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IssacandAsimov
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# | Anime Title | Score | Type | Progress | Tags (reset filter) |
1 |
Baby Steps 2nd Season
Over five hours since the latest episode of this "premiered" on CR and it won't play on their Roku app at all. The only thing aberrant about this is that it's longer than usual. In contrast, I checked Funimation's Roku app for the latest episode of Gangsta. about 10 minutes after it was scheduled to come out. It was fully available at all resolutions. If Funimation can do that, why can't CR?
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6 | TV | 25 | SP2015 |
2 |
Danna ga Nani wo Itteiru ka Wakaranai Ken 2 Sure-me
Fansub Group: Horriblesubs? |
6 | TV | 13 | SP2015 |
3 |
Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works 2nd Season
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4 | TV | 13 | Score applies to both parts as a whole., SP2015 |
4 |
Gintama°
Coming from watching 265 previous episodes of Gintama over the course of about two weeks, watching it weekly now feels odd.
Also, don't watch 265 episodes of anything in only two weeks. |
- | TV | 51 | “I think you and I are destined to do this forever.”, SP2015 |
5 |
Hello!! Kiniro Mosaic
Now and then people say "The show you most look forward to is your AOTS." And I'd say that personally, the worst part of any given episode of Kinmosa is easily the part where it ends and I have to wait a whole week for another episode. Well, maybe the actual worst part will be when the final episode ends and then there won't be any more at all. I enjoy this show plenty. It's probably the one I get the highest level of pure enjoyment out of this season. But to then extend that to saying that this is therefore also what I'd call the best show of the season is... I mean that's just too simple a metric, isn't it? I'm not sure which series I would consider to be the AOTS at this point, but it wouldn't be this one. I certainly do like having fun with an anime, but that's not the only consideration in the same way we don't consider pornography to be the height of art despite its enduring popularity. Which isn't to say a fluffy series couldn't be the best series in a season, or that by focusing on fun fluff a series is somehow lesser or not as legitimate as a series with more thematic depth. While we shouldn't consider pure enjoyment as the most meaningful metric for determining this sort of thing (and to whatever degree that's actually even a useful exercise and not just feeding into our "top 10 whatevers of all time" sorts of cravings that have made Buzzfeed such a success), it'd also be wrong to infer from that that iyashi-kei series are inherently of lower critical value. That's a common mistake for the self-styled amateur critic. You seldom see movie critics of note dismiss a film solely for being lowbrow or a blockbuster action flick. They approach it from the standpoint of how that sort of film succeeds given its aims and unique strengths rather than attempting to create one universal mold of "True Art" that all films must adhere to. Because those films have their own value and there are well crafted ones and poorly crafted ones. But the amateur critic can tend to lump them together and casually dismiss them on the mere basis of what they are. To wit: To bring this back to anime, how many times have you seen a show dismissed out of hand because it's "just some moe fluff" and "nothing happens?" Which isn't actually a real substantiated criticism. "It's bad because it's part of a particular genre" is what that really comes down to. And it's fine not to like a particular genre, of course, but once you're claiming to engage in actual critical discourse or writing a review, the expectations become higher than that. "The new Madden title is a sports game, and sports games are crap, so therefore the new Madden title is as well. 1/10" "Schindler's List was in black and white, when films should of course be in color. One star." And so on. You wouldn't be very impressed with reviews like that, would you? Of course not, and you shouldn't be. Again, no critic of merit would ever write such a thing. Yet for some reason too many amateur critics see fit to do that on a regular basis with lowbrow and populist entertainment because they've become enamored with the concept of high art and blindly believe it to be inherently superior as the natural aspiration for all works of art. It's a phase that hopefully they eventually grow out of.
But of course, "It was so cute and I really liked it! Anime is saved!" isn't substantial enough to serve as anything more than a pithy reaction, either. Art thankfully isn't something so simple that we can just reduce it down like that. Critical discourse and art itself would be so much duller if we could just write off entire genres or held personal enjoyment as the paramount quality of a work. There are multiple levels an anime can excel at for you to appreciate, and while Kinmosa is excelling at certain ones that make me look forward to it each week, as an overall work I wouldn't call it the best anime of the season. There are shows I don't look forward to as much but are stronger shows all the same. The one you look forward to the most might make it clear which one you enjoy the most, but "AOTS," insofar as it's a worthwhile consideration, should be more involved a consideration than that. |
8 | TV | 12 | Goodbye!! Kiniro Mosaic, SP2015 |
6 |
Hibike! Euphonium
The worst thing I just realized about this show is that it's licensed by Ponycan. Just a few days ago I was disappointed in what I was reading about their release of Denki-Gai, a show I don't want to own. But this is a show I might maybe want to own if it can maintain/exceed its current level of strength. And I could be persuaded to pay ~$200 for a series if it's a really, really nice collector's edition, but the description of Ponycan's Denki-gai release leaves me worried I'll be in the position of choosing between not buying the show or having to buy a subpar collector's release at full collector's price.
I mean it's still better than if it was licensed by Sentai (whose premium versions are actually pretty nice except for their work on the shows themselves), but man. (Speaking of Sentai and licensing KyoAni properties: I'd really like to own a subbed copy of Tamako Love Story on BD, and I'll even deal with Sentai's quality or pay Ponycan's prices for it. Please? The series is already out there...) *** There's something frustrating about a show that isn't, ultimately, depicting a budding queer romance being so much better at it than many shows that do attempt to depict that. But this show does a number of things better than a number of other shows do, so I guess it only makes sense. (But really shows about queer romance need to step it up. And be made more often, while we're at it.) *** (episode 11) HEY, YOU KNOW, THERE'S SOMETHING FRUSTRATING ABOUT A SHOW THAT ISGIHIHFIHGUHWIG are you trying to wound my heart, kyoani *** Take this for what you will. I don't know how accurately that translation reflects the original chart. ...maybe this show is ultimately depicting a budding queer romance? (Don't let yourself believe, IssacandAsimov! It'll just make it hurt more.) All below was written prior to airing. *** I'm a bit hesitant about this director/writer combo. If this series errs on the fluffy side, it's got a better chance of turning out alright than that combo trying to make something more dramatic. I guess KyoAni can't get by just having Yamada Naoko direct movies written by Yoshida Reiko, though, even if I'm getting the impression the results of that would be pretty consistently great from a creative standpoint. (I'm only drawing from a sample size of two, but when both of those are pretty dang good it gives me a certain confidence about wanting to see them make more things together.) *** Apparently the director confirmed it won't be a fluffy SoL title, so, yeah, some reservations. It's not like this pair can't handle the alternative well, it's just iffier. |
9 | TV | 13 | SP2015 |
7 |
Kekkai Sensen
(episode 11 spoiler)
I don't know whose idea it was to have the dog grab the ice cream cone while being psychically lifted up into the air, but I thank you. I had to pause the video because this made me giggle too hard. Fansub Group: Vivid |
- | TV | 12 | SP2015 |
8 |
Ninja Slayer From Animation
Fansub Group: Horriblesubs |
- | ONA | 26 | "What's Inferno Ninja doing in the Impact Zone?!", Never stop, SP2015 |
9 |
Ore Monogatari!!
You see, when people suggest that one of your scenes was a bit too contrived, the correct move is generally not to then follow it up with a second, even more contrived scene.
*** W-what? He's large and not conventionally attractive, but this conventionally attractive girl likes him?! That's so utterly impossible, no wonder the show just keeps pointing it out! I get that this is the premise, but the whole exact same "Her? Him? No way!" joke has gotten really old. We get it by this point. Trust me, show. There's a number of things to like in this show but this bit isn't one of them. It can work occasionally, but it's been much too overused by this point (five episodes in). It just feels lazy. This show is clearly capable of more variety, so I don't know why they keep returning to this particular well. (I know it's an adaptation of a manga and that this may very well just be a carryover from that source, so accept "show" as a lazy linguistic carryover that also includes that if necessary, okay?) *** These two things are intertwined, really. Takeo saving people from a steel beam, from a burning building, rescuing a baby from a river, yes, that quickly gets tiresome because come on. It's both repetitive and ridiculous. But it also underscores that this show just isn't that well written. When you need to find a way for Takeo to prove to Yamato's friends that maybe, just maybe he's an okay person that someone might love despite his appearance (gasp), that the show casually jumps to something as extreme as running into a burning building, rescuing two of Yamato's friends and nearly losing his life in the process isn't just contrived, it's lazy. When this was apparently the best way they could think of to arrive at that goal, it's a worrying sign that the writer(s) can't handle nuance or subtlety. It's a bombastic moment that's apparently wowed some viewers because of said bombasticness, but it's crap writing. Especially when you consider that so many of these contrived events are basically saying "Look at how big and strong Takeo is! That's his value!" which is kind of contrary to what's supposed to be the entire message of the show so far. Like, "Look at this cute couple!" is fun and the show makes me giggle at times, but that gets really undermined by garbage like this. And while that might lead to me getting a chuckle when someone refers to this show as an "accident of the week" show, I'd much rather the show were just more competent. *** Goofily presented sexual assault is still sexual assault, you know. *** sleep is not a form of consent auuughhhh By the way, how many more episodes until the main character stops briefly on his way to school to go back in time and stop Hitler? Just another day in the life of Takeo! Don't judge that guy by his appearances! (But also isn't he so big and strong?) This show doesn't get any better. Yay~ |
4 | TV | 24 | My Contrived Story, My Contradictory Story, My Poorly Written Story, SP2015 |
10 |
Punch Line
Fansub Group: Horriblesubs |
- | TV | 12 | SP2015 |
11 |
Robot Girls Z Plus
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4 | ONA | 6 | SP2015 |
12 |
Shokugeki no Souma
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5 | TV | 24 | I can't say finding ways to actually subtract from the foundation of your predecessors is praiseworthy, "Food Wars", SP2015 |
13 |
Show By Rock!!
Fansub Group: Orz |
6 | TV | 12 | SP2015 |
14 |
Takamiya Nasuno desu! Teekyuu Spin-off
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- | TV | 12 | SP2015 |
15 |
Teekyuu 4
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- | TV | 12 | SP2015 |
16 |
Tesagure! Bukatsumono Spin-off Purupurun Sharumu to Asobou
Fansub Group: Horriblesubs |
- | TV | 12 | And then next someone will actually sub Narihero and the gdgd movie, right? Right?, SP2015 |
17 |
Urawa no Usagi-chan
With every passing episode, my groan at the end of it and my anger at myself for continuing to watch it both grow in intensity. Clearly a sign that I'll probably watch this whole semi-coherent mess, of course.
ugh why |
2 | TV | 12 | SP2015 |
18 |
Yamada-kun to 7-nin no Majo
Fansub Group: Horriblesubs
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5 | TV | 12 | SP2015 |
TV: 16, OVA: 0, Movies: 0, Spcl.: 0, Eps: 0, Days: 230.21, Mean Score: 5.4, Score Dev.: -2.04 |