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** Spring Anime Season Final Impressions **


- Hibike! Euphonium -

Once again yet another highly animated visual specticle from the talented hands of Kyoto Animation, seriously, I swear the amazing detail of most of these scenes just must be watched to be believed, but deep down I could hardly careless about anything else about the series. Yeah, sure, the main girl cast are pretty cute to watch, and even some seem to be getting into a bit more than just friends (if you know what I mean...), but I really wasn't much into the relationships of these charactors nor their camaraderie between their classmates, as well as their somewhat asshole conductor teacher (although there are some scenes where I really just felt like giving him a kick to the crotch, bastard). At least the series ended on a fairly high note where the class are putting all of their hard earned and whiplashed music skills to their greatest for the regional concert and the anime studio did a truly amazing job on the whole performance as well as the music that came out of it. Overall I personally thought it was less enjoyable than Kyoani's "K-On!" series and I really more wished it didn't involve a huge cast of charactors to remember and it can get a little hard to follow who's who. This was a hard series to rate although I still believe this show should be at least checked out, especially if you are a huge fan of Kyoani's work, but I personally thought this was one of their least enjoyable shows I've seen them do. I score this musical ensemble a 7 out of 10. The full series is currently available to stream on Crunchyroll.com and will eventually be released on disc by Ponycan USA.


- Plastic Memories -

Now I am not a person who likes to reveal major story spoilers in my impressions and reviews but I just know watchers of this show have all seen this ending coming almost since the beginning of the series and I was definately prepared for the utter worst of it and ready to be massively gut punched in the feels. Ok, I'll admit, I teared up just a little bit when it happened but at least it was taken on a good note and wasn't as devestatingly depressing as I thought it was going to be. The ending does leave the story open for more episodes to be made but I'm highly unsure if there will be any more to this series, or even for a possible video game too because MAGES produces the Stein's Gate games and a couple others, but even with it's current ending I'm still pretty satified with it. Overall I highly enjoyed this series and really liked the very cute and odd relationship of man and machine with Tsukasa and Isla as well as the other employees of SAI and also liked how the final episodes were a lot more focused on the two main charactors and not on their main job of "giftia disposal". Doga Kobo's visual quality is not as strong as other anime studios but at least they did their job alright with the series and saw hardly anything bad about their work on it, although I thought a couple of the episodes were somewhat filler throw-a-ways. I personally thought this was one of the most original animes I've seen this season and is a big standout from other shows airing this Spring and really believe this should be checked out at least once, just prepare your tissue boxes. These robot repomen earn an 8 out of 10. The full series is currently available to stream on Crunchyroll.com, Hulu.com and Daisuki.net and will eventually be released on disc by Aniplex USA.


- "Danmachi" -

"Its Hard Out Here For Pimp in a Dungeon". Aww yeah, I can see Bell getting more swagger with the ladies after that final battle against the goliath while his goddess bae Hestia gets all jelly (seriously, just chill the hell out, girl!) Ok, enough funny business, let's just get to the final impressions of the series: Overall I had quite a fun time watching this but it wasn't one of the most perfect animes that aired this season. J.C. Staff usually does some impressive animation work for their series they work on and there were a couple scenes that really wowed me but they were too far inbetween. Also the final "boss battle" was personally quite a mess and just didn't look all that great with some really shoddy CG work for the giant who more looked like an Attack on Titan reject. Plus where the hell are these powers and weapons coming from? There was just way too much crap going on. Although I still don't think it's a really bad show to watch but personally there are other more decent and enjoyable fantasy, RPG-ish animes out there but I'd say it a fun series to waste a small marathon with and I'm sure more will be on the way because the light novels are still going strong. These dungeon crawlers earn a 7 out of 10. The full series is currently available to stream on Crunchyroll.com and Hulu.com and will eventually be released on disc by Sentai Filmworks.


- Punch Line -

Secret government organizations? Redirecting meteoriods? Mecha suits? Body swapping? Superpowers from seeing panties? Drunk cat ghosts? And bears! Oh my! Only in anime my friend, only in anime. (God bless Japan!) This series was definately an interesting one even though the story had hardly any comprehensive sense to it, you just have to turn off your brain and watch the insanity flow. Just like with "Danmachi" above it was an overall fun series to watch and I did like all of the unique cast of goofy charactors it had but again just wasn't one of the most perfect animes of the season. Studio MAPPA has been on an impressive streak with some of the most visually impressive and well animated shows that have been aired to date but this one was one of their weaker shows that they've worked on, but still the show had a decent share of pretty fun moments, plus I love their work on the ending theme. Also at least the ending is not a cop-out for more episodes to come and I was pretty happy on what they did for it at the end. I really don't think this anime is for everyone but I think it should at least be checked out just as long as you absolutely don't take this show too seriously. Our Five's a Company earns a 7 out of 10. The full series is currently available to stream on Crunchyroll.com and Hulu.com and will eventually be released on disc by Sentai Filmworks.


- Triage X -

Being a fan of "Highschool of the Dead" and coming from the same manga creator I was pretty hyped to watch this but of course I was expected to deal with the obvious cuts and censorship from the fairly violent and boob-tastic series for the anime adaption and yes, there is plenty of it although not as overwhelming as other made-for-TV cuts (did you see Terraformars? At least not that bad). I will admit I did like the most of the charactors (demolition idols FTW!) as well as the badass villians they had to face off against but overall it's still a very campy and fairly low-grade anime with blatent fanservice that may please some but not everyone. Although H.O.T.D. does have it's fair share of camp and fanservice but at least Madhouse knew how to bring some badass style to it, especially coming from the Attack on Titan director. Xebec's work on this is passable and at least their CG work isn't as bad as other studios but overall just average. Also of course the ending does completely leave up to more episodes to be made because the manga series isn't finished but if I really wanted to get more into this series I would really rather just stick with the manga. I'll rate this assassin team a 6 out of 10. Now, GET BACK TO WORK ON MORE H.O.T.D, SATOU!! The series is currently available to stream on Crunchyroll.com, Hulu.com and Daisuki.net and will eventually be released on disc by Sentai Filmworks.


- Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works -

More like "Unlimited Budget Works" because UFOTable's work on this is phenomenal, especially during Shirou's reality marble fight against Archer in episode 11 of the 2nd half, that was damn amazing. Now I've watched the older UBW movie that the same studio brought out a couple years ago which mainly goes over the same material in this series but I would consider the TV anime the more definative director's cut of the series and really should make it obsolete and found it a lot more impressive to watch than the movie, plus the movie heavily rushes the story immensely. However the series still isn't perfect, especially in the 2nd half where there is a bunch of down time and sluggish drama you have to get through in order to get to the really good parts of the show. Also I freaking love the 2nd opening "Brave Shine", that, along with the eariler UBW one, is permanently going into my greatest anime opening collection. Overall a highly reccomended series to watch and plus you don't have to watch the previous "Fate/Zero" series to understand this show but I would still reccomend watching that series too if not already. This war for the holy grail earns a 9 out of 10. Also as you may have heard but this is not the last of the F/SN series from the creators and later on in 2015 there will be an adpation of the 3rd game story arc "Heaven's Feel" however it won't be another TV series but will either be an OVA series or a movie but definately can't wait for it. The full series is currently available to stream on Crunchyroll.com, Hulu.com and Daisuki.net and the first disc set will be released by Aniplex USA on 08/25.


- JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken: Stardust Crusaders -

MUDA!MUDA!MUDA!MUDA!MUDA!WWWRRRRRRYYYYYYYY!!!!ROLLLINGROLLLLERRRRRR!!!! Damn this series is way too damn fun! I originally got into this series after watching the older 90's anime OVA that only went over the final parts of this arc of the manga series however, sad to say, I hardly remember most of it. Yet I still believe David Pro brought the exact same feel and stylish weirdness the original manga series has, albiet in their own colorfull ways. Speaking of color one of the downsides to this series, as well as the past Jojo animes, are the strange color hues they put on the art and charactors and not sure if this was a censorship issue or just the way the creators wanted the series to look, plus they sometimes give blood splats are purple-ish color to avoid censors however they still block shots of limb dismemberment and sometimes even smoking (cuz smoking's bad, mmkay..). At least the art and animation are done fairly well with all of it's manly stylish flair, liked the soundtrack used and although I more prefer the older opening and ending themes of the series the studio did a great job on the newer ones, plus thanks for introducing me to Pat Metheney. This has become a true guilty pleasure in my anime fandom yet I don't think the show is for everyone but I still think all anime action fans really should check this series out although would more advise to watch the uncensored disc release versions of the anime. This adventures in muscular posing gets an 8 out of 10. The full series, and the older ones, are currently available to stream on Crunchyroll.com, the 1st season which includes the eariler manga arcs of Phantom Blood and Battle Tendency will be released on DVD 09/22/15 from Warner video.



** Continuing Series **

- Kekkai Sensen - I was really hoping to finish up this series by the end of June however I'm sad to say that the final planned 12th episode of this (and praying won't be the final, final episode cuz the manga's not done) has been delayed until further notice from their creators. Right now I've seen up to episode 10 and just waiting for the last one to watch the 11th but I will say that even what I've seen of this show so far that this may quite possibly be the best anime series of all of 2015! This show must be checked out if you have not already and you'll be getting into one fantastic fun treat to watch and every single episode so far did not suck at all (maybe except for the demon chess episode). This series is currently available to stream on Funimation.com and Hulu.com.

- Owari no Seraph - The series is taking a 3-month break and then will be continuing this coming Fall season but after the first half of the series, overall, I fairly enjoyed it albeit somewhat wished WIT Studio would of bumped up their animation quality a bit on a couple of the later episodes (maybe for the disc release). I am liking the story and the charactors although the relationship between Yuuichirou and Mikaela was kind of on the lame side but like to see how they will turn up in the future episodes. Also that transformation at the end was just bloody damn freaky, sheesh! I definately think this series is worth checking out although I still think the manga would be more enjoyable to follow. This series is currently available to stream on Funimation.com and Hulu.com.

- Arslan Senki - In my last update I was considering with just flat out dumping this series while I was getting into all of the newer Summer season animes but deep down I would really hate to just cut the series off halfway and plus I still think the show has some better potential in the next coming episodes. I was the same way with "Yona of the Dawn" where the 1st half was drag to watch but at the start of the 2nd half is when it really got more and more exciting. I would still agree that the anime is really not the prettiest of the bunch and have seen a few derpy-ness in the animation at some points but I'm sure it'll get better. However me following more of this can still depend on what other shows I'm watching but want to try my hardest to stick with it. This series is currently available to stream on Funimation.com, Hulu.com and even on Youtube.

- Sailor Moon S - Sailor Saturn is here kill us all!! Repent your sins! It's surprizing to see there are only 8 episodes left of the series until we move on to Sailor Moon Super S (which I've never seen any of). Still can't understand why Sailor Moon cannot immediately transform to the holy grail powers and not just before performing the final attack. Guess would of been way too hard for the animators to draw her butterfly outfit. Watching on Hulu.

- Sailor Moon Crystal - Why.....am.....I......still.....watching......this......? Also still watching on Crunchyroll.

- Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso - Been trying to finish up more of this series but somewhat took the backburner for June but will eventually catch up. Only watched episodes 13 and 14 however the 13th alone had to be one of the most emotionally powerfull episodes I have ever seen! This anime still amazes me in each episode I see.