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*** Winter Anime Season First Impressions ***


-- Fate/Grand Order: First Order --

Animated by Lay-duce (Magi: Adventure of Sinbad, Classroom Crisis)
Directed by Hitoshi Namba (Gosick, Heroman)
Written by Ayumi Sekine (Makura no Danshi, www.WAGNARIA!!)

- What Wiki Says -

(From the cell-phone game plot) In 2015, the final era where sorcery still exists, the Chaldea Security Organization, its numerous projects having guaranteed humanity's existence through to the next century, discovers that the future they have observed no longer exists, and calculates that humanity will now go extinct in 2016. It traces the cause of this event to an anomaly that has appeared in 2004 in Fuyuki City. To avert the extinction of mankind, Chaldea decides to use its sixth experiment, time travel, converting its agents into spirit particles and sending them through time to destroy the space-time anomalies that will cause humanity's extinction. The name of this mission: "Grand Order", the name for those who would rise up against human history for the sake of humans, and fight fate itself.

- What I Say -

This is the very first new anime of 2017 (technically was available on 12/31/16 in the U.S but in Japan it was already the new year) and let's just say we are off to a pretty average start. Fans of the previous Fate/Stay TV series will definately fit right into this but this is definately not ufotable levels of production although it's pretty decent. Actually the studio is made up of some people that worked with Studio Bones so the qualities are quite above average. The new servant "Mash" (although some sources say the name is actually "Matthew" but it's a freaking girl!) has cute charms and a good fighting spirit although she's definately no replacement for "Saber" although I really dig the huge shield weapon she holds (now where's shovel knight?). Also "Lancer" from the original F/SN series makes a good comeback here although is summoned as a magic "Caster" class instead and fights with fire runes. The 74 minute movie/special has some pretty decent action and animation and cannot complain about it's looks, at least they try to make it much like the past TV series, but the story and situations are pretty "been-there-done-that" and doesn't really big much new or exciting to the table. I more think of this as just something for Fate fans to tie over while the next major story/game installments are being done and hoo boy there's gonna be a whole lot of Fate coming up this year already including three movies based on the "Heaven's Feel" F/SN game story arc from ufotable and a new TV series done by A-1 pics based on the "Fate/Apocrypha" light novels, as well as a continuation of this. No knowledge of any of the past series are needed to get into watching this although knowledge of at least the eariler "Unlimited Blade Works" TV series really helps (and it's pretty damn good). I rate this master of puppets a 7 out of 10.

The special is being streamed on Crunchyroll.com and Daisuki.net and will eventually get a disc release by Aniplex US.


-- Little Witch Academia --

Animated by Trigger (Kiznaiver, Kill la Kill, Space Patrol Luluco)
Directed by Yoh Yoshinari (Little Witch Academia: The Enchanted Parade, worked on other titles for Gainax such as "Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt" & Gurren Lagann)
Written by Michiru Shimada (Little Busters!, Shugo Chara!)

- What Wiki Says -

This original anime series takes place at Luna Nova Magical Academy, a prestigious school for young girls training to become witches. Having been inspired by a witch named Shiny Chariot, a girl named Akko Kagari enrolls at Luna Nova Magical Academy to become a witch, but struggles due to her non-magical background. This all changes when she discovers the Shiny Rod, a powerful magic relic left behind by Chariot. The television series follows Akko and her friends, Lotte and Sucy, as they experience many magical adventures together.

- What I Say -

Even though the TV anime is a follow-up to both the 2013 short film of the same name, which was premired during Young Animator Training Project's "Anime Mirai" (same year as "Death Parade"), as well it's Kickstarter funded sequel: "The Enchanted Parade", watching either previous anime is not a mandatory requirement to get into the TV series and acts as a complete reboot. The overall style and fun, kid-friendly, flare taken from the past animes are definately still present in the new series although now it more seems to have fit in even popular American interests into the mix. For example in the 3rd episode "Chum-lee" from the hit History Channel reality TV series "Pawn Stars" makes a cameo as a antiques shop clerk and then the 4th episode is all about a new release of an ultra popular book series which seems extemely similar to the "Twilight" movies and novels, straight down to even the logo font! While I heavily enjoyed the fun and silliness of the past animes, studio Trigger's work on this has been taken down a couple notches and the show's quality goes from highly impressive to just plain average. With already 25 planned episodes I'm really curious how more worse can this show get and also really hoping is not a more episodic style of an anime than the 1st four episodes were. At least both the opening and ending themes are pretty fun and enjoyable to watch and listen to. However I'm really not backing out of this one yet because all of the main charactors and their student rivals and cohorts are all pretty damn lovable and fun to watch and really hate to see this series become a complete waste of time.

Now the bad news: As you may know that this anime is a Netflix exclusive so the series is not legally available to stream yet, possibly not until April at earliest, maybe by July, and if you want to get a head start on it then you are on your own and I do not personally reccomend any non-official streaming or download sites nor I'm not advising how I watched the first four episodes. If all possible try to check the series out at your own risk but please, please support the official licensors once the series is available in your area. One last item: sadly this is going to be my only written impression until I have watched the entire series, whenever that will be but I'm hoping by the end of 2017.


-- Youjo Senki (trans as "The Military Chronicles of a Little Girl"): Saga of Tanya the Evil --

Animated by Studio NUT (debut work)
Directed by Yutaka Uemura (Punch Line, The Mystic Archives of Dantalian)
Written by Kenta Ihara (Death Parade *as assist)

- What Wiki Says -

Based on a Japanese light novel series written by Carlo Zen and illustrated by Shinobu Shinotsuki, an arrogant Japanese salaryman, for having insulted God in the moment of his sudden death, is sentenced to be reborn in an alternate universe similar to 1910's Europe, in an empire torn apart by countless wars with all nearby countries. The salaryman is reborn as (a newborn in the world yet with his old memory and conscience intact and then becomes) Second Lieutenant Tanya Degurechaff of the Imperial Army, a 9-year-old soldier girl. According to God, whom Tanya calls "Being X", if she's not able to die a natural death, or she refuses to have faith in Him, her soul will leave the circle and be sent to hell for the countless sins that Tanya has committed in her previous life. In search for an escape, Tanya decides to enter into the Empire's Mages Division and fight in World War I, hoping to reach a high enough rank as fast as possible to remain far from the battlefield and in this way avoid the risk of being killed. Even if she's now forced to speak with a young girl's lisp, Tanya soon turns into a ruthless soldier who prioritizes efficiency and her own career over anything else, even the lives of those beneath her.

- What I Say -

Before we get into the impressions I did dig a bit of info on who this NUT-ty new studio is and it's created by Death Parade’s producer Takuya Tsunoki and features talents from both studio Madhouse and MAPPA and definately shows from the well done quality art and CG effects this is bringing from it's premire first four episodes. As far as the series itself I would definately consider it as one of the most unique animes of 2017 so far but it's too early to tell if this one is gonna be best of the year material, at least it seems more enjoyable than last season's magic-in-war series "Izetta" in a more demented kind of way. Speaking of demented, I really love how much cold-hearted Tanya is and she really loves to take no quarter over any opposision she comes against as well deal with the crap of everyday soldier life. The use of magic is kind of weird in this one though where it more seems like the mage troops use special equipment or machines to fly and cause massive damange, like Tanya has some sort of big pack strapped to her gut with a small flying engine hooked up to her right foot, also other troops can ride flying horse-head machines, kind of weird but works. On another plus note we have another awesome opening theme from "Myth & Roid" and definately fits the style of the anime, same goes with the ending theme which is actually sung by Tanya's VA (she also voiced and sang as Hibiki from the "Symphogear" series). Overall I definately think this is going to be one weird and wild military anime ride but the question is will it's planned 12 episodes be enough to handle this?

This series is currently streaming premire episodes on Crunchyroll.com and Funimation will be releasing english dubbed episodes on their own site with subscription.


-- Chain Chronicle: The Light of Haecceitas --

Animated by Telecom Animation Film (Lupin the 3rd 2015, Orange) & Graphinica (Expelled from Paradise, Hellsing Ultimate)
Directed by Masashi Kudo (Re-Kan!, also worked on "Maoyuu Maou Yuusha" and Bleach)
Written by Toko Machida (Endride, Show by Rock!, Hitsugi no Chaika)

- What Wiki Says -

Based off of a tower defense role-playing game developed and published by Sega for some portable systems. (Description from Crunchyroll) This is the story of the Chain Chronicle, a book that describes everything that happens in the world. The citizens of the remote continent of Yggd once thought that there was nothing beyond their continent. The continent was divided into several regions, each with its own king. Though there were small skirmishes amongst them, a lord, chosen by the kings in conference, always maintained balance, until the evil Black Army arrived. The Volunteer Army, led by Yuri, was no match for the Black Army. During the fighting, the Lord of Black captures half of the Chain Chronicle, as well as the capital.

- What I Say -

Before I start, these impressions are from the TV series version only however the movie versions have the same content. Right off the bat the story plops you literally to what looks like a season finale of a previous anime and I literally had no freaking clue on who all of these people were and why they were all doing what they were doing and it was literally one of the most confusing starts to any anime I've seen in a while. So it's like you already had to have huge knowledge of the original cell phone game and it's charactors to know all about them which to us U.S. anime watchers is kind of not fair, plus I really don't believe the cell phone game ever made it over to U.S. shores at all (although Wiki stated it was planned to be), plus there was a very short OAV series released back in 2014 that I had no knowledge of either. After it's starting events the story then introduces an acrobatic thief-like charactor named Aram who more acts as the main charactor of the anime and, in my honest opinion, acts as the new viewer's perspecitive of the series because he too has no damn clue on what is going on and is just plopped into this fantasy war by accident. Overall coming from just watching the first four episodes it seems like just yet another average fantasy JRPG-ish action series with some fairly decent battle scenes and animation but nothing really too mind-blowing from what I've seen before, at least the CG work animation is done fairly good from the battle animatons. On the plus side the TV series has yet another awesome song from J-rocker "Nano" for the opening and with some really great visuals very similar to the opening of "Rage of Bahamut", however please just skip the ending theme at all costs, it's way too generic. Personally I was about -> <- that close to just flat out dumpping this series but deep down am I willing to see how the rest of it will go and at only 12 planned episodes I might as well take the ride to the end, plus it's really hard to majorly screw up a fantasy anime although there have been some big shitters in the past.

This series is currently streaming premire episodes on Crunchyroll.com, along with the movie versions that does release ahead of the TV series, and Funimation will be releasing english dubbed episodes on their own site with subscription.


-- Hand Shakers --

Animated by GoHands (Coppelion, the "K" series, Mardock Scramble)
Directed by Shingo Suzuki (the "K" series, Coppelion) & Hiromichi Kanazawa ("K")
Written by Hiromichi Kanazawa ("K")

- What Wiki Says -

This original anime takes place in Osaka in "AD20XX". The story revolves around Tazuna Takatsuki, a high-school student with a knack for mechanics, who accepts a certain repair request and visits a university research facility. There, he meets Koyori Akutagawa, a lone girl asleep on a bed. As though being led by something, Tazuna touches her fingertips - and a voice flows into him from a place unknown. Tazuna is left bewildered as a new world, Ziggurat, lies before him. Now together as Hand Shakers, the duo must fight to earn the right to confront God, where they will be able to make a wish. With "Nimrods", powers born from one's psyche after holding hands, the many groups of Hand Shakers must battle to defeat God.

- What I Say -

First, let's go back to what I mentioned earlier in my Winter '17 season preview post: "Studio GoHands doesn't make too many animes however whenever they do their work they always have amazing style and flare that really makes them stand out from the rest of the season's shows and the visuals on this already look freaking amazing. The plot does somewhat seem ripped out of the Type-Moon playbook and looks very "Fate/Stay Night"-ish but really hoping to get some good enjoyment out of this." Now after watching the first four episodes of this attempt at an understandable and enjoyable anime series let's just say: This series is a clusterf**k. Seriously, what the freaking hell were they thinking when they came up with this!? I am not joking but the beginning portions of the series look like they took their studio animation test footage that looked like it was made starting in 1999 and then inserted their crowd animation test footage that the studio made for their older "K" series and hoped to make some sort of coherent anime series with it. Also the battle animations were all over the freaking place and they had to be some of the worst CG choreographed scenes I have ever witnessed and the whole plot of the main charactors... uggggghhhh... f**k it!! I don't want to talk about this series anymore! Please just take my advice and stay away from this series at all costs! (and thanks for stealing 100 minutes of my precious life).

Sadly I still must say: This series is currently streaming premire episodes on Crunchyroll.com and Funimation will be releasing english dubbed episodes on their own site with subscription (but what a damn waste of money and voice talent).


-- ACCA 13-Ku Kansatsu-ka (ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept.) --

Animated by Madhouse (Alderamin on the Sky, Death Parade, One Punch Man)
Directed by Shingo Natsume (One Punch Man, Space Dandy)
Written by Tomohiro Suzuki (One Punch Man)

- What Wiki Says -

Based on a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Natsume Ono (creator of: "House of Five Leaves" & "Ristorante Paradiso"). The kingdom of Dowa is subdivided into 13 states, each one granted their own autonomy. These 13 states have many agencies that are controlled by the giant civilian organization known as ACCA. Jean Otus is the second-in-command of the ACCA inspection agency. They keep track of all the activities of ACCA across the kingdom, and keep data on each state's ACCA office flowing toward the central office. One of Jean's jobs is having business trips from the capital to the other districts to check on the situation and personnel there.

- What I Say -

Personally going into this series was really more of a big gamble because the manga series done by Ono have been more about serious dramas and/or adult comedies yet has the exact same main animation talents as 2015's anime adaption of "One Punch Man" so it was hard what to expect from this. After watching the first four episodes at least it's a nice welcome to have yet another more "adult" anime in the watch mix and really liking the overall, retro art style and qualities, as well as all that damn sexy food porn, but will it's very laid-back pace really make it a worthwhile series to watch? Personally I'm not really sure of the main charactor Jean is either really knowing what his role in the government is or is just attempting to go with the job flow all while trying to get his smoke on at any chance he gets, plus I love it when people are super shocked to see a cigarette due to it was outlawed to civilians. At least the smooth and cool soundtrack is really one of the biggest highlights of the series and plus the absolutely funk-a-licious opening theme is definately one that will never leave my head for months and months on end, yet the ending theme is skippable. Overall it's really too early to tell how the rest of the series will play out although I can see some government conspiricies being thrown into the story but I still think this is one of the more interesting series of the season and will go with the rest of the funky flow on this one.

This series is currently streaming premire episodes on Crunchyroll.com and Funimation will be releasing english dubbed episodes on their own site with subscription.


-- Demi-chan wa Kataritai ("Interviews with Monster Girls") --

Animated by A-1 Pictures (Occultic;Nine, Erased, Sword Art Online)
Directed by Ryo Ando (GATE)
Written by Takao Yoshioka (Magical Girl Raising Project, Your Lie in April, Watamote)

- What Wiki Says -

Based on a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Petos, the story takes place in an age where demi-humans, more casually known as "demi", have slowly started to become accepted into human society. Tetsuo Takahashi is a biology teacher who ends up teaching three such demi, hoping to understand more about them while also managing to catch their attention. The "demis" in this story are: Hikari Takanashi, a highly energetic vampire whousually avoids biting other people's necks, instead drinking blood packs sent by the government. Kyoko Machi, a shy dullahan whose head is always detached from her body, which has a blue flame coming from where the neck should be and she can't move her head by herself. Yuki Kusakabe, A timid snow "yokai" whose body is always cold and will sometimes spread cold air while experiencing negative emotions. Lastly there's Sakie Sato, a succubus who works as a math teacher and due to the aphrodisiac her body produces, she constantly has to take precautions to avoid inadvertently seducing her male students, such as wearing a tracksuit and taking early trains.

- What I Say -

Personaly if you just had to have only one moe' anime in your season viewing schedule then definately make it this one because it is absolultely adorable! It actually kind of reminds me a little of the "Drrr!" series where we have superhumans and half-beasts living amoungest normal humans. However it's really not as lewd and raunchy as "Monster Musume" but does have some splotches of fanservice here and there. The style of the series more reminded me of another earlier A-1 Pics series "Ore no Imoto" (there's a much longer title) and thought it was from the same people and creators; I was wrong on that but definately has almost the same vibe as that otaku-based comedy series. Also I highly enjoyed the storybook pop-up visuals used in the opening and a big thumbs up to the A-1 CG dept. on that but the opening and ending songs aren't that rememberable. Personally I really enjoyed watching the first four episodes of the series although kind of a bummer by the forth episode all of the demi-girls were introduced and this is all we get to see so far, plus the manga series only has four volumes released. Still really curious how the rest of the series turns out and I know I will really get a cute kick out of it.

This series is currently streaming premire episodes on Crunchyroll.com and Funimation will be releasing english dubbed episodes on their own site with subscription.


-- Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon (Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid) --

Animated by Kyoto Animation (Sound! Euphonium, Beyond the Boundary, Nichijou)
Directed by Yasuhiro Takemoto (The Melancholy of Haruhi-chan Suzumiya, Lucky Star, Amagi Brilliant Park)
Written by Yuka Yamada (Sengoku Musou, Aikatsu! Idol Katsudou!, Non Non Biyori)

- What Wiki Says -

Based on a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Coolkyoushinja (creator of: "I Can't Understand What My Husband Is Saying"), one night, an office worker named Kobayashi comes across an injured dragon named Tohru who had come from another world. Wanting to repay Kobayashi's hospitality, Tohru starts living with her as a maid, soon attracting the attention of other dragons who come to the human world. Tohru is a female dragon who has the ability to transform into the shape of a human girl. After her life is saved by Kobayashi, she falls in love with her and starts living in her apartment as a maid. She usually retains her horns when changing into human shape, and occasionally retains her tail, yet she is commonly mistaken for a cosplayer.

- What I Say -

Kyoto Animation are always at the fore front when it comes to the most high-tier visual anime productions to grace Japanese television and I still consider them the "Studio Ghibli" of TV anime studios and every one of their work just needs to be watched, although from time to time the series they do may get on the way, way less serious side and this one is really no exception. Actually the style of this series heavily reminds me of "Nichijou" that has a much less detailed and much more comical look than their other typical anime shows they produce. Deep down, "Maid Dragon" is a really silly show with some blatent forced fanservice, big, bouncy boobies and yuri untertones, hell, you might as well consider this an almost all-girl "harem" show, but at least the comical bits and situations are pretty good and fun to watch. I won't consider this as a must watch of the season but it's just another stupid-fun show to add to your watching lineup and I'm ok with that.

This series is currently streaming premire episodes on Crunchyroll.com and Funimation will be releasing english dubbed episodes on their own site with subscription.


** Lastly, here is the newer yet older show I'm following after finishing "Revolutionary Girl Utena"

-- Card Captor Sakura --

Animated by Madhouse (Hunter X Hunter, Death Note, Trigun)
Directed by Morio Asaka (My Love Story!!, Nana, Chobits)
Written by Nanase Ohkawa (writer for all Clamp manga works such as Card Captor Sakura, Chobits and xxxHolic)

- What Wiki Says -

Based on a Japanese shojo manga series written and illustrated by the manga group Clamp, the story takes place in the fictional Japanese city of Tomoeda which is somewhere near Tokyo. Ten-year-old Sakura Kinomoto accidentally releases a set of magical cards known as Clow Cards from a book in her basement created and named after the sorcerer Clow Reed. Each card has its own unique ability and can assume an alternate form when activated. The guardian of the cards, Cerberus, emerges from the book and chooses Sakura to retrieve the missing cards. As she finds each card, she battles its magical personification and defeats it by sealing it away. Cerberus acts as her guide, while her best friend and second cousin, Tomoyo Daidouji films her exploits and provides her with battle costumes. The plot of the anime series is extended, featuring 52 Clow Cards from the manga's original 19, and certain scenes are stretched and delayed.

- What I Say -

Watching the original Japanese version of this series has definately been a really long time coming and it's about damn time, especially after my first initial viewings through the U.S. kid-show friendly version of "Cardcaptors" which was averagely dubbed and even edited for TV. Even from an anime show coming from 1998 this series is an absolute pure treat to watch and features some highly impressive animated moments that are still a joy to watch to this day. Also the opening and ending themes are so damn cute and addictive that you'll be humming their tunes from your head days and even months on end! I've so far watched the first 6 episodes and the show's quality does dip down quite a bit during the 5 & 6th episodes and they even didn't bother with the clow capturing animations in each but both were still highly fun to watch. Another neat thing about the show are the "Kero-chan CHECK!" segments at the end of each episode where they mainly show production pictures of Sakura's various battle cosplay or they may show set designs of places, also the shot were you see Kero sitting on a leather chair and holding a pipe cracks me up every time. Overall, and that is if you haven't seen this series for yourself already, I truly think this is an absolute watch for all fans of mahou shojo-type shows, although peronally watching pre-teens battling monsters may not be everyone's cup of tea but if you have not seen any of this wonderfull and cute series then please try to check this out as soon as you can.

The entire series, both in Japanese and English, is streaming on Crunchyroll.com and the entire series plus the first movie are available on BluRay and DVD.


-- Lastly for dumbass shits, and just because of it's title and subject, I did check out the first three episodes of "Schoolgirl Strikers: Animation Channel" and while it's actually better than "Hand Shakers" there isn't really much worthwhile enjoyment to get out of this, even for yet another anime based on a Japanese cellphone game, and it's best not to bother with this one.



*** Continuing Shows and New Seasons ***


-- Ao no Exorcist: Kyoto Fujouou-hen (Blue Exorcist: Kyoto Saga) --

Even though this is supposed to be a follow-up to the 2011 anime, the start of this series may confuse some people because it's now more following the manga chapters of the series starting at volume 5 (or by episode 13 in the older anime), where as about half of the older TV series was original material. However, there have been changes to the previous anime's main production team except for it's studio A-1 Pictures: replacing Tensai Okamura is director Koichi Hatsumi who's past works included "Gangsta" and "Deadman Wonderland". Older series writer Ryota Yamaguchi is now Toshiya Ono who did "Gatchaman Crowds" and "The Perfect Insider". Lastly music composer Hiroyuki Sawano is not doing all of the soundtrack but is working with Kohta Yamamoto for the music tracks in this and it's the first anime debut of his work. At least the looks and style of the older series is still present in the new one but the story is more going at a more slower and easy pace and in the first four episodes there haven't too much going on in terms of plot and action. The new opening theme of this is the most stylish of the season featuring some great art effects, yet I'm still not a big fan of Uverworld's music talents, also the new ending theme is just ok but it's nothing special, at least no K-pop boy bands this time. Right now it's too early to tell if this new exorcist series will be better than the first and personally, even with it's original anime-only material, I heavily enjoyed the original anime and really crossing my fingers this will be worthwhile.

The series is streaming on Crunchyroll.com and Daisuki.net.


-- Tales of Zestiria the X (Cross) --

While it didn't take all that long for this series to come back, the past season just finished at the end of September last year, the question is after watching the heavily mediocre first season will ufotable make it's second round of episodes more worth watching? After the first four episodes I believe things are looking toward the better side of things but I'm really not cashing all of my bets onto this one just yet. Also from what I know much of the older production team from the past season is all back to doing the new one. Ufotable's work is still highly detailed and stylish and even their CG work still is getting better and better with new episode they make (except for their crappy fire effects). Even the new opening and ending themes, especially the ending one with the new FLOW track, have a whole lot more visual flare and detail than the last ones. Yet I still think this series is more for the people that have already played through the JRPG title and it's kind of hard to know about what these charactors are doing or what their motives are. For a person that has not played a speck of the game it's still not all that bad to watch but more think it's just an extension to the game itself, for now I'll just take in the rest of this fantasy ride and see where it goes.

Premire episodes are streaming only on Daisuki.net, with subsciption and a one-week delay without, and english dubbed episodes will be streaming on Funimation.com with subscription.


-- Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! (KonoSuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World!) --

Now back with 75% more jiggly breast animations. Yet this anime is all about watching more of the wacky and fanservice-filled fantasy antics of our JRPG goof troop of Kazuma, Aqua, Megumin and Lalatina Dustiness Ford whom better goes by her adventurer name of "Darkness". It's good to see that all of the major production team from the older series is all back to work on the 2nd season, for better or worse. The original series really had it's ups and downs in terms of animation quality and the newer series is still taking suit here where some episodes looks pretty well made yet some just look averagely done. The new opening and ending themes are just as fun to watch and listen to as the previous seasons but are nothing really special. The only thing I'm more hoping for this season is that this one won't be cut short where the last series was only 10 episodes long! Deep down the series is really not a perfect one to watch but you just gotta love it's overall cute and funny charms and just another stupid-fun show to watch.

The series is streaming only on Crunchyroll.com.


-- Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans --

After the intense showdown with the rogue anti-Gundam mecha beast, the story and situations with the factions aren't really looking so hot and makes me wonder if this may turn out to be one of the most depressing Gundam shows yet (although I cannot see this overtopping Gundam Zeta). At least it's still entertaining me yet I hate to start laying down my death flag bets on who bites the big one next. Sadly the new set of opening and ending themes are becoming my least favorite of the whole series (that is if this will only be lasting 50-52 total episodes) but they are still enjoyable.

Premire episodes are streaming on Daisuki.net and is also on Crunchyroll.com with a one-week delay.


-- Hunter x Hunter --

Holy flesh eating vacuum cleaners Batman!! Yep, welcome to the "Phantom Troupe" and home of more whacked-out "nen" power users, and their ring-leader looks like a more punk-rock version Billy Corgan with slick black hair. Actually by this point in the anime we know who everyone is in the ending theme animation (\m/ Galneryus! \m/). I wouldn't say that this series is getting that strange and demented as the "Jojo's Bizzare Adventure" series but this newer story arc is getting kind of up there and is really much more darker than from the earlier arcs of the hunter exams and the tower fighting tournaments. Still I am very enjoying this series yet I know I have a whole lot more episodes to get through.

The entire series is streaming on Crunchyroll.com, also english dubbed episodes are currently playing on Toonami via Cartoon Network's Adult Swim (unsure how far they are into the series yet. Lastly the first 13 episodes are finally available on BluRay and DVD through VIZ.


-- 3-gatsu no Lion --

Rei seems to more be in an emotional power struggle in order to get to the high ranks of the Japanese shogi tournament and battling both between his opponents and the bullshit of his personal life, sometimes so much that it even harms his physical health! Yet the biggest real bummer for the winter series set is they yanked all of the highly great songs from "Bump of Chicken" and I thought those were the best songs used from last year. However instead we get another well done track from alt J-rock artist "Yuki" whom you may remember did the opening themes of Chica Umino's other manga series turned anime "Honey and Clover" (and I still cannot forget that freaky weird-ass opening with the shrimp fingers). I did give 3-Lion just an honorable mention for best anime of 2016 however I'm really hoping the rest of the series this season will be a highly rememberable one.

Episodes are streaming on both Crunchyroll.com and Daisuki.net.