (KanColle) (Episode 5)

So Admiral is reshuffling his (or her???) fleet, and is again matching each ship into cohorts of 6. Again, six; no more, no less. But since this isn’t exactly the browser game of Kantai Collection and there are no specified spots to order the girls, I wonder what would happen if Admiral tried to put 7 ships together. It’s not like there’s anything stopping Admiral from wanting 7 ships together. Or 8. Or really, any number other than 6. Or, what’d happen if another ship tagged along with some friends on an expedition? Does the universe implode if there are more than 6 ships together at a time? Has it ever occurred to Admiral that there’s enough water in the blue, blue oceans for more than 6 ships at a time? I’m really beginning to question the merits of this Admiral when most of the anime are about these ships struggling with school, eating sweets, and going on wacky adventures.

Shirobako (Episode 17)

One of the loveliest aspects about this second half of Shirobako is the new personality Musani Animation has thanks to its new employees. Andou, Satou, Kunogi and even Hiraoka add to change the dynamic of Musani Animation’s office, helping bring new energy and individuality while also impacting the roles and responsibilities of the returning characters. For example, Aoi’s personality has shifted as a result of her new job, especially in regards to how she interacts with Andou, Satou and Hiraoka. Ema, who is still a new keyframe artist, has taken Kunogi under her wing and is providing support and help whenever she needs it… which seems to be all the time. It also helps that some of the established characters are missing too, such as Honda, Yano and even Ochiai. What this does is it gives this second season of Shirobako a fresh, new flavor in addition to all the other changes with switching over from Exodus! to The Third Aerial Girls Squad. It’s just another impressive detail that has a profound effect on the anime as a whole, helping us see another side of the industry that can only be observed through contrasting the first and second halves with each other.

The Rolling Girls (Episode 5)

The checkpoint girls in The Rolling Girls might be my favorite characters in this anime. Thus far, we’ve seen three very similar, yet slightly different, girls managing three different checkpoints. Given how significant the independent nations are in The Rolling Girls, these border girls are an essential aspect to the setting, and it’s no coincidence that we’ve met with three already. Although their names aren’t mentioned in the anime, they’re all named Banko (ばん子). And although each one has a similar appearance, wears the same uniform, and speaks with an unusual accent (since they’re from other countries within this fragmented Japan), there are slight differences between each girl. The one managing the boarder in northern Tokyo (episode 3) has orange bows with white polka dots in her hair and a Band-aid over her nose. The girl at the western Tokyo border (episode 4) wears green bows and has a small bandage over her left cheek. This episode’s Banko, as you can see above, owns yellow bows and has a large bandage on her right cheek. Otherwise, if it weren’t for the bows and the bandages, we wouldn’t be able to differentiate between the Bankos. And though these girls are mainly played as a joke, especially with their accents, they provide some refreshing humor and useful information about the areas that set the foundation for each episode. The Banko girls won’t play a significant role in The Rolling Girls, but they’re a delightful running gag in this anime if nothing else. And even though their roles are small and infrequent (although Banko narrates the episode previews for The Rolling Girls online), I hope we continue to see these girls appear in the series… and maybe even see a couple of them get together.

This week: one of the primary reasons why Shirobako is one of my favorite anime of all-time, questioning other factors outside the arbiter’s control in assessing souls in Death Parade, contrasting the younger and older pilots in Soukyuu no Fafner – Dead Aggressor: Exodus, and my issues with the overpowering symbolism in Yuri Kuma Arashi.

Best episode of the week: Death Parade

Anime trending up this week: Shirobako

Anime trending down this week: Gundam Reconguista in G

Yuri Kuma Arashi (Episode 11)

Symbolism to a story is like seasoning to a steak. The story is the body of an anime, the substance which we consume and digest. Symbolism helps to enhance the story by providing flavors, textures, and helps to improve the story. And like a steak with too much seasoning, I feel that a story with too much symbolism is a shortcoming for an anime. The reason why I bring that up is that I feel that the symbolism is too overpowering and too dominant in Yuri Kuma Arashi, and that the content of the story is overshadowed as a result. As a result, many of the developments in this anime, especially in respect to the obsession of true love, feels artificial or forced. It feels unnatural. And in respect to this issue, I think a more direct approach to the heart of the story would have resolved this issue. Given the simplicity of the story and the subject of love, I think less symbolism would have done more for Yuri Kuma Arashi than what we’ve received. Then again, it’s hard to judge how less symbolism would fair in an anime like this when the symbolism is so prevalent and essential in an anime like this. Still, I feel that there was too much of an emphasis on symbolism in Yuri Kuma Arashi and that it detracted from the story and the anime as a whole.

Soukyuu no Fafner – Dead Aggressor: Exodus (Episode 12)

The contrast between the older generation of Fafner pilots and the young prodigies that are replacing them is remarkable in Soukyuu no Fafner. The anime has done an outstanding job articulated the differences in the mentalities and behaviors between the cautious and resilient experienced pilots and the passionate and unsophisticated crew of teenagers back on Tatsumiyajima. Hell, it even goes down to the subtle details, like the difference in the bands on the fingers of the experienced pilots and the untainted fingers of the new crew. Furthermore, it helps that the two sides are fighting different campaigns and that we’re able to see the two fight independently of each other, thus leaving each group intact and allowing us to see the personalities of the two groups separately. Perhaps no aspect is more dissimilar than how they respect the power of assimilation and how they fear it or do not fear it. This point has been made especially clear with the emphatic turn-of-events recently with the teenagers now experiencing adverse and horrific symptoms associated with assimilation. You wonder if they’re developing these problems because of how they act, especially since the other pilots in Asia have been largely unaffected by assimilation. It also makes you wonder how these teenagers will change in order to overcome these obstacles… or if they’ll ever be able to overcome them. Soukyuu no Fafner has done a marvelous job with these two groups of pilots and the contrasts in their personalities, and with another season of Fafner ahead, I’ll be curious to see what they do with these two groups, how they’ll grow, and what they’ll do when they come together again.

Shirobako (Episode 24 [Finale])

What makes Shirobako one of my favorite anime of all-time is that it does something distinctive that virtually no other anime can claim. No, it’s not because Shirobako was a perfect ambassador of the anime industry, consistently enlightening us of all the various subjects within individual episode production and anime series production with both humor and significance. And no, it’s not because the anime was relatable or relevant to anyone with a job, with topics from the anime industry being generalizable or familiar to its workforce audience. Those are both strong points, but it’s something that comes even before suggesting those two reasons. In fact, I’m rather surprised that this meaningful and influential aspect of Shirobako hasn’t been highlighted or emphasized more within the online anime community. What makes Shirobako one of my favorite anime of all-time is that it is written from personal experience – that the stories, subjects, and themes of Shirobako are written from the lives of the people in the anime industry.

There’s an ageless quote for writers to “write what you know”, meaning to write from individual experiences, from your emotions to your events to your knowledge, your background, your history; essentially, to write from your life. Often, anime are not authored from this perspective… unless I’m missing something and there are many in Japan who pilot mecha or fight youkai in their teenage years only to move on to manga or anime in young adulthood. The opportunity is rare because so much of anime is fiction and is regularly composed to be little more than wish fulfillment and instant gratification without a true sense of conflict or struggle. Shirobako is not like that. In fact, it’s the opposite of that. Shirobako is written from personal experience, with its hardships, its failures, its triumphs, and its enjoyment all derived from people who are currently working in the anime industry. It’s essentially a mirror for these people, an anime that acts as a reflection of their experiences, their emotions, and their lives. And because Shirobako is written from this perspective, it feels genuine and honest. There’s a certain specific quality to Shirobako that makes it essentially unmatched within anime, and it’s all expressed exquisitely through this charming and delightful show.

What I love and cherish about Shirobako is that it is an expression of the anime industry from the perspective of the anime industry. It’s unlike any other anime because it was written by the people of the anime industry, who live and breathe in the anime industry, and who want to tell a story about their experiences within the anime industry. And because of that, because it’s written from personal experience, Shirobako became that perfect ambassador of the anime industry and is relatable to anyone who has a job. It’s because the authors of Shirobako wrote what they know about that makes Shirobako one of my favorite anime of all-time.

Kantai Collection (KanColle) (Episode 12 [Finale])

Although I am impressed with the number of characters they were able to fit into Kantai Collection, not to mention the amount of screentime and lines a number of the minor characters received, I am a bit frustrated that there weren’t more characters from the game in the anime. While I understand the constraints and the limitations inherent with a 12 episode anime that features a single story, I would’ve thought the anime would feature more appearances from the franchise. Then again, considering that there are roughly 200 girls, it would be a bit too much, but Girlfriend (Kari) was able to accomplish roughly 80 voiced characters, so why not Kantai Collection? Then again, with a second season announced, I figure Kantai Collection 2 can build off what we saw in S1, especially with the introduction of Taihou at the end. Maybe it’s only a question of time, at this point, before the anime can introduce some of its other popular characters like Bismark, Tenryuu, and the submarines. Considering how I feel wanting on that issue, I guess that means I’m already looking forward to Kantai Collection 2.

Kamisama Kiss S2 (Episode 11)

The main character of Kamisama Kiss is indeed Nanami, but of all the primary characters in the anime, we know the least about her. Thankfully, the anime is ending this second season with a chronicle about her past for Tomoe and us to observe. I actually expected more on Nanami by this point in the series, especially since her homelessness was a major reason on why she’s a Land God at the Mikage Shrine today. We really don’t know much about our protagonist, so it’s rewarding to end the sequel on a story about her past as a chance to develop her character. Additionally, it’s also a chance to develop the neglected romance between Tomoe and Nanami since Tomoe will be able to learn about Nanami’s past and also why she does not want to get married to anyone. I actually wish more of Kamisama Kiss were related to Nanami and Tomoe since the other stories this season felt empty compared to what we saw in the original season. That is to say, the series lost its charm and failed to develop its romance with this sequel, making it feel like a missed opportunity than anything else. This story on Nanami’s past is the last chance this season of Kamisama Kiss has to provide adequate development to its central characters and central themes, so hopefully it can recapture the magic and end on a pleasant note. So far, it’s off to a good start…

Gundam Reconguista in G (Episode 26 [Finale])

Do the characters of Gundam G even know what was going on? Can they even begin to explain what happened? From the start, Gundam Reconguista in G’s story felt like a mess. And as the anime progressed, it only got worse. In addition, many of the actions and reactions of the characters made no sense, and the logic employed throughout was ridiculous. I can’t tell if anything meaningful happen or if any of the storylines that were brought up were resolved. Every episode felt so distant and so disconnected from each other that I’m struggling to understand what just happened during these 26 episodes besides ‘there was a war over space batteries’, and even with that, I don’t know what happened or who won or why they were fighitng. This is the worst storytelling I’ve ever, ever seen in an anime.

Durarara!!x2 Shou (Episode 12 [Finale])

Say, if all the crazy stuff happening in Durarara!! is all contained within Ikebukuro, what’s going on in the other regions of Tokyo? Are they just as strange? Are they just as lively and energetic and bizarre? After all, we’ve seen a number of gangs and supernatural beings in this series come from elsewhere to be in this anime, so there’s reason to suggest the outside world is just as bonkers as Ikebukuro. Celty might be the best example in Durarara!!, but this season’s new characters, like Chikage from Saitama, Vorona (or is it Varona?) and Sloan from Russia, and even Akane, are all from outside Ikebukuro. We rarely venture outside the borders of Ikebukuro, so excuse me for being curious of the monsters and mythos that might be having fun in Ginza, Shibuya, and Asakusa.

I’ve always wondered that about Durarara!!, why Ikebukuro? Why this specific district in Tokyo, especially when so many of its characters are from outside its borders. And why don’t these conflicts spill outside Ikebukuro, too, how is everything in Durarara!! all within Ikebukuro? Although this season of Durarara!! has come to a close, there will be another 2 cour over the next year that I hope address this question of its setting and more specifically, why Ikebukuro. I’m not sure whether we’ll receive an answer or not, but I hope to learn more about this city, about its people, and why everyone and everything in Durarara!! takes place solely within Ikebukuro.

Dog Days’’ (S3) (Episode 12 [Finale])

The relevance of strength and power has always bothered me in Dog Days. Given that there are now so many characters with so many backgrounds and so many abilities, it makes sense that they have to balance the newfound strength and abilities with stronger characters for the fights to be fair. I mean, the action in Dog Days would definitely suffer if Sharu, Leaf, and Verde all lost after one attack. Then again, it seems kinda strange to see these Heroes and princesses and body guards as the strongest people in the world continue to get stronger and continue to struggle against random opponents. I mean, given the Divine Sword that Shinku wields, you figure he’d win every fight with just that. I mean, in the first season, he did just that with just that one tool. Then, in the second season, he received a Hero Crystal and is even more dominant. Now, in the third season, he and Gaul need to team up to defeat one demon. It really doesn’t make sense how strong these new characters are compared to everyone else when we’ve been demonstrated how powerful they are already in previous seasons. Then again, it falls back on the point of wanting to make the battles meaningful and entertaining, so there needs to be some level of equivalence for it to work. Nevertheless, it’s an issue that bothered me more than anything else in this season of Dog Days, so if that’s the worst issue on my mind, I guess you could say this season was a success after its extended absence.

Death Parade (Episode 12 [Finale])

One of the central themes of Death Parade was how to appropriately evaluate a person’s soul. Death Parade brought up a number of issues with its system on how to measure a person’s wholesomeness, primarily through Chiyuki’s contrasts with Decim and how to map emotions and experiences to good and evil. The purpose of the arbiter system in Death Parade was to keep a stable methodology between arbiters by preventing them from obtaining human emotions and beginning to measure souls differently. This consistent argument, between human emotions and not, led me to ponder my own questions of how this system operates and how other issues inherent within the system would lead to inconsistencies in its outcomes.

For example, does a person’s outcome, whether being sent for reincarnation or destined for the void, matter on their arbiter as is, such as between Decim and Ginti? What about when a person sees an arbiter, such as how they differ in evaluating their 10^th client or their 10,000^th client. How much influence does their opponent have, over their outcome, such as if they’re paired with someone more pure than they are or more evil than they are? How much influence does the game have, such as experience or knowledge or motor skills and hand-eye coordination? I truly wonder how these variables effect how a person behaves and whether these are aspects are accounted for when an arbiter makes their final decision. Of course, all this is beyond the scope of that central theme on humans judging other humans, but it’s still fun to consider the constraints and limitations of their system within their universe and how it affects their ability to find the absolute truth in each soul.

The beginning of Spring is known for one thing in Japan and one thing only: a new season of anime. Also cherry blossoms and probably several other things, but those aren’t nearly as iconic to springtime in Japan as the debut of roughly 50 new TV anime in addition to an ever growing number of shorts, OVAs, and movies. As always, the focus of these previews will be on the newly airing TV anime which I will provide my assessment and plans for the next three months. What, exactly, should we be looking forward to for the Spring 2015 anime season?

As with virtually every other anime season, Spring 2015 features a substantial number of returning franchises, including quite a few big names and other well-known series. Returning this Spring are: Baby Steps S2, Danna ga Nani wo Itteiru ka Wakaranai Ken 2 Sure-me, Digimon Advneture Tri, Fate/stay night Unlimited Blade Works (TV) 2nd Season, Ghost in the Shell: Arise Alternative Architecture, Gintama, Grisaia no Rakuen, Hello!! Kiniro Mosaic, High School DxD BorN, Houkago no Pleiades (TV), Sidonia no Kishi: Daikyuu Wakusei Seneki, Lupin III, Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha ViVid, Nagato Yuki-chan no Shoushitsu, Nisekoi S2, Pri Para 2, Robot Girlz Z+, Saint Seiya: Soul of Gold, Teekyuu S4 and its spinoff Takamiya Nasuno Desu!, Uta no Prince-sama Maji Love Revolutions, and Yahari, Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru. Zoku. Yeah, wow… that’s quite an impressive list, encompassing 22 returning anime without even mentioning the shows carrying over from the winter, like JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders – Egypt Arc (S2) and Soukyuu no Fafner – Dead Aggressor: Exodus. Now before I get too far, it’s worth mentioning that I am only experienced with a few of these anime, and the anime that I am not experienced with will be disregarded in this Preview. I always figure that if you’re interested or curious in a continuation, it’s probably best to start with the originator anime instead of one of my season previews. That’s what I’d do anyway.

As always, the order of anime listed below is neither chronological nor alphabetic but ranked in order of my personal anticipation and how likely I believe I will watch that anime this season. Every anime is evaluated and placed into one of five tiers ordered: Will watch, Likely watch, Maybe watch, Doubtful but it gets a shot, and No dice. Within each tier, the anime are listed alphabetically. Dates are not included because who knows when and where these shows will be subbed and available to watch.

And so, with that, onto my assessment of the returning franchises and my plans for the Spring 2015 anime season:

Fate/stay night Unlimited Blade Works (TV) 2nd Season

Opinion: Already one of my favorite anime of 2014, Fate/stay night Unlimited Blade Works (TV) returns for its conclusion with this second season. What the series needs to do to surpass the first season will be to continue to develop the progress from where season one ended and to elevate the story and characters above what the first season was able to achieve. The art and animation, probably the most memorable aspect of this series for me, looks to be even better from the PV, but even if it’s the same or even less, I don’t think I’d be able to say a bad thing about the visuals of FSN UBW.

Plans for this show: Will watch

Teekyuu S4 and Takamiya Nasuno Desu!

Opinion: Teekyuu is my favorite anime short, so I am thrilled to see a fourth season of this ridiculous comedy anime return. And there’s a special treat for fans of the franchise with the spin-off manga, Takamiya Nasuno Desu!, also receiving an anime short this season. I’ll admit I’m a bit cautious whenever I hear about a spin-off like this, especially when the main character is my least favorite of the main quartet, but as long as it has the same content and delivery as Teekyuu, it should be pure entertainment.

Plans for this show: Will watch

Danna ga Nani wo Itteiru ka Wakaranai Ken 2 Sure-me (I Can’t Understand What My Husband Is Saying Second Season)

Opinion: Although I was initially disinterested in this anime when it first aired in 2014, Danna ga Nani grew on me with each additional episode. What stands out to me from this series is not the comedy or otaku content but that the romance between Kaoru and Hajime is actually pretty sweet and innocent. The romance doesn’t feel gimmicky or forced or unnatural, so it’s one of the rare times when the romance is the highlight of a comedy anime for me. So long as the romance between the two is like this, I’ll continue to watch it.

Plans for this show: Likely watch

Hello!! Kiniro Mosaic

Opinion: One of the many anime I was forced to drop due to time constraints, Kiniro Mosaic returns for a second season this spring. I always enjoyed the lighthearted humor and simple slice-of-life stories in the original, but it was never anything that captivated me or impressed me, which is probably why it was a candidate to be dropped back in 2013. Still, I enjoy the series overall and am willing to watch it again… so long as I have the time.

Plans for this show: Maybe watch

Sidonia no Kishi: Daikyuu Wakusei Seneki (Knights of Sidonia: Battle for Planet Nine)

Opinion: Another anime I dropped due to a lack of time, Sidonia no Kishi returns this Spring, giving me the opportunity to catch up and watch with everyone else. Although I liked aspects of the series, the whole thing never clicked for me. I quickly fell behind on the series, and never managed to catch up… until this week. I should be able to watch the second season of Sidonia this spring, but there’s always that lingering feeling that if I dropped something once, I’m probably prone to dropping it again.

Plans for this show: Maybe watch

Nagato Yuki-chan no Shoushitsu (The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan)

Opinion: Now this is an interesting anime, one that spins itself off from the Haruhi movie, The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya. If you’re familiar with the movie, then you’re familiar with the setting of this anime… and the setting of this anime is specifically why I’m so interested in this spin-off. Although it seems to be a comedy, romance, school-life anime, I’m curious to see what this anime does with the characters and their world in contrast to the original Haruhi series. I’m not expecting much from this anime, and I’ll be watching it, so long as it’s better than Endless Eight…

Plans for this show: Maybe watch

Houkago no Pleiades (TV)

Opinion: The Subaru-Gainax collaboration anime that aired in 2011 is now becoming a TV series. There wasn’t much content or celebration around the original OVA, which was forgettable at best, but that’s likely because Subaru just wanted to use cute anime girls to sell their cars without thinking of character development, a sense of conflict or even a story. I don’t know what this TV series can do to improve off the original concept of the OVA, but I’m willing to watch if it’s something completely different… something that has merit, something that has a purpose… something that has meaning for me to watch.

Plans for this show: Doubtful but it gets a shot

The following two sections of the preview contains a list of all the new, original anime that will debut during the Spring 2015 anime season, with the first section on the anime I am planning on screening and the latter section the anime I have already rejected. Spring 2015 doesn’t appear to be very impressive, with the top original anime being a ‘maybe’ at this point. Of course, once the season starts up and I have a better impression of these anime, I’ll have a better idea how this season will fare overall. But at this point, it doesn’t look good. Maybe it’s a part of me realizing that hyping an anime is never a good thing but none of these anime are truly remarkable on their own. Hopefully that changes once the season starts, but the only anime I’ll willing to give this opportunity to are:

Hibike! Euphonium (Sound! Euphonium)

Opinion: Given that this anime is adapted from a novel (not a light novel) and is animated by Kyoto Animation, I’m willing to bet that this will be my favorite new anime of the season before it even begins. That being said, the content and the characters of this anime give me reservations about the anime overall and could be the primary reason why this anime isn’t for me. It’s an anime about music in a school setting, which is definitely down on my lists in terms of favorites for content and setting, but that doesn’t mean the anime can’t be good. It’s just I can’t find myself excited for a music anime or a school anime at this point. Still, since the material is adapted from a novel and animated by KyoAni, I’m willing to give this anime a chance more than anything else this season.

Plans for this show: Maybe watch

Arslan Senki (TV) (The Heroic Legend of Arslan)

Opinion: The PV for Arslan Senki is encouraging, promising strong animation, a clean art style, and plenty of action… but it’s really the content of the series and the characterization that worries me about this anime. The art, animation and action are all hooking me on the series, but it’s the stories and characters that will determine whether I stay interested in this series or not. I really need an episode to get a better idea of what to expect, so it’s in this latter category to start.

Plans for this show: Doubtful but it gets a shot

Kekkai Sensen (Blood Blockade Battlefront)

Opinion: I’ll admit, among the anime in this category, this is the one of the few that really feels like an anime that fits my style. There’s personality to this anime, which is a big plus, not to mention superhuman fighters, a setting that isn’t modern Japan, and exciting characters. The one major issue I have with this series is that it reminds me of Hamatora, though it seems to be more serious and melancholy than it. If it is, then this anime is probably worth picking up… and of course, it’ll take an episode or two to determine its atmosphere and tone.

Plans for this show: Doubtful but it gets a shot

Kyoukai no Rinne (TV)

Opinion: The PV and synopsis, the heroine can see ghosts and the boy is a half-shinigami, don’t really provide me with all the information I need to properly judge this anime, so it defaults to this category where it gets an episode to prove its worth. That being said, from what I’ve seen and know of this series, I doubt it’ll have enough to impress me. Still, I’ll try it out to see if it’s worth watching, but a school rom-com with shinigami and ghosts… really isn’t the type of anime for me.

Plans for this show: Doubtful but it gets a shot

Ninja Slayer From Animation

Opinion: Certainly an anime screaming with individuality and a wholly unique art style, Ninja Slayer From Animation is one of the highlights of the season. The issue I have with the anime is how much of it will be like the PV and how much of it will be standard or ordinary? If the anime is entirely like the PV, then yes, I’ll be watching Ninja Slayer. The issue I have with the anime at this point is that I know the anime won’t be as awesome and exciting as the PV, so there’s a question of how prevalence this art and action is versus everything else. Really, the question is how good the non-awesome scenes are and how well the anime holds up as a single product.

Plans for this show: Doubtful but it gets a shot

Ore Monogatari!! (My Love Story!!)

Opinion: I have a thing for shoujo comical romances, so I should really give this anime a chance. Nonetheless, I can’t say I’m too impressed with the series at this point given that it’s a stereotypical love triangle with the rival being a friendly, pleasant bishounen. Ore Monogatari!! might be decent, which is why I’m giving it a shot, but I can’t say I’m too engrossed with the PV or synopsis or the characters or anything with it, at this point.

Plans for this show: Doubtful but it gets a shot

Plastic Memories

Opinion: The art, animation, characters, blah blah blah all seem pretty average for anime these days, but it’s the story that caught my attention with this show. The setting of the anime is essentially a robot junk yard for the androids that are at the end of their service lives. From what I can tell, it’s about employees retrieving robots at the end of their lives, complete with memories (oh, so that’s what the title means), and that they must trash them. It might be emotional and tragic and whatnot, so I’m somewhat more interested in this anime than just about every other this season. However, if I’m wrong and the anime is nothing like I had hoped, then nah, probably not worth keeping.

Plans for this show: Doubtful but it gets a shot

Punchline

Opinion: So the anime is about a guy who destroys the world if he gets too aroused? While the premise worked somewhat for Amaenaideyo!!, where the monk would ‘awaken’ after seeing breasts or panties once, I’m cautious to see this set up again for another anime. Punchline seems to be brimming with fanservice based on all the pantyshots in the PV, so it seems like most of the humor will be derived from the male lead trying to not be aroused from all the sexy, naked girls around him. …eh. What’ll save this anime is if there’s creativity and innovation with its fanservice or humor, since the spectacular art and animation alone aren’t enough for me. We’ll see if Punchline is worth it after an episode or two.

Plans for this show: Doubtful but it gets a shot

Re-Kan!

Opinion: Another anime about a girl who can see ghosts, Re-Kan! seems to be a comedy slife anime about Hibiki and her inhuman friends. The visuals to this anime are cute, but not striking and are actually rather dull. Still, if the anime can make me smile or laugh with its characters and their ghostly stuff, then why not. I’m not expecting big things from this anime, but it’s worth a shot at this point.

Plans for this show: Doubtful but it gets a shot

Shokugeki no Souma (Food Wars)

Opinion: I always find myself watching anime on an empty stomach, and I figure if pick up this anime, I’ll be gaining 10-20 pounds by the end of the season based on how delicious the food looks. And really, that art is one of the only reasons why I want to watch this anime. The shounen story and characters don’t really do anything for me, so I’m really concerned about the content and progression in this series. And from what I’ve seen of the manga, it’s also somewhat ecchi given the tasting scenes. I’m willing to give this anime a chance based on how well the food looks, but shounen really isn’t in my palate.

Plans for this show: Doubtful but it gets a shot

Urawa no Usagi-chan

Opinion: Uh… it’s an original anime to advertise Urawa City, located in Saitama, Japan. That’s all I know. Oh, the girls are cute. Yeah, I’ll probably end up watching this.

Plans for this show: Doubtful but it gets a shot

Yamada-kun to 7-nin no Majo (Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches)

Opinion: It’s an ecchi shounen rom-com harem mystery at school with supernatural powers. It involves witches with different powers that are activated by kisses. Given these labels and genres, I’m already pretty sure the anime isn’t for me, but I am curious so see what the anime is able to do with this setting, these characters, and how well it performs. I’ve heard a lot about this manga over the years, so I’m curious to see what it’s like, but I’m pretty sure already that this isn’t an anime for me.

Plans for this show: Doubtful but it gets a shot

The first two sections confirm the lists of anime that I am planning on watching based on my knowledge and understanding of the franchises. All that remains in this season preview are the anime that I have already decided against. The reason why these anime are slotted here is because they either appear to already be flawed, boring, or simply outside my demographic. While these anime may in fact be watchable to some, they do not appear watchable for me. I doubt I’ll examine these anime any more than the PV linked in their sections. However, there’s always a chance for me to pick one or two up every season, so not all hope is lost for these shows if you see one of your favorites down here. However, for most of them, there’s already zero chance I’ll even think about them after writing my opinions for each.

Denpa Kyoushi

Opinion: Otaku NEET harem rom-com? Pass.

Plans for this show: No dice

Etotama

Opinion: Might be alright, but looks to be shallow and looks to be a style of humor I don’t really care for. The 3D action sequences looked nice, but really, no interest in it at this point.

Plans for this show: No dice

Gunslinger Stratos

Opinion: I’ll wait and see what people say about this, but it just looks so mediocre and plain.

Plans for this show: No dice

Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka (Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?)

Opinion: Yes, it is wrong to pick up girls in a dungeon. I answered your question. Is this anime solved now?

Plans for this show: No dice

Kuusen Madoushi Kouhosei no Kyoukan

Opinion: Some light novel school power fantasy at a magical school. There are way too many of these anime, I’m surprised the market hasn’t reached a saturation point yet.

Plans for this show: No dice

Mikagura Gakuen Kumikyoku

Opinion: This might be okay, but I’m concerned that it’s based off a series of songs on Nico Nico Douga. I’ll let others test this out before I try it.

Plans for this show: No dice

Owari no Seraph

Opinion: So a virus kills everyone in the world over the age of 13 and all the kids are enslaved for vampires to feed off of. This might be the most shounen setting ever for an anime.

Plans for this show: No dice

Show by Rock!!

Opinion: It doesn’t really hook me or match my tastes. Pass.

Plans for this show: No dice

Triage X

Opinion: I might watch this just to see how bad it is.

Plans for this show: No dice

With that said, there is nothing left to preview for the Spring 2015 anime season. All that remains is waiting for each anime to air to provide judgment on whether we should keep these shows or not. I’ll do my best to be providing my reviews and opinions for most of these anime in my First Impressions posts once these shows debut, but I will be traveling next week and be unable to watch or write about anime for the time being. Until then, I hope everyone enjoys the start of a new anime season!

This post reviews: Shokugeki no Souma, Re-Kan!, Owari no Seraph, Gunslinger Stratos, and Plastic Memories.

This is the first blog post I will have written while I am out of town on business. Forgive my delay in watching and writing about these anime. When I return home, I will finish reviewing all the new anime and adding in one or two more First Impressions posts.

Watching:

Plastic Memories

Although I was originally pessimistic over Plastic Memories based on the synopsis and PV, I feel as though it has a strong chance of being my favorite new anime of the season. The charming and lighthearted palate of comedy blends pleasantly with the heavier, melancholy scenes, satisfying my appetite for an entertaining and endearing anime. The two outlooks of this anime complement each other, helping to alleviate the depressing moods with soft jokes and assisting in the humor by adding some weight or significance to the setting. Really, I am impressed with the presentation of the main themes of this anime and am excited to see where it goes. The one deficiency I have with this anime is that the characters seem rather plain and mediocre outside Isla. Not only does this demoralized robot carry the story, but she’s also the most amusing character, too. What will take this anime to the next level is how it manages to improve its cast and how well it develops Isla’s character beyond being discouraged and anxious. If it manages to do so, this could end up being one of my favorites of the year. If not, it should end up being a solid anime to watch for Spring 2015.

Undecided:

Owari no Seraph (Seraph of the End)

I’ll admit that I am impressed with the first episode of Seraph, but only the first episode at this point. Based on my knowledge of the series, and what I’ve gathered from the next episode preview, the flashback is over and everything from here on out is at the end of a timeskip. Yuuichirou is now enrolled at some school and… I don’t really need to continue, do I? I am treating the first episode as a foundation for the series to build off of, but unfortunately, that series seems to be at a school where he hunts vampires with his katana. So… I can’t really judge the heart of the series until I see how the school setting goes, so it’ll be another episode before I can decide. What is encouraging about this anime are the aesthetics and animation, both among the best this season. The painted backgrounds are remarkable details for an anime of this caliber, and a memorable positive for an anime like this. The characters and story didn’t really leave a lasting impression with me, which does not bode well now that the flashback is over, but I believe the directing covered for the weaknesses in the content with this first episode since it could’ve easily been boring and bland otherwise. Really, I feel mixed about this series at this point, which is better than I expected, so it’ll take another episode or two before I can decide whether to keep or drop Owari no Seraph.

Dropped:

Shokugeki no Souma (Food Wars)

I expected Shokugeki no Souma to be subpar before I watched it, so I wasn’t prepare for the anime to take an immediate nosedive before the first scene concluded. Every food-induced orgasm scene was bad. Like, the worst. And like, that’s it. Without those scenes, Shokugeki no Souma isn’t much more than shounen fighting clichés with foods and ecchi eating scenes instead of superpowers and interesting fights. I will admit that there is some thought and detail into the culinary science of the dishes, such as the scene with the bacon-wrapped potato dish was served, but otherwise, this anime has nothing for me.

Re-Kan!

I really want to like Re-Kan!, but I just can’t. The anime is just too low of a quality for me to enjoy. Just… everything about the anime seems deficient. The main character, Hibiki, is just too nice and innocent that she comes across as flavorless and unexciting. Narumi is only slightly better, but her personality breaks at the first hint of a ghost, meaning that she breaks down in every scene. The story might be interesting, but the writing and dialogue in each scene was too straightforward and simple. The humor, outside of the perverted cat that always wanted to look at their panties, was weak, and the perverted cat that always wanted to look at their panties was absolutely the worst. The art and animation was very basic – maybe even a little too basic – but the CGI background were a nice touch, though it did make it feel like the characters were out of place in full-body shots. Really, there’s nothing terrible about this anime (outside the cat), but there’s nothing great about this anime either. I can’t really find a reason in continuing to watch this, so I guess I’m done with Re-Kan! for now.

Gunslinger Stratos

Gunslinger Stratos has a fascinating idea and an appealing setting, but it lacks the execution and quality to convey these aspects properly, thus leaving the anime to be poor in just about everything. There’s no putting it nicely, the character art of the anime is just bad, even becoming a distraction as early as the first school scene. The animation wasn’t much better, but that isn’t necessarily saying much given the quality of the art in the first place. I still enjoy the idea of the doppelgangers from an alternate reality fighting against the present one, but the characters were never interesting enough to make me care about them or their issue. Maybe, once the cast expands, I’d find someone I like, but I doubt it at this point given the characters shown at the battle at the end. And that art… wow. For a first episode, that was the quality of the art? That leaves me with a haunting question, how bad will it become as the season progresses? I’d love to find out, but there is no way I’m watching another episode of Gunslinger Stratos.

This post reviews: Arslan Senki, Nagato Yuki-chan no Soushitsu, Kekkai Sensen, Hibike! Euphonium, and Kyoukai no Rinne.

I’ve been home for a week, and was very, very behind on everything… not just including anime. I’ll have one more of these First Impression post for Spring 2015 despite the fact that many of these shows are already approaching or are already on their second and third episodes. That also means I’ll probably start one of my Weekly Anime posts soon, too, once I catch up on everything from last week.

Watching:

Hibike! Euphonium (Sound! Euphonium)

Even though I’ve always enjoyed orchestra music, I have a depressingly minimal amount of knowledge regarding music, instruments, or even what the hell a band does to practice and what not. What sells me on Hibike! Euphonium is the fact that this anime answers all these questions and much, much more. Although this first episode was primarily concerned with introducing the four main girls and Kumiko joining the band club, I was delighted to learn in detail about various aspects of music that were unknown to me, and this is a trend I expect to continue throughout. Not only that, but the art and animation are easily among my favorite for this season. I have always enjoyed KyoAni’s aesthetic style, given the amount of design and novelty they have in their backgrounds. The girls are cute, too, which is always a plus. Oh, and the director, Tatsuya Ishihara is pretty good, too. Really, there isn’t anything I don’t like about Hibike! Euphonium, but the one downside I have right now is that I don’t necessarily love anything about Hibike! Euphonium (aside the backgrounds). I want to see this anime take the next step and add more purpose and meaning to these characters and for the anime to be more than just aiming for the nationals or whatever. I’ll be okay if the anime isn’t much more than that, but I want something more… something on top of this educational, insightful and appealing anime. If it can do that, don’t be surprised if Hibike! Euphonium becomes one of my favorite anime of the season.

Undecided:

Arslan Senki (The Heroic Legend of Arslan)

Given that his first episode was almost entirely a flashback of Prince Arslan’s youth, I can’t properly evaluate how I believe the anime will be for its duration given that the rest of the anime will be of a different time, and quite possibly, a different Arslan. However, Arslan Senki has a number of positives from this first episode that kept me captivated throughout. The most impressive to me is the distinctive and detailed setting of Arslan. Although I will probably have difficulties with the nations, geographies, histories, and technologies of the era, I am always passionate about rich and vibrant worlds, and the setting of Arslan is one that stands out to me. I can’t say much about the characters at this point, given that this episode was entirely within the past, but they seem rather tame and basic, though this does provide a good frame for which to construct characters and build their personalities and ideals throughout the series. The story… is something I can’t really comment on right now, but it isn’t one that impressed me right away. The art and animation are pluses, but they’ll truly be graded once the battles start, which are always intense for animators and artists. I have a positive feeling about Arslan, but it really needs another episode before I determine whether to keep it or not. However, based on this first episode, I’m leaning toward keeping it.

Nagato Yuki-chan no Shoushitsu (The Disapperance of Nagato Yuki-chan)

Is this called The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan because Nagato Yuki has disappeared and they’ve replaced her with a doppelganger, Nagato Yuki-chan that, doesn’t really look or act like Nagato Yuki? Or am I being too harsh on this spin-off of the Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya that is only intended to be a lighthearted romantic comedy set in Nagato’s world where Nagato is able to express herself as normally as everyone else in this universe. As a whole, the episode really failed to impress me on its own individual merits, especially with the perceived deficiencies in Kyon and Nagato as lesser characters now. However, the novelty of seeing Kyon, Nagato, and everyone else in this anime has me curious and compelled to watch more. That isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy the comedy (I enjoyed some) or the romantic angle (it’s not terrible), but I think the primary reason for me to keep watching this anime, if I do, is that it is so vastly different from everything else Haruhi. Whereas in Haruhi, there was always some problem or issue or thing going on, this spin-off feels like a relaxed and sedated version of Haruhi… although that’ll probably change once Haruhi shows up. I really need more time to see how the series progresses and how it improves, but unless the second episode is a bomb, I’ll probably be keeping this.

Kyoukai no Rinne

I liked the first episode of Kyoukai no Rinne, and I want to like Kyoukai no Rinne, but I honestly don’t think I’d be able to handle this series for an entire season. What keeps me from committing to this series is the bland, greyness of the series; everything seems so average or ordinary. Every character was just so placid and calm that I felt disconnected emotionally with the series. In fact, if the characters had stronger or bolder personalities, I’d probably keep this… but until the anime can satisfy this deficiency, I can’t entrust myself to sit through Kyoukai no Rinne and enjoy it. However, beyond those aspects, everything else about the series is a positive. Although it’s true that the story in this episode was resolved with almost no obstacles, I do enjoy stories like these where characters learn about each other and solve outstanding debts or other supernatural things. The art, animation, and setting aren’t too entirely distinct, but they work for what the show is about. And although I complained plenty on the characters lacking emotion, I like them all in how they interact with each other and their roles in this story. I’ll need another episode for Kyoukai no Rinne to prove it can instill more personality and emotion in its characters. Once it does that, then I’ll be keeping Kyoukai no Rinne.

Dropped:

Kekkei Sensen (Blood Blockade Battlefront)

Kekkei Sensen is an example of an anime that tries too hard. There’s enough material in its characters, its story, and its setting to deliver a good or satisfying anime, but this first episode failed to utilize these aspects together and created a generic, formulaic introduction that just didn’t work. Perhaps the most damning example of this episode is the masked villain who mocked the city from his grandiose dining hall as he attempted to open a portal for demons to invade Manhattan. For a villain of this variety to work, they need to have a reason, a purpose, and an intelligence to match for their plans, but screaming and whining and showing nothing to the audience leads me to believe they have little to nothing planned for his character. The other characters were hardly better, with pretty much everyone but the male lead being unlikable at best. Other detrimental points were action-fanservice, unnecessarily badass fights and explosions just for the hell of it, and a scatterbrained narrative that jumped between too many time points and locations to form a coherent story. But not everything is bad with Kekkei Sensen, particularly the setting and the art and animation. The amount of detail in the backgrounds and cityscapes are amazing, and the fight that concluded this episode was easily the highlight of the episode. I want to see the series improve upon the negatives I listed before, but after watching the second episode and seeing no progress, I’m giving up hope on Kekkei Sensen improving and am dropping it.

This post reviews: Ore Monogatari!!, Mikagura Gakuen Kumikyoku, Punchline, Yamada-kun to 7-nin no Majo, and Ninja Slayer From Animation.

Given the results from this post and the information from the last two First Impressions posts, I can safely say that Spring 2015 will be the smallest season in terms of anime for me since… maybe Spring 2009? It’s been a while since under 10 anime in a season, and depending on whether I keep Mikagura and Yamada-kun, I’m likely to be at or under 10 TV anime for this season. I’ve been close a few times, with 11 or 12 TV anime in a season, but it feels weird to be at this low of a number for a season. Then again, part of the reason why it’s so low is because I have less time to watch and write about anime than any other year, as evident by the number of posts the last two seasons compared to this time last year, but it still feels odd to only juggle 8 or 9 shows right now. Maybe now I’ll be up to date on my Weekly Anime posts… except I’m already a week behind to start. Oh well.

Watching:

Ore Monogatari!! (My Love Story!!)

I often default to the opinion ‘romance is my least favorite genre’, but with every new shoujo romance anime I watch, I feel the need to reevaluate this opinion based new information. While it is still true that I don’t enjoy most romance anime, I am frequently finding myself watching shoujo romances like Ore Monogatari!!. Perhaps it’s derived from common traits, such as the perspective, focus, delivery, and writing, but there’s something inherently better, to me, about shoujo romances over non-shoujo romances. And whatever those traits are that I like about romance, Ore Monogatari!! has.

What I enjoy the most about Ore Monogatari!! is the perception and personality of Takeo, a character who is the perfect embodiment of a gentle giant. Often, shoujo romances center around a male lead who is an asshole with one of the central themes being how the female lead tries to change him. Thankfully, the three main characters of Ore Monogatari!! are decent, respectable people for whom you could cheer for each individually and all as a collective whole. I appreciate that. The visuals in Ore Monogatari!! are positives, essentially using the same crew who did Chihayafuru before, but they’re not so powerful or persuasive that you’d watch the anime alone just for that. The school setting is a slight disappointment since it is so prevalent in anime, so hopefully the anime can find something unique to focus on besides a general and boring school life. Overall, Ore Monogatari!! had one of the most impressive first episodes of the season and is easily a keeper for the Spring and Summer anime seasons.

Ninja Slayer From Animation

The spiritual sequel to Inferno Cop, Ninja Slayer from Animation takes Trigger’s own inane genre of still characters in absurd comedies and takes it to a whole new level. The style might be jarring or unnerving or alarming to people who didn’t watch Inferno Cop before, but it’s a style that works extremely well for a comedy of this variety. To me, brainless and silly comedies like this are among the most enjoyable comedies to watch because animation can have a heavy influence on the content and delivery. And naturally, anime are heavily dependent on the art and animation, so Ninja Slayer from Animation can utilize this medium to enhance its humor and amusement to its full advantage. Sure, I wouldn’t mind if it were animated differently or were in another medium (manga or live-action), but having still characters fight each other and explode like this has a special affect to it that you couldn’t properly exploit in any other type of medium. Beyond the comedy and the animation style, I don’t really have much praise elsewhere for Ninja Slayer. That isn’t to say the rest of the anime is bad, but rather, I don’t have a strong opinion yet or enough information to form a strong opinion. But then again, this is a comedy, so it’s not like these other factors have significant weight besides enhancing the comedy or augmenting it with other bonuses. Really, Ninja Slayer from Animation is a keeper because it made me laugh, and I expect it to continue to make me laugh throughout the season.

Undecided:

Mikagura Gakuen Kumikyoku (Mikagura School Suite)

I often don’t care for anime where one character carries the entire show, but when you have a character as enjoyable, energetic, dynamic, and hilarious as Eruna, I might make an exception. Still, there’s a mighty gap to cover, between the good and the bad, that I’m not sure if Eruna can cover by herself… meaning that I need to see the anime improve with its other cast members or story for me to keep Mikagura. None of the characters come close to Eruna, all feeling flat or one-dimensional in comparison to her vibrant and amusing demeanor. And to make things worse, I’m not sure what the rest of the cast can do to catch up considering they all free like generic, cookie-cutter personalities that will likely remain shallow throughout the series. And that cat… oh, how I hate that cat. I usually side in favor of fighting anime, but school-centric battle anime between clubs with arbitrary rules aren’t my cup of tea, but I need to see one actually occur before I can decide whether I think I’ll enjoy them or not. The first episode did a sufficient job of setting up a foundation for a plot to occur, but I’m not sure if I want to sit around for 12 episodes to see Eruna befriend a girl that she fell in love with after looking at her photo once… in fact, a plot like that seems much, much, much more shallow than any other anime plot in a long, long time. Hopefully the second episode can reverse my opinion on this anime and provide me more reason to watch this anime than Eruna alone, because as it stands, I’m doubtful for keeping Mikagura.

Yamada-kun to 7-nin no Majo (Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches)

Yamada-kun was better than I expected, but that still might not be enough for me to keep this anime. With the first episode of Yamada-kun, I’ve come to the realization that I tend to enjoy comedy derived from body-swap anime or scenes, with the opening arc of Kokoro Connect being a relevant example. That being said, I’m not sure what else I enjoyed from this anime and what else I would enjoy from a series devoted entirely to this and other forms of magic between its characters. Then again, pretty much the entire episode revolved around Yamada in Shiraishi’s body, and the focus was on comedy more than anything, so I came away happy with that aspect. The voice acting, especially with how they expressed the personalities during the body switch was superb and really gives me high hopes for a quality anime. However, beyond those positives, I don’t see much substance with Yamada-kun, which is the basis for why I am unsure if I’ll continue or not with this series. The characters seem pretty basic, and I’m not sure what type of narrative will occur besides ‘witches’, ‘harem’ and ‘comedy’, but it doesn’t seem to have a plot that entices me. I am curious to see where this continues, but keeping Yamada-kun might depend on how the comedy develops more than the story or its characters.

Dropped:

Punchline

There are dumb anime and then there are dumb anime… and unfortunately, Punchline is both. It takes a dumb concept that, with the right planning and proper execution, might be something fun, something interesting but no… it doesn’t… it’s just dumb. Maybe the dumbest part of the anime is that it can’t decide whether Yuuta can see panties twice before destroying the world… because he’s done that twice now, destroying all of humanity a couple of times, only to get a second chance two times now. It completely undermines the entire concept of the plot if there are no consequences to him seeing panties; there really is no challenge or conflict when you have an unlimited amount of chances to get your soul back in your body like that. However, that part isn’t the worst thing about Punchline. No, that is reserved for the talking cat ghost thing. I rarely hate an anime character, but that cat is easily, easily the worst thing I’ve seen all year, and it’s not even close. And at about this time, I’d transition over to talk about the good things that were in this first episode of Punchline, but… …I have nothing. I don’t think you can really say anything good about this first episode – it’s just that bad.

This week: concerns over the content and direction of Plastic Memories, determining a time and place for Arslan Senki, censorship in Fate/stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works, and the wonderful return of Kakyoin in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders – Egypt Arc.

Best episode of the week: Fate/stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works (TV)

Anime trending up this week: Arslan Senki

Anime trending down this week: Plastic Memories

Arslan Senki (Episode 3)

Whenever an anime is situated in a somewhat historically-accurate setting (think about the difference between Maria the Virgin Witch (Hundred Years’ War) versus Magi (One Thousand and One Nights)), it’s always fascinating to guess what era and geography they’re from. The easiest way to do this is to examine the various technologies of the anime, such as weaponry, mobility, and occupations. Architecture and scenery combine to play a significant role in determining the geography that the setting is based on, and food, government, and social policy aid in this area as well. For Arlsan, nomenclature plays a major role in helping determine the history and location for this anime, with Arslan being the title of several sultans in present-day Turkey. Pars, the homeland of Arslan, is likely derived from Persia. And given the symbolic patriarchal crosses on the backs of invading nation of Lusitania (the name of a very famous British ocean liner), I’m leaning heavily on the idea that Arslan is set in the era of the First Crusade in modern day Turkey. To confirm it, that setting seems to match well with the technologies, architecture and scenery seen thus far in the anime. Of course, given that this is a fictitious setting, not all of these elements will align truthfully, and there are sure to be some liberties taken within this anime. Still, it feels as though we can safely pinpoint which events in history have come to inspire or, at the very least, heavily influence Arslan Senki.

Fate/stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works (TV) (Episode 15)

One of the events at Sakura-Con this year was the premiere of the first three episodes of the second season of Fate/stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works. And as such, the last episode we saw was the one that aired this week. However, when rewatching these episodes, I’ve noticed a few differences between the version aired at the anime convention and the ones shown on Japanese television. For one, the bloody scene at the end was censored. Of course, most of that scene was left unmodified, but I do remember two cuts being altered for the television broadcast. The most obvious is when Gilgamesh turned to Illya, with one of the sword scenes cutting to black before showing the gruesome details. It doesn’t really take away from the impact or weight of the scene, but it was a bit odd, for me, considering I was expecting it again and not a cut to black. For those interested in what was censored, it’d probably be best to wait until the Blu-rays are out since I expect them to be included there.

Hibike! Euphonium (Episode 2)

I had never really considered this for a school band, but it strikes me as odd as the students are free to pick their own instruments. Although on one hand, I suppose it’s fair and right to allow the students to pick the instruments they want to play, especially if they have experience with those instruments… but wouldn’t that lead to an unbalanced orchestra? Doesn’t it matter how the students distribute themselves within the band and don’t all the new students flock to the popular instruments? To be honest, I was expecting this process to be similar to a sports team where coaches put people at certain positions for the best of the team, but maybe an orchestra is different. Then again, maybe once the students have their instruments and the director knows what they have, maybe then they decide what type of music to play since the instruments present will dictate what genre of music they can perform. Still, it’s a bit surprising to me.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders – Egypt Arc (S2) (Episode 39)

Although one of the main characters, Kakyoin never felt as strong or as bold of a character as some of the other prominent characters, often falling into the background during group scenes and having fewer stories than the others. Nevertheless, his absence in this Egypt Arc has provided us a perspective of how valuable his character is to Stardust Crusaders, and his return should be met with praise and fanfare. Perhaps Kakyoin’s greatest asset is how well he acts as an anchor for Polnareff and the others, rather than as an antagonist like Iggy. Whereas Iggy would wander off and be a total dick about it, Kakyoin was legitimately helpful and was respected by the others. His stand, Hierophant Green, also had use outside of battles, unlike most, though it’s this ability that allows him to extensively search areas, such as Cairo for Dio’s location, which likely was the reason he was left out until Dio’s mansion was discovered. I am excited to see Kakyoin back again and am looking forward to what he does as Part III is coming to its close.

Ore Monogatari!! (Episode 2)

Is there some requirement of romance anime/manga to have misunderstandings or miscommunications in them? Because it seems like almost every romance anime I’ve ever watched has its central story or some heavy plot device that revolves around misunderstandings and miscommunications between characters. And just two episodes into Ore Monogatari!!, here we are again with another misunderstanding between characters.

Plastic Memories (Episode 3)

Given the stark contrast in the focus and styles between the first episode with the second and third episodes, I’m beginning to think that Plastic Memories is an anime with three episodes worth of content that’ll be stretched over 13 episodes. The reason why I believe that to be true is because there was a considerable drop in content from episode one to episode three, replacing anxiety and unease over robots’ deaths to generic rom-com bullshit. Additionally, this episode erased all of Tsukasa’s development from episode one, devolving his character from one that voiced concern over Isla’s behavior to a clichéd comic-relief clown. To me, the direction of the series is heading in the wrong direction with these recent episodes. In other words, much of the content from these last two episodes could be cut as well as any episode like this, too. To put it bluntly, I think Plastic Memories could be reduced from a series of 13 episodes to about three or four good ones revolving around Isla’s story. Plastic Memories doesn’t need all this foofaraw with Tsukasa needing to act dumb or for there to be episodes without any progression. In fact, if this were only a 3 or 4 episode OVA, Plastic Memories would probably be really special. Instead, the series felt the need to stretch out this story and fill the gaps with nothing special that, at times, feels like its detracting from the anime as a whole. Hopefully I’m wrong about this, but I have a sinking feeling there won’t be much enjoyable content outside of Isla’s story.

This week: why Hibike! Euphonium, a school club anime, feels more ‘school club’ than ‘anime’, the background art as an indicator of quality and personality in Fate/stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works, how the scarcity of direct fights negatively affects JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders – Egypt Arc, and inherent positives with 3D animation in Sidonia no Kishi: Daikyuu Wakusei Seneki.

Best episode of the week: Fate/stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works (TV)

Anime trending up this week: Hibike! Euphonium

Anime trending down this week: Nagato Yuki-chan no Soushitsu

Fate/stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works (TV) (Episode 16)

The background art is an essential component of every shot in every anime, and it can be used as an indicator for the quality and personality of an anime. Not only does the style and amount of detail matter, but so does the content of the background (scenery, skies, built environment) and how these shots are used within a scene. For Fate/stay Night, the backgrounds are frequently highly detailed with clean designs and exquisite detail. There is diversity in the content of its shots, too, helping to not only establish the locale of the scenes, but using the sky and lighting to denote the time of day while also helping establish the mood. Fate/stay Night also does an excellent job of using utilizing detailed backgrounds during scenes, too, especially scenes heavy in dialogue. Here, the backgrounds are particularly useful because, while the actual writing of the anime is characters standing around and talking, the shots can be diversified to show a variety of angles with few repeats. It’s a sign of excellent directing to avoid repeats in scenes like this since it is constantly providing new perspectives for which to view the scene. The example I’m thinking of is when Lancer approached Shirou and Rin at the abandoned church. Watch that scene again to get a better idea of what I’m talking about and why I believe the backgrounds to be a reliable marker of quality and personality in an anime.

Hibike! Euphonium (Episode 3)

While most ‘school club anime’ feel like an anime first and a school club second, Hibike! Euphonium is a school club anime that feels like a school club first and an anime second. To me, there is a considerable difference in Euphonium’s conduct and elegance that differentiates it from the rest of its school club anime brethren. For one, the structure of the club and the roles of the characters feels right. Perhaps most importantly, the president of the club, Haruka, actually feels like a reliable leader who would be elected the head of a club, especially from the way she presents herself among her peers and how she feels pressure and shame for the band’s sorry performance. In fact, when Noboru, the new music teacher, responded to Haruka, you could feel her character respond to the magnitude of the situation and feel the tension in the air. Oh, that’s another one too, there’s actually a faculty member present in the club. Noboru’s presence, although infrequent, helps in keeping the club aspect realistic, in how he doesn’t brush off the bullshit going on and tries to hold the club accountable for their actions. Not only is his presence here a plus, but his personality plays a significant role in keeping this more school club than anime. One last point about why Hibike! Euphonium is unlike the others in this genre is that it is developing its story around the school club and not solely dependent on comedy or nonsense. Having a story with substance related to the club goes a long way in supporting the school club feel of the anime. Overall, Hibike! Euphonium has the same sensation as some of my favorite school club anime, like Chihayafuru or Hyouka. If it can keep up this approach and quality throughout, who knows, maybe Hibike! Euphonium will join those two as one of my favorite school club anime of all-time.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders – Egypt Arc (S2) (Episode 40)

One area of criticism for Part III has been the lack of direct fights between Stands and Stand Users. While Parts I and II were dependent on the characters fighting each other to the death, Part III seems too comfortable with all these indirect fights. And while some battles have turned out great with indirect fighting, namely D’Arby the Gambler, most have not. And while variety is appreciated, I feel that the value of having more direct fights would dominate the value provided by the diversity in all these different styles of indirect fights. Now, that isn’t to say that I am not enjoying this battle fought on a video game console (because I am actually really enjoying it), but it doesn’t have that same lasting impression or emotion as would a direct fight would. Then again, many of these Stands are not designs or capable of surviving a direct fight between Jotaro and the others, but it’s something I miss from Parts I and II and why I feel that those areas of JoJo’s trump Stardust Crusaders.

Plastic Memories (Episode 4)

The more I watch of Plastic Memories, the more I understand that these writers have no clue how a business works or even how most of the real world works. There are just so many inherent errors and inefficiencies with this office that I spend most of the episode thinking of how, if I were manager of this department, I would completely gut the office and rework all its policies. Nothing about this business makes any sense and the fact that all of these errors are correctable makes it even more irritating. I do hope the anime begins steering away from its office setting and back towards Isla dying from Robot Alzheimer’s, but that also has some major issues, too.

Sidonia no Kishi: Daikyuu Wakusei Seneki (S2) (Episode 3)

Since it took me forever to catch up on Sidonia, I never had the opportunity to talk about it as it aired last Spring. However, with its sequel airing this season, I now have the time and platform to write about it. What I appreciate the most about Sidonia’s 3D animation is that it always consistent and that the appearance and animation with the characters is dependably good. Although I still prefer 2D animation over 3D, I do appreciate that there are no variations or dips in the quality of art and animation with the characters. If you know how one characters looks once, you know how they’ll look throughout. Additionally, with the 3D animation, the camera is able to do more and the anime can incorporate more cinematography than most anime. With the increased budget of this sequel, Sidonia has done just that, with more shots incorporating cameras rotating, cameras following behind characters, and performing other difficult maneuvers that would otherwise be nearly impossible with traditional 2D animation. Of course, 3D animation will never surpass 2D animation for me, but I do enjoy the inherent advantages of 3D animation with Sidonia, and I feel that for an anime of this style and caliber, that 3D animation works well for its story, its characters, and its setting.

Back during Week 5: the indecisiveness of Plastic Memories and why it doesn’t know what it wants to be as an anime, how changing the powers in Yamada-kun to 7-nin no Majo changes the series dynamic, background characters beginning to differentiate themselves in Hibike! Euphonium, and cute girls being immune to still-image “animation” in Ninja Slayer from Animation.

Best episode of the week: Fate/stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works (TV)

Anime trending up this week: Yamada-kun to 7-nin no Majo

Anime trending down this week: Plastic Memories

Fate/stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works (TV) (Episode 17)

What was the point of Rin thinking to herself that she has no more runes remaining before launching her surprise attack against Caster? As far as I can tell, no one can read Rin’s mind, meaning that no one else could hear these thoughts besides Rin and the audience. And as we soon saw after that line, Rin knew that she was lying to herself because she clearly had runes to use. With those facts established, it seems fairly certain that Rin’s line was merely inserted to trick the audience. There was no purpose otherwise into tricking the audience into thinking Rin was out of ammo, only for her to surprise us with one final attack. Really, that line had no purpose in the story or to Rin’s character besides being a cheap and insincere tactic to surprise the audience. Sure, the trick worked, but it really distracts you from the scene when trying to understand why the hell Rin would think that line to herself.

Hibike! Euphonium (Episode 4)

Given that the Kitauji High School Music Club has a horde of students playing a variety of instruments, it was only a matter of time that some of the background characters separated from each other, forming tiers of secondary characters ahead of the tertiary characters. Perhaps the most apparent are the section leaders who were all introduced with names, titles, and voiced parts at the beginning of the episode. Still, some of the other characters are beginning to step apart from the rest, such as Yuuko Yoshikawa, the trumpet-playing first-year with the signature yellow bow in her hair. There are others appearing too, including the light brown, drill-haired trombone-playing girl and the black-haired French horn-playing girl with the red bow in her hair, but given the limitations of names thus far and the fact that I can’t link seiyuu to characters from the ED credits, they’ll be nameless for now. Still, there are characters emerging from the mass of students seen at the beginning of this anime and each person is beginning to create an identity for themselves. They probably will never play a significant role in the anime, besides helping differentiate the instrument groups and providing scenes away from the bass section, but it’s nice to see characters like these begin to develop, even if it’s just a little, since it helps add to the foundation of the Music Club in Hibike! Euphonium.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders – Egypt Arc (S2) (Episode 41)

How is there nothing wrong with this baseball video game? Who programmed it so that a batter could hit a home run on a beanball? There is something clearly wrong with the programming if that could happen in a game, and there is something clearly wrong with the three characters if they don’t think anything is amiss.

Ninja Slayer from Animation (Episode 3)

Although this isn’t true given what we’ve seen in future episodes, it seems as though the cute girls of Ninja Slayer from Animation are immune to the still-image scenes that were a stable of the first two episodes. Of course, cute girls are a significant part of an anime of this quality, so it’d be strange to not make them the focus of the artwork and animation as we saw in episode 3; every scene with Yamoto was animated normally and the scenes with the guys were the still-image scenes where animation ceased to exist. I can’t really blame Trigger for taking this approach with its characters, but it just seems funny to see Yamoto animated normally while the rest of the episode was still-images of characters fighting grand ninja battles.

Ore Monogatari!! (Episode 4)

There is dumb and then there is a level beyond dumb, called “beyond dumb”. And though it sounds like a bad thing, being “beyond dumb” is actually quite fun as we saw with the fourth episode of Ore Monogatari!! For examples of each, the steel beam falling in episode 2 was dumb because it felt cheap and out-of-place. It didn’t really add anything meaningful to the series and wasn’t enjoyable to watch (borderline cringe-worthy, in fact). The restaurant fire and explosions were even more out-of-place in this series, but it passed that threshold of dumb and became something entirely different; something genuinely entertaining. That whole time, I watched the scene with a smile on my face wondering just where the hell this anime could go next. It was so irrational and spontaneous that it defied the logic of the series, getting up in our faces and screaming, “ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION?” That being said, I don’t want to see these extraordinary and extravagant events become a stable of the series because then it’d detract too much from its sweetheart romance. Too many of these scenes and it’d steal the focus. Some random bullshit like this restaurant scene is fine, but too much and it begins to subtract from the anime as a whole.

Plastic Memories (Episode 5)

Plastic Memories is an anime that doesn’t know what it wants to be. The first two episodes were a touching pair that introduced us to a depressed robot that works for a robot funeral service with some charming slice-of-life elements and appropriate humor. The third episode decided to be a romantic-comedy episode that seemingly ignored what little progress the anime achieved in the beginning for clichéd jokes around Isla’s character. The fourth turned its focus away from Isla and toward Marcia, revisiting its slife roots with a heavy dose of drama… only for the fifth episode to come around and turn the series into a sci-fi action one complete with everyone chasing after a berserk robot with futuristic weapons and arguing with a paramilitary security organization. In just five episodes, the anime has gone back and forth between several different genres, eroding what little progress we’ve seen and keeping us guessing to where the anime will go or what it will be about. To me, the anime is about Isla but we’ve essentially ignored her these last three episodes with content that is essentially wasting space between the first and last episodes. It goes back to what I wrote about for episode 4, that the anime has serious issues with its writing, and the jump from slice-of-life and drama to sci-fi and action seems to emphasize it better than complaining about the details of the setting. It’s bizarre, how inconsistent this series is, and it leads me to believe that the anime can’t and won’t deliver a quality story in the end.

Yamada-kun to 7-nin no Majo (Episode 4)

Given the different powers of the different witches, it seems as though the dynamic of the anime will change based on whatever power Yamada has. And given that the anime dynamic will change between these different powers, that means that Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches will remain fresh as it progresses through these different powers. Although I enjoyed and always will enjoy body-swaping in anime, especially this one, I am thankful the anime will explore different powers like the one shown in this episode. And given that there are five others, that means we’ll see five other powers that will influence the stories of each, though I suspect the anime will run out of time before then. Still, I am intrigued by how each power ultimately decides the genre of anime and how the characters interact with each other, so I’m excited to see what the rest of this anime does with Yamada and the others.

Last week: the vivid and dazzling display of emotions of Kumiko in Hibike Euphonium!, Fate/stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works demonstrating the necessity of an epilogue for an anime, questions regarding the Nagato of the Disappearance arc in Nagato Yuki-chan no Shoushitsu, and the best possible ending for Plastic Memories.

Best episode of the week: Fate/stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works (TV)

Anime trending up this week: Plastic Memories

Anime trending down this week: Sidonia no Kishi: Daikyuu Wakusei Seneki (S2)

Plastic Memories (Episode 13 [Finale])

Sometimes, I hate being right. After watching the third episode of Plastic Memories, I projected that the anime had about 3 episodes worth of content on Isla’s story and that the anime needed to stretch it over 13 episodes to fill the entire series. And, well, that’s pretty much exactly what happened with Plastic Memories. However, what I failed to predict is how much I’d enjoy the content on Isla’s story, which actually turned out to be genuinely good. Although I never had much praise for Plastic Memories, I honestly felt satisfied with how her story was handled during the serious moments, and was actually content with how the finale portrayed her final moments. This was the best possible ending for the series, and it left me with positive memories of Plastic Memories.

Ninja Slayer from Animation (Episode 11)

Although I initially praised the still-image animation style in the first episode of Ninja Slayer, I’ve grown weary of its overuse and inappropriate use as the series has continued. The major turn-off of this comedic animation style is that it should only be used for comedic scenes. When the still-image animation style is used for serious fights, or more grossly, for exposition, the style feels cheap and ineffective. It isn’t suitable to use such a simple and plain animation style for these scenes, especially when I can’t tell if I’m supposed to laugh or be engrossed with the story. And when it’s used for exposition, it’s just cheap and boring. Thankfully, as the series has progressed, Ninja Slayer has deviated from its original path and become more normal as an anime. I’d applaud this change in direction, that it’s now moving down the right path, but I’ll reserve any praise for this series when it rids itself of these oversights and can effectively demonstrate an understanding of when to use the still-image animation and when not to. A perfect example of this animation style contrasting with the theme of the story was the fight between Dark Ninja and Ninja Slayer. Although I don’t expect Ninja Slayer to have the budget to pull off an impressive fight scene here, it felt as though the series was mocking itself by using the still-image animation here at such an important time. Until Ninja Slayer can fix this, I am uncertain how much I’ll enjoy this anime moving forward.

Nagato Yuki-chan no Shoushitsu (Episode 13)

Why was Nagato acting like Nagato and not Nagato in Nagato? Or rather, why did we have this brief interruption of silly, stupid Nagato for silent, serious Nagato with no real explanation to who she was (or maybe what she was), why she was able to change, and what this whole story arc had to do with Nagato. It’s frustrating to me since this was one of the few times I enjoyed the series besides all the cute, chibi Nagato faces, and I feel the series has dropped the ball into tying this Disappearance arc in with the rest of the series. Just, what exactly was the significance of this arc and how does it change Nagato or Kyon? I’m still hoping for an explanation before the series is over at episode 16, but I have a sinking feeling that this is it for the Disappearance arc and for silent, serious Nagato.

Hibike! Euphonium (Episode 12)

Hibike! Euphonium has done a phenomenal job with how the characters display their emotions and personalities through their facial expressions. Perhaps the most notable of this anime is the protagonist, Kumiko, who goes through these emotions more easily than the others. And the twelfth episode of Hibike! Euphonium probably featured the most emotion from Kumiko yet, ranging from confused to awed to surprised to determined to frustrated to confident to defeated to bawling to understanding. Kumiko’s face is a canvas for which the artists can use their entire palate of emotions for which to write and draw her character. And this episode is a perfect example to demonstrate how the creators of Hibike! Euphonium wanted to create her character and for which to test her with this performance. And as a result, we were able to witness a smörgåsbord of emotions, feelings, and reactions from Kumiko, all well on display in her brilliantly animated face. This episode was an absolute delight to watch to see Kumiko’s character grow, and I am thankful that her character is able to demonstrate the emotions she goes through with such magnificence.

Fate/stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works (TV) (Episode 25 [Finale])

Ah, an entire episode dedicated to an epilogue; how heavenly. To me, an epilogue of some sort is necessary for an anime to have a proper ending, and not only to tell me what happens to my favorite characters after the events that just unfolded. No, it’s much more than that. An epilogue is necessary because it provides the proper de-escalation that a story needs, bringing the anime back down from the climax, the peak of the story, to a final resting place. So while the content and format of this episode was nowhere near as accomplishing as some of the other finales and episodes this week, I adorable this epilogue of FSN UBW because it was the most satisfying and gratifying episode. What it did was take the passion and excitement of the final fights, bring it down to Earth gently, provide closure to the characters and help tie this series in with others in the Nasuverse. If it were up to me, every anime would have an epilogue like this, either at the end of the series or in an OVA soon thereafter, but it’s difficult when most anime are derived from concurrent manga and light novels. A shame because an ending like this is likely to be one of my favorites of the year.

For anime characters, summer means vacation, sun, the beach, bikinis, shaved ice, matsuri, fireworks, catching bugs, and doing all your homework on the last day before it’s due. For me, summer means another season of anime, and it’s time for me to preview all the new and exciting anime that will air over the next three months. What anime am I looking forward to the most this summer? Let’s check out this Summer 2015 anime season together!! (except not because I already reviewed and wrote everything by now. Sorry!)

As always, the order of anime listed below is neither chronological nor alphabetic but are categorized into sequels and new shows, and then ranked in order of my personal anticipation and how likely I believe I will watch that anime this season. Every anime is evaluated and placed into one of five tiers ordered: Will watch, Likely watch, Maybe watch, Doubtful but it gets a shot, and No dice. Within each tier, the anime are listed alphabetically. Dates are not included because who knows when and where these shows will be subbed and available to watch.

Summer 2015 will be lighter than the last few seasons in terms of the quantity of its sequels, but will rival them in terms of quality. Returning this Summer are: Aquarion Logos, Dragon Ball Super, Durarara!!x2 Ten, Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya 2wei Herz!, Gatchaman Crowds Insight, Hetalia: The World Twinkle, Junjou Romantica 3, Miss Monochrome: The Animation 2, Non Non Biyori Repeat, Senki Zesshou Symphogear GX, Teekyuu S5, The iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls 2nd Season, To LOVE-Ru Darkness 2nd, Wooser no Sono Higurashi: Mugen-hen, and Working!!!. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), I haven’t watched all of the originals to these anime, so I will skip over the ones I know nothing about. Given that each of these sequels or continuations already have material out, I recommend you check those out instead of having me try to guess on them and guess how these sequels will turn out. Nonetheless, I will provide my thoughts and opinions on the anime returning this season that I plan to watch. Here’s how I’m looking forward to Summer 2015:

Durarara!!x2 Ten

Opinion: Durarara!! is one of my favorite anime franchises of all-time, and Durarara!!x2 Shou reacquainted me with my love earlier this year. I am thrilled to see it continue with this fourth cour (and with a fifth one planed for Winter 2016), so there is no doubt in my mind that I will continue with Durarara!!x2 Ten. The questions I have, though, pertain to the questionable production that we saw in Shou from the new studio, Studio Shuka. The PV for Ten seems to have better art and animation, so that is encouraging, but it’ll take me a few episodes to convince me that we’ve moved on from stuff like this.

Plans for this show: Will watch

Gatchaman Crowds Insight

Opinion: I liked Gatchaman Crowds, but didn’t love it. I felt the original had a few major flaws, especially in the development of Hajime’s character, and wished that a second season would come and address these issues, especially since a few felt neglected due to time constrains. I figured that if Gatchaman Crowds had more time to develop its characters and resolve these issues that I would enjoy the series more and that a second season was all that was standing in the way from me and myself enjoying this anime. Well, here we are, just footsteps from the second season of Gatchaman Crowds, and I can’t wait to see what this season has planned. I’m excited to see that the anime is back again, and I am hoping this season will resolve the issues I have with this series. If not, at least I was still able to enjoy the first season, though I want to enjoy season 2 more than season 1.

Plans for this show: Will watch

Miss Monochrome: The Animation 2

Opinion: Miss Monochrome is a dumb, fun anime, the kind of brainless anime that I enjoy watching when I want a laugh or two. It isn’t my favorite of the short anime, but it does have some memorable moments and decent comedy, so I’ll be watching it again this summer.

Plans for this show: Will watch

Non Non Biyori Repeat

Opinion: Comedy is my favorite genre of anime and one of my favorite settings is rural Japan. These are two significant reasons why I am delighted to see Non Non Biyori return this season, especially since that means more scenic backgrounds of the village, the mountains, and the seasons in Wherever, Japan. I will admit that I am a bit concerned about the content of this second season, since many slifes and comedies often drop in terms of quality and humor with the second season. I’m not sure if it’s because the originals use the best material from the manga or original source, thereby leaving the future seasons with lesser material, or if I grow tired of the setting and characters after about 15 or 20 episodes. Still, I thoroughly enjoyed the original Non Non Biyori and am excited to continue it for Summer 2015.

Plans for this show: Will watch

Teekyuu S5

Opinion: Do I need to say anything more than that I love Teekyuu? I will admit that the comedy of season four was probably the lowest of the four seasons to date, but the anime still made me laugh and smile just about every week. I am hoping that S5 can outrank S4, but even if it’s at the same level, I know I’ll still enjoy this delightfully absurd and ridiculous anime.

Plans for this show: Will watch

Working!!!

Opinion: Working!! is one of my favorite comedy franchises, so, like everything else in this list, I am elated to see it return. However, of the six sequels that I’ll be watching this season, I am looking forward to Working!!! the most. Although it doesn’t rank as highly as Durarara!!, it’s been so long since I last enjoyed an episode of Working!!. And unlike most comedies, I actually felt that Working!! got stronger as it went on, evidenced by my enjoyment of S2 more than S1. I hope the pattern continues because I feel like the characters and comedy in Working!! can continue to grow and that this anime franchise can get better with more time and more episodes.

Plans for this show: Will watch

The following two sections of the preview contains a list of all the new, original anime that will debut during the Summer 2015 anime season, with the first section on the anime I am planning on screening and the latter section the anime I have already rejected. Summer 2015 doesn’t appear to be very remarkable right now, at least in terms of original anime, but there are quite a few anime to try this summer to see if they stick. I am pleased with the number of comedies or comical anime this season, so I figure I’ll enjoy the season regardless, but there doesn’t seem to be a strong contender for serious anime. If you want to borrow my terminology from 2011 (please don’t read my posts from back then), Summer 2015 looks to be good for Brain Off anime but not Brain On anime. Then again, once I get around to watching these anime, then I’ll see how I enjoy the season overall, but it looks to be a mindless season of anime for me… and that’s not necessarily a bad thing at this point. The anime I’ll be watching to start this season are:

Chaos Dragon: Sekiryuu Senyaku

Opinion: So Gen Urobuchi (Puella Magi Madoka Magica), Kinoko Nasu (Fate/stay Night), Ryougo Narita (Durarara!!) and a few others created characters for a tabletop RPG, Red Dragon, which was developed into a 7 volume LN series, Red Dragon, and is now being developed into an anime, Chaos Dragon. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t impressed with the list of names associated with project, but I will admit I am not too thrilled with the prospects of this anime. While there is hype surrounding this project, the big names aren’t working directly on it, and I am weary about it considering its story and how it’ll be developed in this anime. I do enjoy the fact that each of the character creators helped write the LN series, but how that work translates to the anime remains to be seen. The characterization and the fantasy setting should be positive points for this anime, and they should be enough for me to enjoy it, but I am still uncertain about the plot and how it’ll incorporate everything when there are only 12 episodes to work with. At least the art and animation look better in this PV, so it looks to be a pretty solid anime all around.

Plans for this show: Maybe watch

Gangsta.

Opinion: Well, this anime certainly feels original: a couple of “Handymen” take on oddjobs from the mafia and the police in this corrupted city to make a living. I can get behind this edgy, gritty semi-realistic setting, especially if it’s the setting the drives the story and the characters moving forward. The plot is a bit mysterious at this point, revolving around the two main characters getting caught up in a whirlwind of events between the mafia and police, so I am curious to see what they have planned. The anime will need strong characterization for me to enjoy it overall, and it seems to have an interesting cast based on the PV alone. I am intrigued by Gangsta more than most other anime this season based on its darker setting, but it will still need to have a strong cast and story for me to favor it over the rest.

Plans for this show: Maybe watch

God Eater

Opinion: God Eater would probably be in a tier below this one if it weren’t Ufotable animating this, so I might be overinflating the value of God Eater based on studio name and PV alone. I mean, I don’t see much of the appeal in the story, the characters or the setting at this point, and given that this is adapted from a game, I can’t be too sure of how well the translation between media will be. Nonetheless, I am thoroughly impressed with the art and animation in this anime, and given that it’ll be heavy in action for all the battles, I’m sure this will be a dazzling anime to watch. How dazzling will it be for my brain though? I guess I’ll find out…

Plans for this show: Maybe watch

Joukamachi no Dandelion

Opinion: The story of Dandelion is that nine siblings, each with their own special super powers, are being watched by everyone in the country for the purposes of electing a new leader. Dandelion has the kind of crazy synopsis that I like for anime like these, that are heavy in the comedy and slice-of-life relams. Of course, the actual content will dictate whether I like it or not, but at least the setting and characters are in good positions for some humorous content and some interesting drama. That, and I also like it when characters have their own unique superpowers too, even if it’s not a fighting or action anime. The art and animation looks fairly mediocre, but as long as I’m laughing and enjoying the anime, I’ll be fine with what the PV shows us for Dandelion.

Plans for this show: Maybe watch

Ranpo Kidan: Game of Laplace

Opinion: There aren’t enough mystery anime, so I welcome Ranpo Kidan: Game of Laplace with open arms this summer. And considering that the author, Edogawa Ranpo, was a leader in developing Japanese mystery fiction in pre-World War II Japan and in the post-war era, I am intrigued to see how this anime differs from other mystery anime. The author is also heavily inspired by Edgar Allen Poe (and how he derived his pen name, Edogawa Ranpo – just try saying both names together), which is sure lend some distinctiveness to this anime. But, as with any anime, it always depends on how well it is adapted from the source material and how well it matches or satisfies my interests and desires. Although I don’t know much about Ranpo Kidan at this time, I am interested in this more than most of the other anime this season based on how different it feels than everything else, especially with its atypical cast shown in the PV.

Plans for this show: Maybe watch

Sore ga Seiyuu!

Opinion: Sore ga Seiyuu! is going to feature anime industry-centric humor on the lives and jobs of three rookie voice actresses. And while the anime feels pretty shallow in terms of its story and characters and setting, it’s a comedy anime that’s main purpose is to make me laugh and smile. If it can do that, it’s a keeper. Of the various original comedy anime this season, I feel stronger with Sore ga Seiyuu! than the others based on its style, animation, and focus. Sure, focusing on the seiyuu industry seems rather narrow, but at least it has a theme for which to base its humor from. I think it’ll provide more original content than the standard school-centric or slice-of-life-centric comedies that we usually see. Of course, a comedy anime must be funny for me to keep, so it might take an episode or two before I know whether I’m keeping Sore ga Seiyuu! or not.

Plans for this show: Maybe watch

Akagami no Shirayuki-hime (Snow White with Red Hair)

Opinion: I tend to enjoy only a certain, specific style of shoujo romance anime, so I’m not sure if I’ll enjoy the romance in Akagami no Shirayuki-shima. The PV doesn’t leave much of a lasting impression for me, neither through its cast of characters or its art style. I do enjoy fantasy settings in anime, but it doesn’t look too detailed and just a backdrop for which to have a generic romance between one girl and n guys. And beyond the romance, I’m not sure what else there’ll be in the anime since it doesn’t seem to be too dramatic or comical or… anything really. Then again, I don’t know much about the anime beyond the PV, so it’s worth giving it a shot at this point, especially since I’m curious how the anime will handle Shirayuki being a pharmacist.

Plans for this show: Doubtful but it gets a shot

Bikini Warriors

Opinion: Please don’t judge me. Instead, judge my horrific taste in shitty anime and my morbid curiosity to how bad good this anime will be. I’m not expecting much, but I’m curious how they plan to fill out an anime when the whole point of the series is boobs.

Plans for this show: Doubtful but it gets a shot

Charlotte

Opinion: So only a select few school-age kids develop super powers in an otherwise unremarkable typical Japanese high school setting. The synopsis of Charlotte certainly is lacking in originality, but it doesn’t necessarily mean it won’t be worth watching. It just means I can’t get myself excited for it when it sounds like a dozen other anime I’ve watched before. Charlotte is going to need a strong plot or strong characterization for me to get beyond its bland setting, so I figure an episode or two will give me enough material to decide whether to keep it or not.

Plans for this show: Doubtful but it gets a shot

Classroom Crisis

Opinion: I am intrigued by the setting of Classroom Crisis, where the characters are residing on Mars and working on developing technologies to reach the stars, but I feel this anime will be more school-life focused than sci-fi focused. It doesn’t mean the two genres can’t be properly merged or managed, but the PV seemed to be more school than engineering or being a test pilot. Still, those elements were on display in the PV, so there’s some hope with this. Additionally, this is an original anime, and that’s usually a positive when jumping into the unknown like this.

Plans for this show: Doubtful but it gets a shot

Gakkou Gurashi

Opinion: The PV alone doesn’t do the anime justice, making Gakkou Gurashi look like nothing more than a sugary, slice-of-life anime about 4 cute girls at school. Well, that may be their plan considering that the anime is about these 4 girls living at school after surviving a zombie attack. The anime is billed as both a slice-of-life and horror anime. …yeah. Well, I’ll admit that I am intrigued by how it’ll manage to balance these two polar opposites, and after spying on a few pages of the manga, I must admit I am really interested to see how this anime performs. That being said, I have my reservations about this anime based on how well the two genres work with each other. I’ll probably end up keeping this based on the uniqueness of its genres, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll end up loving it like I do with the others that I keep.

Plans for this show: Doubtful but it gets a shot

Gate: Jietai Kanochi Nite, Kaku Tatakaeri

Opinion: So yeah, magical gate appears in Ginza, fantasy monsters attack Japan, JSDF kicks their ass, saves fantasy world from monsters, thinly-veiled right-wing political Japanese messages throughout, etc. etc. Yeah, Gate might be fun depending on how well it unites the military and fantasy elements together, since it seems like it might be an interesting setting for an anime. That being said, I worry about the plot and I dread that the synopsis refers to the main character as an otaku. I think I might like half of Gate and I might hate half of Gate based on what I know from the series now, so it’ll take an episode or two to see which side wins out and whether I watch this anime or not.

Plans for this show: Doubtful but it gets a shot

Himouto! Umaru-chan

Opinion: It’s a comedy… a strange-looking comedy, but a comedy nonetheless. If it can make me laugh, sure, why not, but I’m not expecting much from this since it seems rather simple and cartoony from the PV alone.

Plans for this show: Doubtful but it gets a shot

Jitsu wa Watashi wa

Opinion: So a romantic comedy about a normal Japanese highschool guy who just so happens to have a crush on a girl… who turns out to be a vampire!! Wow, has that ever happened before in an anime!? Well, unfortunately yes, about a hundred times already. I don’t find myself excited for Jitsu wa Watashi wa, but it might be funny and it might be worth watching since I’ve enjoyed many vampire rom-com anime before. An episode should be enough to decide whether this is worth continuing or not.

Plans for this show: Doubtful but it gets a shot

Okusama ga Seito Kaichou!

Opinion: An ecchi romantic comedy about the student body president moving in with the protagonist and claiming to be his wife. Yeah, it sounds awful, but I’m willing to give it an episode to see how the humor plays out and if I can actually enjoy this setting. However, ecchi comedies like this are usually pretty dreadful.

Plans for this show: Doubtful but it gets a shot

Overlord

Opinion: There sure have been a lot of these kids-stuck-in-MMOs anime lately, but this one seems a bit different in that the main character of this anime turns into the “villain” and tries to take over the world. The story is a bit special in that regard, but I can’t say the same for the setting or characters at this point, which probably will be fairly standard for these MMO-setting anime. I’ll give it an episode or two to prove me wrong, but otherwise, it looks like one I’ll probably pass this summer.

Plans for this show: Doubtful but it gets a shot

Rokka no Yuusha

Opinion: The synopsis of this anime is the main reason why I want to try Rokka no Yuusha, that there were six heroes destined to save the world but there are seven who proclaim to be a hero… meaning one might be an enemy. It has enough of a rareness in its story that I am interested to see how it plays out, and although there are a ton of fantasy anime out this season, this one seems to have one of the richer settings and better art styles. That being said, I still am a bit cautious with anime of this caliber since it’ll be a character-driven anime and it needs to have strong, interesting characters for me to enjoy it. It deserves a few episodes at this point, to see how everything unfolds.

Plans for this show: Doubtful but it gets a shot

Suzakinishi

Opinion: Suzakinishi might have the loliest character designs that I can remember. Again, a comedy, so I’ll give it an episode to see if it can entertainment, but seriously… those character designs. I could understand if it were chibi all the time like Kill Me Baby, but no, Suzakinishi looks super awkward most of the time.

Plans for this show: Doubtful but it gets a shot

Ushio and Tora

Opinion: The art and animation in the PV certainly catches my eye, and it certainly seems encouraging for the action scenes that this anime promises, but I wonder how the story and the characters will be in Ushio and Tora. For one, it seems pretty shounen in terms of its appeal, with a kid needing to use a demon to fight back the evil bug spirits that are attacking his city. It… might be good, but it might be a story and characters that I just don’t care for, and that often happens with shounen anime. We’ll see after an episode or two if this is my kind of shounen anime or not.

Plans for this show: Doubtful but it gets a shot

Wakako-zake

Opinion: The anime is 3-minute episodes about a yukkuri lady getting drunk off sake at bars every night. Yeah, this seems pretty manageable, but it depends on its content and style just like every other anime. Still, three minute episodes about a girl getting drunk seems to be pretty fun. I don’t know how well I’ll enjoy it, but as long as it’s amusing, I can get behind this anime.

Plans for this show: Doubtful but it gets a shot

The first two sections confirm the lists of anime that I am planning on watching based on my knowledge and understanding of the franchises. All that remains in this season preview are the anime that I have already decided against. The reason why these anime are slotted here is because they either appear to already be flawed, boring, or simply outside my demographic. While these anime may in fact be watchable to some, they do not appear watchable for me. I doubt I’ll examine these anime any more than the PV linked in their sections. However, there’s always a chance for me to pick one or two up every season, so not all hope is lost for these shows if you see one of your favorites down here. However, for most of them, there’s already zero chance I’ll even think about them after writing my opinions for each.

Aoharu x Kikanjuu (Aoharu x Machine Gun)

Opinion: So a crossdressing girl gets tricked into playing survival games with a con artist and ero-manga artist. Even if it’s a comedy and action anime, the style doesn’t seem to fit with what I like. Even though I’m not planning to watch it, I am curious to hear how this turns out.

Plans for this show: No dice

Danchigai

Opinion: Some normal Japanese highschool guy lives with four imoutos and yup, I’m done.

Plans for this show: No dice

Kusen Madoushi Kouhousei no Kyoukan

Opinion: World being destroyed by monsters/aliens/demons? Protag enrolled at a magical highschool where he’s the strongest? A half-dozen girls who also fight and are all apart of his harem? This might be the most derivative LN adaptation I’ve seen yet. I honestly can’t find anything original about this anime that hasn’t been done by another LN adaptation before.

Plans for this show: No dice

Makura no Danshi

Opinion: It’s an anime about different dakimakura talking to you before going to sleep? Am I reading this correctly?

Plans for this show: No dice

Million Doll

Opinion: Something something idol-loving hikikomori something something magic powers something something dropped.

Plans for this show: No dice

Monster Musume no Iru Nichijou

Opinion: I don’t watch ecchi harem comedies when the girls are hot, so why would I watch it when they’re not?

Plans for this show: No dice

Prison School

Opinion: This looks awful, even for an anime.

Plans for this show: No dice

Shimoneta to Iu Gainen ga Sonzai Shinai Taikutsu na Sekai (Shimoseka) (A Boring World Where the Concept of Dirty Jokes Doesn’t Exist)

Opinion: I will enjoy not watching this anime.

Plans for this show: No dice

Venus Project

Opinion: Yes, I know that the PV is for the mobile game, but it’s an anime about idols battling each other and half the series will be live-action. I’ll pass.

Plans for this show: No dice

Wakaba Girl

Opinion: Cute, wacky girls doing cute things at a school. Maybe if people think it’s funny or like it, then maybe…

Plans for this show: No dice

With that said, there is nothing left to preview for the Summer 2015 anime season. The next step will be to watch and assess each of the new anime coming out, which should be happening shortly. I’ll be providing my reviews and opinions for most of these anime in my First Impressions posts once each these shows debut. Until that time, I hope everyone enjoys the start of a new anime season!

This post reviews: Gangsta., Okusama ga Seitokaichou!, Ranpo Kitan: Game of Laplace, Classroom Crisis, Gate: Jietai Kanochi Nite, Kaku Tatakaeri, and Wakaba Girl.

A quick note, I’m actually caught up on all of the new shows that have aired this season, but have fallen behind on these posts due to being out of town (again). There will be four of these First Impressions posts for Summer 2015, with the remaining parts out soon.

Watching:

Classroom Crisis

Classroom Crisis has a certain endearing charm thanks primarily to its characters and their chemistry together. Unlike many school anime that focus on general studies, all of the students in Classroom Crisis are connected through their passion for engineering and researching advanced space flight, so the students all have a natural connection with each other. Furthermore, as demonstrated by the first episode, they function as a somewhat cohesive unit, with certain characters taking charge for certain roles. And to facilitate this, most of the characters have some level of depth and personality that lends to the idea that this anime is about a cohort of teenagers rather than a few special students in school of 3,000. The setting is clearly a strength too, not only because it’s a sci-fi setting taking place on Mars, but that it’s focusing on the technology and interstellar travel. In a sense, the setting reminds me of Mouretsu Space Pirates, albeit without the silly privateering focus. Additionally, the art and animation are simple and delightful, and fit a more relaxed mood that I think will predominate the series.  That said, I’m not sure what most of the anime will concern itself with, and my main reservations with this series pertain to the plot with the Kiryuu appearing before the class at the end of the episode. Everything else has worked hard for me to keep the anime this summer, but it’ll depend on the plot with how highly it ranks.

Wakaba Girl

It’s hard to pass up a cute, chibi, 4-girl, slice-of-life/comedy anime like this. Wakaba Girl doesn’t pack a powerful punch, but the anime is entertaining with some of its humor. And when a joke isn’t funny, at least you have chibi girls making cute faces, so it doesn’t feel like a total waste of time. And with only 8-minute episodes, it doesn’t require much of a commitment to sit, watch, and smile once a week. That said, if any element of this anime’s formula had been changed (cute, chibi, and 4-girl), I probably wouldn’t be watching it. Really, Wakaba Girl is kinda flat, but I can’t really say no when everything else is so pleasant. Let it be known to animators in Japan that those 3 elements together are an obvious weakness of mine and that you could get me to watch probably anything if you include all 3 factors in a healthy balance.

Undecided:

Gangsta.

I want to like Gangsta, I really do. So much of this anime appeals to me with its harsh, graphic setting, its knowledgeable yet neutral protagonists, and its alluring while joyless art style. It has a lot of elements that tell me that this is the anime for me… yet, I couldn’t help but feel somehow bored with this first episode. Even the climax of the episode, full of action, drama, and retribution felt… lackluster. Although there are a number of things I enjoyed about this episode, I didn’t enjoy it overall, and it’s difficult for me to pinpoint where something went wrong. Really, Gangsta is an enigma which means I’ll want to keep it around for another episode or two. However, if this unsettling boredom doesn’t dissipate, I’ll consider dropping the anime, but I don’t really expect it once the story picks up and more police and mafia are involved. That being said, this first episode wasn’t terribly impressive.

Ranpo Kitan: Game of Laplace

One episode really isn’t enough material to make a correct decision for Ranpo Kitan: Game of Laplace. After all, the focus and content of this first episode was to establish its characters, its setting, and its first mystery, all of which feel incomplete at this time. After the second episode, and probably at the end of the first mystery, then I think I’ll have a better idea, especially in regard to how the mystery is presented and solved. Still, I can’t help but feel unenthusiastic with Game of Laplace, especially with Hashiba and Akechi. At least Kobayashi is interesting in his quirkiness, but Hashiba is dreadful and Akechi is jaded with his redundant personality of “genius detective boy”. Still, I want to see how this first story arc resolves before I give up on this, but it’s not looking good at this point.

Dropped:

Okusama ga Seitokaichou!

It was awful.

Gate: Jietai Kanochi Nite, Kaku Tatakaeri

So, yeah, the anime wants to portray the main character as some gallant hero who serves Japan with courage and pride, but really, all he cares about is buying anime porn. It doesn’t really make a consistent product when the anime wants this guy to be admirable and glorious and then have him talk about doujinshis and otaku stuff the whole time and not seem to care about anything he’s doing for Japan. I can’t tell if this is supposed to be glorifying the JSDF or patronizing it. Like, I can’t tell what this anime wants to do, and I can’t tell who this anime is trying to target. You’d think that this is targeting otaku, but wouldn’t it be better if it were all cute girls fighting monsters instead, something like Strike Witches or Garupan which have demonstrated success? Like, I don’t get anything about this anime. Usually when an anime is awful, I can at least identify some group of people who might like it. This? I can’t. It’s a mystery to me, and it’s one that I won’t be solving any time soon.

This post reviews: Charlotte, Rokka no Yuusha, Ushio to Tora, Akagami no Shirayuki-hime, and Jitsu wa Watashi wa.

Judging from how well I am receiving the anime this season, this could either be a busy or open season. As of right now, there aren’t many I’ve deciding on keeping or dropping at this point with many of the shows needing second or third episodes. It might be a while before I know what I’m planning on watching, but I should have time to watch everything I want. All I need to do is decide what I want to watch first.

Watching:

Rokka no Yuusha

Among the mass of fantasy anime this season, Rokka no Yuusha stands above the rest in terms of the quality and detail of its setting. Not only does Rokka no Yuusha deviate from the tried-and-true medieval Europe-style fantasy for an innovative Aztec/Mayan/Incan one, but it has a thorough history that matches this world, too. The writing is particularly pleasant too, especially with how the characters conduct themselves and how they talk to each other. There’s personality and meaning in their language, and the story flows smoothly through their words. The art and animation are robust, and do well for the action and non-action scenes. Particularly of note is the directing and cinematography, with a wide variety of shots in each locale to give you the idea of space, architecture, and environment. And while all that is good, I do have some issues with how the series will move forward. Although there will be the mystery of who isn’t a saint among the six, I do wonder what else the story will have besides the heroes fighting monsters. And that’s another thing, I do want to see the heroes work together, especially since there are six of them, and I want to see them struggle. There’s no point in having six heroes if one is strong enough to defeat an army of demons and they only need 6 for the big, bad boss. Also, I can’t tell if I’ll like the other characters yet since we have yet to meet them, but Adelt and Nashetania are okay right now. However, Rokka no Yuusha has done enough to hook me in through it setting, writing, and directing.

Undecided:

Charlotte

I’m partial to anime where characters have superpowers, especially if they’re not almighty superpowers either. And considering the incompleteness of the superpowers in Charlotte, not to mention the stupidity and narcissism of the cast, I find Charlotte to be particularly charming. It has a specific appeal that I enjoy about anime which can lend itself well to imagination, characterization, and above all, comedy. But I am a bit tepid with Charlotte, principally on how it feels like they stole Lelouch from Code Geass and plopped him down in a stereotypical school setting with other special kids with not-so-special superpowers. The other characters seemed to lack depth or personality, but it could also be that it’s been one episode thus far and there hasn’t been much material on them either. The writing was practical and the first episode was engaging, but I wonder where it’ll go from here, especially since everything that happened was setting the foundation for the rest of the show. To summarize, I’ve really no idea what’ll happen with the rest of Charlotte, but there’s enough for me to like and hope that’ll turn out well. I’ll give it a few more episodes to see if it’s going down the path I want with these superpowers and characters.

Akagami no Shirayuki-hime

I tend to enjoy shoujo romances, so it shouldn’t be surprising for me to say that I enjoyed the first episode of Akagami no Shirayuki-hime. However, I’ve noticed that the manga from which this anime is adapted from, has been going on for 10 years now meaning… another romance anime without a conclusive ending. And that means, probably not much progress than what we’ve seen in the first episode. Still, I enjoy Shirayuki as a heroine and am interested in her story, so maybe there’ll be more to this anime than a static and placid romance. There wasn’t much comedy in this first episode, nor was there much drama or excitement, but I find most of the anime agreeable right now, especially in terms of the characters, art, and setting. I’ll give it a few more episodes to see how it picks up, not only because I enjoyed the first episode and I adore shoujo romances, but because I believe the anime might develop into something good for the next two seasons.

Dropped:

Ushio to Tora

While I do appreciate this throwback to the 90s, Ushio to Tora doesn’t really match my style at all. I can’t ever recall liking an anime that’s as dependent on physical humor as Ushio to Tora, nor can I remember ever enjoying an anime with such a brash and rude and shounen protagonist as Ushio. Furthermore, Ushio to Tora is quite a lengthy manga, totaling 313 chapters over a six-year span, so even if I could overlook those elements for a few episodes, I know I couldn’t for however long this anime will be. And to continue off that point, these types of shounen anime often have long, slow story arcs littered with episodic content, and fights with “youkai of the week”. It’s not what I want from an anime, and if I really wanted to watch something with that 90s feel, I have quite a few neglected 90s anime in my backlog that would be better fits than this.

Jitsu wa Watashi wa

Another day, another generic harem romantic comedy about a normal Japanese high school boy and the most beautiful/athletic/smartest/blah blah blah girl in the school who *gasp* is also a vampire. Unsurprisingly derivative and cliché, I couldn’t get through the first episode. Dropped.

This post reviews:Chaos Dragon: Sekiryuu Senyaku, Joukamachi no Dandelion, Overlord, Bikini Warriors, and Sore ga Seiyuu!.

Since all of the anime included in Part 3 debuted this week, as well as the anime that will be covered in Part 4, there is no urgent need to do a Weekly Anime post for this week. Expect the first Weekly Anime post for Summer 2015 to be next weekend once I am able to come to a conclusion on a few of these undecided shows.

Watching:

Joukamachi no Dandelion

I’m naturally drawn to anime where characters have superpowers, so it isn’t too unexpected that I’m content with the first episode of Dandelion. What keeps me interested in Dandelion is that, instead of focusing on their superpowers and about them trying to take down some big, bad villain or win some martial arts tournament, Joukamachi no Dandelion focuses on its characters first and their dilemmas of trying to become the next king. In fact, their superpowers as almost an afterthought right now. Certainly, the superpowers will be relevant to each character’s story and development, but it’s refreshing to see these elements used as a way to support the characters rather than defining the characters by them. It’ll be fascinating to see how these characters grow and mature with these abilities as extra material. Furthermore, I enjoyed the chemistry the family has with each other, especially since you can see both sides of them helping each other while also competing to win the election. The writing does well to present both sides in reasonable doses. The aesthetics aren’t particularly remarkable, but I am persuaded to these cute character designs and their personalities. The setting doesn’t inspire me too much, outside the election, but it might grow into something nice once a conflict between the kingdom and someone else appears. The first episode of Dandelion was encouraging and has me hooked. I’ll be keeping this anime around this season.

Bikini Warriors

As expected, Bikini Warriors is 4 minutes of boobs, bikinis, and fantasy-themed fanserivce… but I really can’t fault an anime for that when that’s exactly how Bikini Warriors advertised itself. It isn’t trying to be anything more than an ecchi anime, and Bikini Warriors delivered what it promised. What came as a surprise, however, is that Bikini Warriors actually had some suitable comedy for its first episode. The first episode poked fun at itself and its premise of sexy girls in magical bikini armor. Of course, the comedy was low-hanging fruit, but the anime is self-aware and is able to use itself as humor, so that’s a positive for future episodes. I think I might actually enjoy this if this style of fantasy- or JRPG-humor continues to be a focus for the non-boobs material. The animation is minimalistic, almost criminal to call this an anime and not a slideshow, but I’m not expecting artistic quality with this masterpiece. Sure, Bikini Warriors is bad, but it’s not terrible… and if it can get me to laugh at a few of its jokes for 4 minutes each week, then why not?

Sore ga Seiyuu!

Sore ga Seiyuu! is an anime about cute girls who like anime and voice cute girls who like anime and voice cute girls (and things) in an anime. That said, it’s a cute, humorous slice-of-life anime focusing primarily on the voice acting industry, with three cute girls are our primary subjects. Unlike Shirobako which had a strong narrative, multifaceted characterization and insightful views on the entire anime industry, Sore ga Seiyuu! seems to be episodic in nature, heavy on the comedy, and focused entirely on voice acting. The anime is exceptionally cute, probably the cutest this season, with most of the gags aided visually by delightful reactions and adorable faces by the characters. There’s not much depth or intelligence or substance to Sore ga Seiyuu!, but this first episode was endearing and entertaining and seemed to match well with what I wanted from it. I don’t expect much from Sore ga Seiyuu!, but as long as it can stay fresh and original, it should keep me entertained throughout.

Undecided:

Chaos Dragon: Sekiryuu Senyaku

The first episode of Chaos Dragon was pretty chaotic, a haphazard and disorganized story that tried to fit too much progression and too many characters in such a short window. The whole sequence leading up to the fight felt rushed, and it was failing to develop on its setting and characters, which lead to the fight and subsequent partnership with the Red Dragon to feel hollow and meaningless. The first episode bit off more than it could chew and the execution suffered. And while I still have issues with the directing moving forward, there were still enough elements in the anime to keep me interested in what will happen next, especially if the story slows down. From what I saw of the setting, I like, though it does pale in comparison to some of the other fantasy anime this season. Ibuki seems a bit generic as a protagonist, but the other cast members seem to be a bit more creative, though we haven’t seen much of them at this point. The story might actually be the strongest attribute of this anime, especially if the five characters all have different motives between each other. The one other notable with Chaos Dragon was that the art and animation were below average, a concern moving forward if it intends to be heavy on the fighting. I’ll give it another episode to see how it improves and see how the other characters function in the story, but this first episode really felt confused and messy.

Dropped:

Overlord

Overlord is much like the other anime in the astonishing well-represented “character-is-stuck-in-an-MMO” genre, except that the character is a villain instead of a hero. …and, that’s pretty much it. There’s not a lot to Overlord that isn’t seen elsewhere in these types of anime: it’s a teenage power fantasy where the protagonist the strongest character in a video game without putting in any work whatsoever. And even though, the main character is a villain in Overlord, he really isn’t all that evil or consumed with hatred like you’d want from a villain. Instead, he fairly normal and nerdy and likes groping the breasts of his NPC girlfriend. We don’t know anything of Yggdrasil’s world or why the protagonist is stuck in this game, and the lack of development to this point leads me to believe it’s going to be some generic MMO setting and some stupid problem with the game. The characters don’t seem to be too appealing either, as they’re all obedient servants of the overlord. At this point, I’m fairly confident the anime won’t change too much or improve too much, which means it’s probably best if we go our separate ways at this point.