Anime General Thread (Official)

[LockmanCapulet]

Welp, Sound! Euphonium ended today. I guess that wraps Spring 2015 in terms of what all I was watching.

 

My overall ranking, then thoughts below:

1. Assassination Classroom (cour 2)
2. Knights of Sidonia: Battle for Planet Nine
3. My Love Story!!
4. Re-Kan!!
5. Plastic Memories
6. Sound! Euphonium

...Holy cow I didn't finish many shows. I dropped six! (Arslan just stopped being interesting, Blood Blockade Battlefront was an incomprehensible mess, Denpa Kyoushi had a nice start but ran out of steam quickly, Gunslinger Stratos had an interesting premise and a killer ED but never found its legs, Mikagura School Suite ran out of steam after a while, and Seraph was just awful through and through.)

 

I really liked the first half of Assassination Classroom, but man oh man do I love it now. Adding a solid story arc to the last third of the show really worked in its favor. The finale was awesome, I'm stoked for Season 2, I'm currently binging the manga, and did I mention the killer new OP? (Dancing Karasuma is where it's at)

 

Knights of Sidonia remained just as epic for its second season as it was from the start. The animation has markedly improved too. A massive portion of the manga has been translated officially, I'll have to check that out.

 

My Love Story!! is nothing short of brilliant. I just love how it focuses on the more "ordinary" aspects of relationships rather than creating unnecessary melodrama (though I wouldn't mind watching Gouda jump out of an exploding building again).

 

I'm surprised at how much I enjoyed Re-Kan!, but it was perfectly charming. The ghost characters ironically gave the show life, and the (regrettably minor) development of the human cast (aside from Inoue and Amami) was nice.

 

I don't think Plastic Memories turned out to be what any of us wanted at first (something in the same vein as Death Parade, using its scifi setting to analyze mortality via weekly vignettes) but after about five episodes of cool scifi worldbuilding and another four or so of tossing all that out the window with mindless sitcom jokes at Tsukasa's expense, it managed to stick the landing and go out with a classy bang.

 

Sound! Euphonium was... a thing, I guess. I signed up for a drama about a high school orchestra club and got, as I described it to a friend, Free! but with girls playing concert band instead of guys in Speedos. It was hard not to be happy with how the finale turned out though, and Midori and Hazuki's antics were consistently fun. 

 

In other news, the recent Amagi Brilliant Park OVA was nothing short of perfection. I've also fallen in love with Nisekoi (as you may have guessed by my new icon), and Psycho-Pass is pretty enjoyable too. Now if you'll excuse me, the new volume of Sword Art Online: Progressive is calling my name!

[Terminus]

Well, I finally finished everything I was following from The Spring season. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't really memorable, with a couple exceptions. Anyways...

 

1. Fate/stay night UBW

2. DanMachi

3. Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches

4. The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-Chan

5. I Can't Understand What my Husband is Saying 2

6. Nisekoi:

7. Seraph of the End

8. Triage X

9. Ninja Slayer

 

Fate was generally pretty good throughout, but the final battle between Shirou and Gilgamesh was just great and easily my favorite battle of the year so far. Also, that epilogue was pretty good, great to finally see Luvia in main Fate and MORE WAVER VELVET!!! That episode just really made me want a Hollow Ataraxia anime. Which I REALLY hope they do after Heaven's Feel.

 

DanMachi ended up really growing on me over it's run. Wasn't really expecting much after reading the kinda meh first novel, but it ended up fixing some of the problems I had with if, and the world and characters ended up turning out much better than I was expecting. Overall, it was a pretty good series, and I'm looking forward to the English releases of the rest of the novels and a (hopeful) eventual second season.

 

Yamada-Kun's last few episodes felt kinda rushed compared to the manga, but that's par for the course here. It stayed generally good and funny, and it ended at a good spot so it feels complete even though there's a lot more source material. I wouldn't mind another season of this, but since the character list pretty much triples in the next arc, it would need to spend a lot more time on it's characters. Which would be hard, especially since pretty much everyone, including the new characters, gets sidelined to a minor character role.

 

Nagato Yuki-Chan had been in drama mode for the last few episodes of the season, which was by no means a bad thing, but it ended up being such a good more serious show, it's gonna be a bit different when it goes back to being a comedy this week. Still, looking forward to the 3 or so episodes in the summer season.

 

I literally feel like I can't say anything about Husband I haven't already said. It's generally innocent, funny, and it feels like we've gotten nowhere since last season (although getting anywhere isn't really a big part of this show). Looking forward to season 3.

 

Nisekoi is spinning it's wheels. And it will continue to do do until the last girl is introduced. And then it will be spinning it's wheels again. And then there will be some big development. But, surprise! It's not really any development at all, it's still just spinning it's wheels. At least time is progressing in the series, and I do hope something happens when they become Third-Years. But until then, we just get a series that's spinning it's wheels. (Although that's not to say I don't like it. It's funny and has pretty good characters.)

 

Seraph... I don't know. Pretty meh, it was kinda decent at remembering what was happening in the beginning of the manga. Because when you're following a monthly manga series that moves kinda slow, it gets kinda hard to remember what happened three chapters ago. Or two. Or one. Gonna watch the next season because I could use a refresher on more of the manga.

 

And I gave my opinions on Triage earlier right after it ended and dropped Ninja Slayer, so yeah.

 

I've, started a couple of short series for the summer season, Miss Monochrome 2 and My Wife is the Student Council President. Miss Monochrome is more kinda meh comedy that I'm not even sure why I'm watching after the entire first season, and My Wife is the Student Council President looks like it's gonna be a pretty funny raunchy comedy. Off to a kinda halfway decent start.

 

And I recently got the first (2-in-1) volume of Freezing, really glad to finally have that in English. Also glad that they are 2-in-1 volumes, as this means the entire first arc (pretty much the first anime season) will be out by the end of the year, and if they continue releasing at the same rate, the second season will be covered by the end of next year.

 

I'm also getting the first volume of Non Non Biyori next week, might get a few other things, probably the next SAO Progressive novel and I might try the first volume of Evergreen.

[Ektris]

I'm torn on Yamada-kun. I didn't like how rushed it was and how characters didn't have enough time to develop, but while watching every episode, I was still very much enjoying them. It was a fun, albeit short, ride. I don't think a second season has to happen either.

 

~|ET|~

[Terminus]

Well, I've started quite a few things this season. It's looking to be one of the biggest seasons for me, once everything gets started I'll be watching 13 shows. So far, what I've watched is looking like this:

1. Shimoneta

2. Charlotte

3. Non Non Biyori Repeat

4. DRRR!!

5. Actually, I Am

6. Nagato Yuki-Chan

7. My Wife is the Student Council President

8. Monster Musume

9. Miss Monochrome 2

 

Shimoneta was hilarious. The premise is pretty silly and kinda bizarre (I'm pretty sure an entire high school full of students with extremely pure minds is just impossible), and it really worked for me.

 

Charlotte was pretty cool, I really liked that Yu is pretty much just a horrible scheming jerk with a really specific superpower that makes him even more of a horrible scheming jerk (especially shown in his plan to get the girl he wants), and overall he's kinda refreshing main character.

 

Non Non Biyori was pretty much more of the same from the first season, this week we got a look at what happened just before the first season started, plus a lot of Ren-chon. Which is always good.

 

DRRR!! is still DRRR!!. Which means kinda slow, but still interesting. Mostly this week was dealing with the fallout of the last episode, but it's already looking like stuff is gonna get interesting soon.

 

Actually, I Am was decent, might turn out to be a good rom-com. Asashi and Yoko are an interesting pair, with the one who can't possibly keep a secret going after the most secretive girl in the school, but Asahi's friends seem to be a more generic bunch.

 

Monster Musume was better than I expected, however I don't expect that to last as I couldn't stand the manga after 20 or so chapters. Probably the fact that there's still only one girl at the moment is what it had going for it this episode.

[LockmanCapulet]

Not a bad start to the summer season. Lots of series with some serious potential.

 

Akagami no Shirayukihime had a great start! I'm getting Yona vibes from this, which is a good thing. The animation is fantastic too, especially in the details of charatcers' smaller motions. The scene where Zen confronted the prince stood out in that way.

 

Gate, Classroom Crisis and Charlotte all established cool premises. Moreso Gate. Expecting great things from all. Especially Gate. :3

 

Nothing else much stood out to me yet. Hopefully we get some real gems this season.

 

(Also can we talk about how Aoharu x Kikanjuu is literally Ouran with guns? Like there is no other discernable difference.)

[Hodor]

Legend of the Galactic Heroes, both the novels and anime, got licensed.

 

Berserk resumes serialization this month. Truly this is the best of times.

[dotcom]

I haven't started every show I'm planning on watching this summer so I will save those thoughts for another post.

 

For now I'm just overjoyed (and overhyped) that Owarimonogatari has been officially announced, slated for this fall season. Turned what had looked like a really uneventful season into the most anticipated thing for me in an extremely long time. It's gonna be sweeeeet. (gotta wonder when we'll actually see koyomimonogatari though.) Between this new series and the translations of the novels starting in November with Kizu, this is going to be one fricking great year for Monogatari. Now I'm just hoping the universe will push the envelope with this and that more monogatari figmas will be announced at wonfes this month or something. I can only hope.

[Jobber]

So how does everyone feel about DragonBall Super Ep. 1?

 

I'm sorta 'meh'. I know the first episode was to set the story so far, but I wish there was longer dialogues instead of the "where are these characters now?" scenes. 

[Terminus]

Well, I've started everything I was planning on watching this season, except Prisma Illya, but that doesn't start for a while. Doesn't change stuff too much, but here:

1. Shimoneta

2. Gangsta

3. Charlotte

4. Non Non Biyori Repeat

5. Prison School

6. DRRR!!

7. Actually, I Am

8. Nagato Yuki-Chan

9. My Wife is the Student Council President

10. Monster Musume

11. Miss Monochrome 2

12. Bikini Warriors

 

I'm not really sure what I was expecting from Bikini Warriors (a few of my friends and I are all Queen's Blade fans, so we were probably hoping for something like that), but this this doesn't even come close, I'm not even sure if there are supposed to be any characters, the dialogue and plot (if you can call the things in the first episode that) were just awful, and I'm pretty sure this show just kills brain cells.

 

On the good side, Gangsta was pretty fun. It has a neat setting and some cool characters, and the action scenes were also pretty good. Definitely gonna be keeping an eye on this.

 

Prison School adapted the beginning of the manga pretty well. The transition of the characters from manga to anime looks pretty nice, and it does a good job at keeping Hiramoto's style. I think this one will turn out pretty good.

[LockmanCapulet]

I haven't started every show I'm planning on watching this summer so I will save those thoughts for another post.

 

For now I'm just overjoyed (and overhyped) that Owarimonogatari has been officially announced, slated for this fall season. Turned what had looked like a really uneventful season into the most anticipated thing for me in an extremely long time. It's gonna be sweeeeet. (gotta wonder when we'll actually see koyomimonogatari though.) Between this new series and the translations of the novels starting in November with Kizu, this is going to be one fricking great year for Monogatari. Now I'm just hoping the universe will push the envelope with this and that more monogatari figmas will be announced at wonfes this month or something. I can only hope.

What's the __monogatari series all about? I've heard good things but know nothing except it has a confusingly large number of different titles/subseries/spinoffs.

[dotcom]

 

I haven't started every show I'm planning on watching this summer so I will save those thoughts for another post.

 

For now I'm just overjoyed (and overhyped) that Owarimonogatari has been officially announced, slated for this fall season. Turned what had looked like a really uneventful season into the most anticipated thing for me in an extremely long time. It's gonna be sweeeeet. (gotta wonder when we'll actually see koyomimonogatari though.) Between this new series and the translations of the novels starting in November with Kizu, this is going to be one fricking great year for Monogatari. Now I'm just hoping the universe will push the envelope with this and that more monogatari figmas will be announced at wonfes this month or something. I can only hope.

What's the __monogatari series all about? I've heard good things but know nothing except it has a confusingly large number of different titles/subseries/spinoffs.

 

At its most basic, it's about "oddities." Supernatural entities that afflict various people in different ways. The protagonist is a half-vampire, and the story at the beginning is about him meeting a bunch of girls afflicted by oddities and helping them out. Curses, ghosts, possessions, stuff like that. It has a lot of standard "light novel anime" tropes, but it is far from a standard series. It's an interesting series in that it is extremely "artsy" (It's Shaft at its Shaft-iest) and extremely dialogue heavy. Much of the anime is just people talking. It's also interesting because it is very, very smart. In its dialogue, its plot, its progression, its meta commentary and character interaction and development. It's characters are for the most part not very good people and everything and everyone is flawed. And although it is a harem, as the plot progresses things change and get challenged and there's a lot of really fun stuff the further along you go. (at least imo)

 

I would sort of describe it as the anti-Nisekoi. (or at least, when I watched Nisekoi, I thought of it as the anti-Monogatari) In that Nisekoi is about as generic a harem series as is imaginable, while Monogatari is everything but.  The anime are both from Shaft, so stylistically they have a bit more in common than one would think. 

 

It's a great series, but it's not for everyone. It's a very unique series in a multitude of ways. And parts of it are fairly sketchy (especially when the main character's sisters are involved). It can also be sort of an acquired taste...It is one of my favorites now, but I did not care for the first season (Bakemonogatari)  and actively hated the second (Nisemonogatari). It wasn't until the third proper season (...Second Season) that it really started blowing me away. But it's really a very well done series all around, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it. The payoff is worth it. 

Edited July 11, 2015 by farmstink buttlass

[Toa of Gallifrey]

This season I'm only watching Gakkou Gurashi! as I'm still catching up with older series and this one was recommended to me by a friend. I haven't read the LN so I don't know how well or how poorly it was adapted but

the twist at the end with the zombies was great, I suspected something was up with the barricades and such but that wham scene was just excellent.

 

[LockmanCapulet]

@Farmstink: I'm intrigued. I'll give it a look!

[dotcom]

I don't feel like ranking these nor do I feel like I could do so in any meaningful manner, so here are My Thoughts on the anime I am watching this season so far.

 

-Charlotte: Like Terminus mentioned, the fact that the main character is kind of an huge jerk is pretty refreshing, and as a whole the entire idea of the incomplete superpowers is pretty interesting. So far nothing that intriguing has happened, but it's cool enough.

 

-Classroom*Crisis: It's alright I guess. Nothing has really happened nor do any of the characters stand out, so it's...there.

 

-DRRR!!x2 Ten: Pretty good thus far. It was cool to see Seiji/Mika/Namie involved in the latest episode since for the most part they've stayed out of the spotlight for a long time.

 

-Gatchaman Crowds Insight: Pretty sweet! Probably the most entertaining thing for me so far, but then I just like GC in general. It hasn't been that long since I saw the first season, but it's cool to see the characters again. I hope the original team interacts more eventually though, they're pretty spread apart and I don't think we've even seen OD outside of his show...

 

-Himouto! Umaru-chan: I'm an episode behind on this one, but anyway, the first episode was decent enough. Entertaining to a decent extent. Hope it proves more entertaining in the future.

 

-Jitsu wa Watashi wa: First episode wasn't particularly interesting but the second one was pretty fun, I didn't really expect that twist. (i thought she was just a robot) Kind of generic otherwise but the eccentric personalities of the girls could prove for more fun antics.

 

-Castle Town Dandelion: Not bad, but not really good either.

 

-Shimoseka: A pleasant surprise. Interesting themes, funny jokes, funny meta-gags, nice music, all around a good package. The censorship is good. Pretty fun so far.

 

-Sore ga Seiyuu: Pretty informative anime. I really like how they've had voice actors guest star as themselves, Kamiya Hiroshi's appearance in the latest episode was great. Other than the information and the guest stars (and the decent music, notably the fun ending) it's kind of bland, though.

 

-Wakako-zake: Man, I dunno.

 

-Wooser's Hand-to-Mouth Life Phantasmagoric Arc: The fact that episodes this season are twice as long as previous ones isn't. Super fun. Good ending as usual, though, and Darth Wooser is still cool.

 

On other news, I super lost interest in Ninja Slayer when it turned into 'let's see how far we can degrade nancy: the show' because wow do i not give a care about that. Even outside of that the gag's really run its course. I'm not sure how I'm gonna stand 12 more episodes of this.

 

Oh yeah, I watched Sakasama no Patema a few weeks ago. I liked it a lot. The concept behind it is one I've always wanted to see in a story, so I'm glad I found that movie. It could have used work in some areas, but all in all it was really neat.

Edited July 17, 2015 by farmstink buttlass

[Ektris]

Regarding DRRR!!x Ten, I've really enjoyed the first couple of episodes this season. I felt like they were immensely more coherant than the early Shou ones. That is, the "timeline" is clearer and they're easier to follow. For whatever reason, the first couple Shou episodes just confused me a lot until later things had them all click into place. The one that just aired this past Saturday in particular I really liked, especially with the characters it focused on.

 

~|ET|~

[LockmanCapulet]

It's been nearly 2 weeks since anyone's posted, figured I'd stir the pot with a question for anyone who's watched the Fate/ series.

 

I've seen that there's several different series of the anime, followign the different routes of the visual novel, and other spinoff/side/prequel/sequel manga and light novels as well. From what I've best gathered, it seems that the "proper" order is to watch both seasons of Fate/Zero, then Fate/stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works (the most recent 2-season TV series), with the original TV anime being an alternate story disconnected from Zero. Is this correct? Where exactly do the other works best fit in? Is it true the UBW movie should be avoided at all costs? And am I correct in assuming the Fate/kaleid series is an unrelated spinoff?

[Terminus]

STAY THE #!%* AWAY FROM THE UBW MOVIE AT ALL COSTS. Especially since it's already been replaced by the new UBW series, which is way infinitely better than the movie and a lot better than the first TV series.

 

Anyways, order: it's generally flexible, I went Zero-F/SN-UBW, although going in the order they came out (F/SN-Zero-UBW) would probably be pretty good too, as UBW flows pretty well as a sequel to Zero and F/SN finished airing long before Zero happened. F/SN and UBW are both alternate versions of the same story (two of the three routes in the original VN), and go in drastically different directions after a few episodes, but they both add to different parts of the Fate universe so I do recommend you watch both.

 

Fate/kaleid is a silly magical girl spinoff with no real connection to main Fate other than the characters. I enjoy it, and it's definitely worth trying if you like the Fate series.

 

 

Anyways, it turns out Shimoneta is way more messed up than I was expecting and possibly extremely mentally scarring. I don't know what to think of it anymore but I guess I kinda still enjoy it. But it also kinda makes me want to give up on anime.

[dotcom]

Oh yeah, Shimoseka has gone way off the deep end. It's gone way past what anyone could have expected and then proceeded at mach speed. My reaction is more of the opposite, though. I think it is amazing, and I love it. I mean, yeah, it's horrifying (THEY WARNED US)  but it's just as good as it's ever been, if not more so. Anna's side of the development is unexpected (and HOW), but the rest of the story is proceeding more or less how I was expecting it. The dirty revolution is starting, SOX is growing, and Tanukichi is embracing his terrorism...and it's all so insanely entertaining and interesting still. I dunno. I like things that are way over the top, and this really really qualifies. It's good.
 
Anyway...I'm watching, what, seventeen anime this season? It's ridiculous and impractical. I haven't been caught up in about three weeks. Things keep piling up. It's a mess. I was gonna post rankings of the series I'm watching, but there's a couple I haven't gotten past episode two of and I haven't even gotten around to starting season two of Cinderella Girls... So later, I guess.
 
Anyway, from what I have been able to stay caught up on, a few thoughts...Jitsu wa Watashi wa is actually pretty fun! I really like the art style, even if the actual animation quality and consistency isn't amazing. A good portion of it is unfortunately fairly standard romantic anime fare, but the characters still manage to be entertaining.
 
Charlotte is pretty good. Great music, very high quality and consistent animation, some fun interactions. Still waiting for something big and important to really happen, but it's setting things up fairly well.
 
Classroom Crisis is kind of really bland and boring. The attempts at humor are awful. It's like they're trying to liven the show (which, as mentioned, is blaaaaand) but they're doing it in such a mechanical and stale manner...it's backfiring. It's not good. Also, I kind of remember pre-airing summaries labeled this a romantic comedy, but I'm really struggling to figure out what that even means anymore or if it was ever even true. Who are the romantic parties involved? I'm kind of really hoping it's something gay. The director did No. 6, so I would not be surprised. In the end it's not something that's gonna matter a whole lot, though, I suppose, because I'm finding it impossible to care about any of these characters. But it would be nice.
 
Castle Town Dandelion is also really just boring. Generic anime designs with generic anime archetypes with boring powers enabling a dull plot. It's just. Completely underwhelming.

[LockmanCapulet]

Yeah, I've heard... things... about Shimoneta... frankly I'm a bit too scared to try it.

 

Terminus, thanks for the advice. I think I'll start with Zero, then UBW, then FSN. After that maybe I'll check out a few of the side/spinoff series.

[Terminus]

Honestly, I'm still loving Shimoneta, my initial reaction was pretty much right after I watched the latest episode and was still reeling from everything that just happened. It was just so insane that I needed a bit of time to process it. That said, if it keeps up this level of insanity, it'll definitely be a keeper.

 

Anyways, got the last volume of Jojo Part 1 today. It was a good ending to the first arc, the Jojo/Dio rivalry stayed strong to the end, and Araki's art just keeps getting better. Phantom Blood was a nice addition to my collection, and I'm definitely looking forward to Battle Tendency.

[dotcom]

I'm reminded, the subs for the Psycho-Pass movie came out a bit ago. It was a pretty cool movie, if we measure how good something is by the sheer metric volume of all the engrish used. Because MAN was there so much engrish in this movie.

 

It really was pretty good though.

[Nik the Three]

*silently, in a corner of thread* Just finished my first ever anime, FMA:B. Now I am watching my second anime Log Horizon and then I will watch my third anime, Log Horizon 2. And then eventually my fourth anime.

*spots SAO in another corner of thread* Be my fourth anime! And fifth, I am unsure how many series of you are out there!

[Terminus]

I'm nervous about the Psycho-Pass movie because of the mess that was the second season. Although the fact that Urobuchi is back for it makes me feel a bit better.

 

Also started Umaru-chan after weeks of seeing this lazy jelly bean playing video games and eating junk food on my tumblr dashboard. So far it's another funny addition to my summer lineup.

[Toa of Gallifrey]

I'm also loving Shimoneta. I can't help but laugh out loud constantly.

[dotcom]

I'm nervous about the Psycho-Pass movie because of the mess that was the second season. Although the fact that Urobuchi is back for it makes me feel a bit better.

It's not bad. Really doesn't reference or relate to the second season at all, beyond the fact that some of the characters exist. 80% or so of the movie is just spent on Akane, though, so not even that matters much. It's pretty good. Just prepare for non stop engrish.

[LockmanCapulet]

@Nik the Three, glad to hear you're getting into the anime world and enjoying it! And look forward to SAO, it's fantastic. There's two series, Sword Art Online and Sword Art Online II, which together cover the first eight volumes of the light novel series. There's also the SAO: Progressive novel side series, which covers side stories that chronologically take place early in the story and covers events not seen in the anime.

[dotcom]

(sao is a bad bad anime)
(don't watch sao. watch something else instead. something good. like parasyte or something)
 
Anyway, somehow over the past couple of days I've mostly managed to catch up on all my anime, despite suffering from post-surgery general cruddyness???...So like...Here the rankings come I suppose. I'm two episodes behind on Cinderella Girls still so I'm leaving that out but...here we go.
 
1. Shimoseka
2. Gatchaman Crowds insight
3. DRRR!!x2 Ten
3. Charlotte
3. Arslan Senki
6. Go! Princess Precure
6. Ore Monogatari!
6. Jitsu wa Watashi wa
9. World Trigger
9. Sore ga Seiyuu
9. Himouto! Umaru-chan
12. Wooser's Hand-to-Mouth Life: Phantasmagoric Arc
12. Wakako-zake
14. Classroom Crisis
14. Castle Town Dandelion
14. Ninja Slayer from Animation
 
Well I say rankings but with so many shows it's honestly pretty hard getting some concrete rankings and a lot of stuff is tied, I guess. (also my head still feels cruddy so that's not helping). But anyway.
 
Shimoseka is definitely my favorite thing airing right now. I said pretty much everything I wanted in the post above so I won't repeat myself. But it's so good.
 
Gatchaman Crowds is great. It's not even pretending to be a superhero show anymore, it's just laying down the social commentary and political discussion super thick, and I'm loving it. Whichever way the season goes from the election is going to be super interesting. Gelsadra should be a very interesting villain.
 
DRRR!! is good, as it generally is. Kind of feels like things are starting to rev up again, especially with Masaomi returning to Ikebukuro...should be interesting, based on a few spoilers regarding this part of the story that I'm aware of.

 

Already talked about Charlotte.

 

Arslan is good. It's been good. It's being good. Should be getting a bit better in this last stretch. Latest episode was pretty remarkable and the next looks just as good. I'm really wondering how they'll wrap things up, if at all, in the...six, sevenish episodes left after this arc? It's definitely not enough time to cover everything that's left, but just leaving it unfinished would be sort of lame. Guess I'm hoping for a second season. And a third, if it is necessary.

 

Princess Precure is solid. The episodes leading up to Towa were great. Really pretty great. And the episodes we've had since have been pretty good, especially the latest one. Never underestimate the dreams of a cicada...

 

Ore Monogatari is good. Well, it's Ore Monogatari, so yeah, it's pretty good. But I dunno, my opinion on it has sort of mellowed out as of late. It's not like it's gotten worse or anything, but...I dunno. Guess it's starting to feel a little samey or maybe it's just not as new. Dunno.

 

Talked about Jitsu...

 

World Trigger sure is alright. Ten episodes to go...and then filler, I guess. probably not even going to watch that though.

 

Sore ga Seiyuu is pretty cool. Informative and entertaining, with cool guest voice actors really making every episode pretty fun. (Yurie Hooooi). The ed is still super entertaining...if anything's dragging the show down it's just the relatively bland art style and frankly uninspired characters. I want to like Ichigo as a character, but man is her whole strawberry thing obnoxious.

 

Himouto! Umaru-chan is...um. Well, it's what it is? I'm not sure how to feel about it. Like, I don't dislike it, just...thought it would be a more interesting or unique series based on its rather odd premise. But it's honestly been kind of a...safe and standard comedy? Like sure the main character can go from human being to blob of nerd but there's really nothing here I haven't seen before. Kind of weird. 

 

Wooser is Wooser. Latest episodes have actually been a little entertaining, and I'm still loving the ed.

 

Wakako-zake is Wakako-zake. Pshuuuuu

 

Already talked up how boring Dandelion and Classroom Crisis were in my other post so not repeating that either...Ninja Slayer too is failing to entertain me at all. Still nine episodes left? Daaang.

Edited August 7, 2015 by farmstink buttlass

[Terminus]

IMO, despite it's mediocrity, SAO is a good starter series, up there with series like Full Metal Panic and Trigun that I recommend to people just starting anime. It's relatable and fun to watch if you like video games, and even moreso if you're a fan of MMOs.

Anyways, mention of the SAO novels reminded me of Kawahara's new series, The Isolator. Anyone else read that? I really liked it, it's a bit different from SAO (okay, it still has a lone wolf main character, main bad guy kidnaps girl he cares about, and MC is literally invincible), but the change in characters/setting is nice, plus he actually does a pretty good job of writing the villain this time around (which is a huge improvement over SAO).

And I'm kinda completely caught up on stuff this season (except for God Eater, which is on hold for a bit until Crunchyroll starts streaming it).

1. Shimoneta

2. Charlotte

3. Durarara!

4. Gangsta

5. Non Non Biyori

6. Prison School

7. Actually, I Am

8. Prisma Illya

9. Himouto! Umaru-chan

10. Monster Musume

11. My Wife is the Student Council President

Umaru-chan is cute and funny which is good and all, but it's seriously overshadowed this season by Non Non Biyori, which is the master of cute and funny.
Actually, I Am is turning out to be the Rosario + Vampire anime I never knew I wanted, and Monster Musume is something I never thought I'd actually like, but it's growing on me. Seems monster girl stuff is good this season.
I literally don't know what is up with Prisma Illya this season. It's pretty funny and really solid on that point, but... Where's the plot? That at least existed in the first two seasons. Also, literally no magical girl stuff has happened yet, and that's like one of the best parts of the show. Looks like stuff might start maybe next week, but I dunno. Kinda just looks like more random hijinks.

 

My Wife is the Student Council President and Shimoneta were both (reasonably) shocking this week, Student Council President introduced the president's (horribly lewd) mom, and Shimoneta had more crazy yandere Anna, but nothing more shocking than last week. I was able to keep my sanity through the whole thing at least, and the whole part about them making "toys" was pretty funny. Also, I found myself laughing so hard when they actually had a "recipie" in the credits. This how is horrible and I love it.

 

Gangsta. really picked up over the last couple episodes, pretty good so far. DRRR!!'s also picked up, starting to get back in it's stride. Glad to see Kida's finally back.

 

And Charlotte... DANG that was one cliffhanger ending. Really wouldn't be surprised if we find out that

someone died

in next week's episode.

Edited August 8, 2015 by Terminus

[Ektris]

How are things going that I'm watching, hmm...

 

Monster Musume is (granted, I knew it would be) turning into something that at times I don't feel should be discussed here haha. But it's still nice for a good laugh.

 

Dragon Ball Super has been an absolute bore fest. Cannot get into it at all and animation has just been so bad... And the fansubs even worse. So many other shows, especially the big shounen ones, get subbed immediately by groups and fairly well. But this, Dragon Ball of all things, gets the poorly done ones rushed out the door and passed like wildfire first. At least on the streaming site I use, they don't get replaced by better ones either. As for animation, people like to immediately throw around how bad DBZ was or that maybe they were "in-between" shots, but for the latter - no. Entire sequences are just poorly done. And all this time later, one does kind of expect some improvements in standards ya know? Don't see these issues as blatantly in other things I watch. But mostly it's just how dull it is that's a let down.

 

DRRR!! is still going quite strong. The season's been rather slow but I like that. Things are about to get crazy for sure.

 

Oh, and I finally watched some of Beast Wars II. It's listed on MAL, so I'm going to count it here. The movie featuring Primal. It was... wow. Really, really weird for a Transformers show.. Japan did some straaaange stuff with Beast Wars.

 

~|ET|~

[Razgriz]

SYMPHOGEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

[LockmanCapulet]

SYMPHOGEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

Can't say I know anything about it, other than there's a season of it currently airing.

[CHTrilogy]

I'VE RECENTLY DISCOVERED THERE'S A PARAPPA THE RAPPER ANIME. It has quite possibly the catchiest opening music to any show ever.

 

There isn't much rapping though.

 

I like to think it's stuff that happened before PaRappa actually became a rapper.

 

And only a few episodes have subtitles. For everything else I have to guess what's going on.

[dotcom]

At the (constant, drawn out) insistence of a friend of mine I started watching the Love Live! series. I'm like halfway through the second season. It's not very heavy on the substance and really has a lot of trouble handling its large cast, but it's entertaining enough.

 

I also started Selector Infected WIXOSS yesterday. I'm pretty sure it's pretty good so far (3 episodes in) but the fact that one of the main characters is an incest seeker is kind of...overshadowing everything else and being off putting. Blehg.

 

Directed by the same guy as Steins;Gate though so I hope it's all good in the end.

[Terminus]

So I just finished up this week's simulcasts, most of the stuff was pretty much same as usual. Charlotte really threw a wrench into the story with some new powers and a look at the "past",DRRR!! Expanded on Shinra and Orihara's past, Prisma Illya finally got back on track with the story, and Monster Musume had a rather decent episode that made me like Rachnera, but otherwise pretty much just the usual.

 

And on the non-simulcast side of stuff, I started watching Agent Aika, I'm halfway through and it's exactly what you'd expect from a 90's fanservice/action OVA, its pretty meh but oh my god the dub is so hilariously terrible I love it.

Edited August 30, 2015 by Terminus

[Hodor]

I've been chipping at the backlog again, since the mood for anime and manga struck.

 

Broken Blade is a fun series of movies. Fantastically animated, great score, solid writing. Definitely worth a watch. Curious about the manga, so I'll have to check that out sometime soon.

 

Panzer World Galient is also pretty fun. Particularly if fantasy mecha anime is a niche you enjoy. I'm only about halfway through after restarting it (I started it three years ago, but simply never got around to finishing it), though, so I can't judge the quality completely.

 

Macross Dynamite 7: Mylene Beat was pretty fun. I absolutely love Macross, and Macross 7 is by far my favorite entry in the series, so seeing what everyone but Basara was up to during the Dynamite 7 OVA was neat. It's worth a look if you're a big fan of the franchise, and have an itch for more Fire Bomber.

 

Caught up in Berserk. Boat is less annoying when you can kill it in one sitting- now there's the waiting game for new chapters, and for Guts to get off the boat. At least it's monthly again. Still, Berserk  remains to be my absolute favorite manga, and you can tell Miura puts his heart into his drawings- and makes sure the writing doesn't fall behind either. Looking forward to the end of each month now.

 

Reread Devilman again, in prep for the Cyborg 009 crossover (and to refresh my memory, since I'm going through the spin offs too). Honestly, this is something every manga fan should read- if only for its sheer influence. Once it gets going, it quickly becomes an unforgettable series- especially from the Jinmen chapter onward. Once you've read it, you can't unsee the influence it had on several series- namely both Berserk and Evangelion.

 

Read Mao Dante by Go Nagai. I'm a pretty big fan of Nagai in general, but especially of Mazinger and Devilman, so reading this was interesting. You can definitely see how Devilman and Mazinger are the direct descendants of it (Devilman more famously). The series doesn't have an ending, since it was cancelled right as the story started to make way for Devilman, so don't expect much from it. Something to read if you're either a really hardcore Nagai/Devilman/Mazinger fan, but otherwise not terribly interesting outside of being a historical curiosity.

 

Shin Devilman is a decent romp if you like Nagai. Not as good as the original (admittedly unfair, since Devilman is a masterpiece), but it's an enjoyable read if you don't take it too seriously and don't think too hard. Had some neat ideas that would've been better if it had more time to breathe.

 

I've only just started AMON: The Dark Side of Devilman, which is an alternate take on the last few chapters of Devilman, and good god is it off to a terrifying start. The art is as unnerving as it is gorgeous- and it's very pretty to look at. The original Devilman was horrific, but it was eased slightly by Nagai's cartoonish art style (though even then, it had a fever dream quality to it). This one has a far less exaggerated art style, since it was illustrated by Yu Kinutani.

 

Kyomu Senki is a series by Ken Ishikawa, and probably just as big of a work as Getter Robo Saga. I love Ishikawa's Getter Robo Saga, I decided to check it out now that someone's translating it. So far, it's been a pretty enjoyable science fiction/fantasy series based heavily in Buddhist philosophy thus far, which is interesting. Art is pretty solid too, since this is roughly when Ishikawa really came into his own as an artist. I'm really interested in Skull Killer Jakiou, the last series in the Kyomu Senki plotline, since it's seemingly one of the biggest influences on Evangelion.

[LockmanCapulet]

Broken Blade is a fun series of movies. Fantastically animated, great score, solid writing. Definitely worth a watch. Curious about the manga, so I'll have to check that out sometime soon.

I haven't seen the movies, but i watched the TV adaptation from a couple years back. Agreed, the mecha battles are amazingly animated. I thought the plot was a bit lacking though. I heard that the story was changed for the TV series, so I can't judge the films.

[Hodor]

 

Broken Blade is a fun series of movies. Fantastically animated, great score, solid writing. Definitely worth a watch. Curious about the manga, so I'll have to check that out sometime soon.

I haven't seen the movies, but i watched the TV adaptation from a couple years back. Agreed, the mecha battles are amazingly animated. I thought the plot was a bit lacking though. I heard that the story was changed for the TV series, so I can't judge the films.

 

To my understanding, the TV anime wasn't too different until the last quarter. It's mainly adding new footage and tweaking it so the last two movies/four episodes follow the manga a bit better. Sort of a reverse compilation movie, I guess.

 

Hoping we get more at some point, though.

[dotcom]

I'm nine episodes into Selector Infected WIXOSS and holy crud it is fantastic. I mean, absolutely terrible and screwed up, but so good. I think this is probably what watching Madoka without being completely spoiled would have been like. It's great. I hope the end keeps it up. And I hope that the second season is great.

 

Really though, it's a lot of fun. I feel like the people behind WIXOSS were watching Fantasista Doll, realized it was just terrible, and decided to deconstruct the heck out of it. Then they did, and it was good.

 

I started watching Digimon Frontier again after some 3 years. It's not as great as I remembered it being. Just as expected I suppose.

 

I'm also watching El Cazador de la Bruja. It's not that interesting seven episodes in.

[Terminus]

So I started Gate a few hours ago, 8 episodes in. I don't know why I didn't start following it earlier this season, I've always thought that modern vs. medieval would be a pretty good setup for a series, and having the main character being a lazy otaku who ends up going to a fantasy world helps make it more entertaining. Definitely one of my favorites this season now.

[Hodor]

EVA blu-rays are out and encoders are already releasing subs.

 

The remaster looks pretty good, honestly.