Btw, the opening paragraph still says which fourteen anime
Anyway, contrary to last season, I'll be doing comments in a separate post, since that seems easier than editing.
1. Boku dake ga Inai Machi
Boku dake ga Inai Machi does an admirable job balancing character and plot. The plotline, between the mystery and the supernatural time travel elements, keeps viewers thinking, while the characters remain vivid and not overshadowed by plot details. The characters themselves also strike a good balance between familiar archetypes but not veering into cliche. The main character is what really keeps the show together. The dual voice actors is super effective. Whenever I'm watching something as opposed to reading it, I'm always questioning "what does this slower media type offer me that skimming through a book doesn't"? Since I'm not that much of a visual person, overlapping voices is definitely something cool and effective that I wouldn't have imagined on my own. On a less technical level, the main character is the most realistic and well developed, as main characters should be. He remembers certain things but forgets others. He tries his best, but he navigates the complex field of fitting in and staying true to himself.
2. Haikyuu 2
I still like this sports drama. The characters are hilarious, the opponents and their play styles are varied and interesting. And as one of my friends said, Haikyuu is always great at making you sympathize for the losing team.
3. Hai to Gensou no Grimgar
The reason Hai to Gensou no Grimgar is ranked so high is because it has a surprising vivaciousness. It has a weird sort of immediacy that you don't expect. You go in expecting something cerebral and politics heavy like Log Horizon or something stereotypically shonen adventure like SAO. Someone in the seasonal discussion thread called it "slice of life" as a negative thing, but I think that's what makes it so good. Then again, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich was one of my favorite books in high school, so... I like peering into ordinary actions in an extraordinary setting. It has a beautiful water color look that goes very well with what it's trying to do. I also like Grimgar because it gives me Digimon nostalgia more than Digimon Tri does. It has that same, "strangers in a strange land" feel that made the first season of Digimon so great.
4. Schwarzesmarken
Schwarzemarken is the animefied twist to the dystopian genre, and to be honest, I think I prefer this, with all its cheesiness and black and white character to something like 1984. 1984 is so dreary, and I want to spend most of my free time on entertainment (and no, I was not entertained by the borderline satire-ness of 1984). The reveals in episode 3 came too fast, in my opinion, but I guess they want to move onto the insurgency plotline already.
5. Dagashi Kashi
Dagashi Kashi is hyperactive and in bite sized pieces, just like the candy that the focus of this anime. This reminds me of The Daily Life of High School Boys, with its completely off the wall actions. The only thing holding it back is that sometimes it feels like its trying too hard to be weird or ecchi. Let the characters hatch plots themselves, don't do accidental run-ins or an anthropomorphic skit involving candy.
6. Musaigen no Phantom World
I like the little trivia tidbits that genuinely seem like a character with too much borderline useless knowledge floating around in his head rather than deux ex machina solutions or the show just trying to sound smart. Occasionally the humor is on point. Otherwise, everything is fine. The animation is fine, the characters are fine. Nothing particularly spectacular or awful (unless you're just very burnt out on the magical high schoolers/ecchi genres).
7. MS Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans
I've gotten a tad bit bored with the recent episodes of Gundam. First with the "brothers" plotlines followed by all this running around on Dort. The insurrection didn't feel particularly powerful or interesting, which, going back to my Gate comments from last season, I feel awful after the fact if people are dying on screen and I didn't feel a thing. That's exactly the problem I've been running into with Gundam. I'm getting less and less invested in anything, and going into the second half of a two-cour, is a problem.
8. Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu
Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu reminds me of a Hemingway novel, specifically, For Whom The Bell Tolls. It floats through history. You never get that visceral "woah" feeling that good documentaries convey. You don't feel immersed in a different time. Also like For Whom The Bell Tolls, you never get intense bursts of emotion. Even during really dramatic life events, there's no, high drama, so to speak. You get it in small slices of everyday actions instead. One of my friends love For Whom the Bell Tolls. Personally, it's not my cup of tea.
9. Divine Gate
I didn't expect Divine Gate to make my list, with all of its really ridiculous narration and Gary Stu-ness. But then, first, there's nothing quite like the "thrown in" feel of video game adaptions. I have a love/hate relationship with it, but the lack of world building exposition definitely forces me to pay more attention to details and draw my own conclusions. The drama is decently interwoven that nothing feels like it's floating on an island of details that the show will never mention again. Overall a decent show when you get past all the cheese.
10. Prince of Stride
Free 2.0's downfall is that you don't particularly see much parkour, which is disappointing because part of what made Free so good was the beauty of the swim strokes. Prince of Stride is more cartoon-y and very self aware, which is good sometimes, and too overly caricature-ish at others.
11. Dimension W
Not a fan of maverick cyberpunk type storylines, and the female lead is one of the worst characters this season.
12. HaruChika
These episodic "puzzle" solving episodes are awful. Give me more realism and character development and music, not whatever the hell these poor attempts at cleverness are.
13. Gate 2
Episode 3, with its sudden "lets reform the harem and go on a quest" twist was awful. I was starting to like Gate 2 and its fantasy politics too, ugh, it's like Gate is always one step forwards, two steps back.
Potentially to be watched: Ajin |