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Ayy, it really has been quite a while! It’s cool though, I’ve also been off of MAL for quite some time too. Haven’t replied to a lot of people for quite some time myself 😅

But lol, those exams went pretty well IIRC. Because of COVID-19, I’m doing all my courses online now, which basically means easy marks, lol. Instead of exams, we’re doing assignments that’ll be valued the same. And assignments are definitely a lot easier to get good marks in than exams. Though that doesn’t change the fact that this year itself is quite a mess! What a great way to start the decade!

Yeah, those Super S2 rumors… boy I was pretty disappointed when I realized that the rumors aren’t going to turn into reality. If it does come back, I want the Broly movie’s director and staff to work on it. But it seems like they’re currently busy with One Piece. Ever since Nagamine Tatsuya took over One Piece, the series has had a massive jump in visual consistency, more frequent sakuga, and more tolerable pacing. Even the current art-style in OP is very similar to the Broly movie’s art-style.

Oof, it’s not just Shokugeki, a lot of Shounen Jump stuff have been ending disappointingly lately. I know there’s many that disliked Demon Slayer’s ending, and although personally I thought it was fine, it was undeniably underwhelming. But it still felt satisfactory enough for Demon Slayer to end off with some level of dignity. In comparison, Shokugeki felt like it turned into a parody of itself by the end. Promised Neverland also ended pretty disappointingly; probably a lot worse than Demon Slayer’s ending. The problem with Neverland was that it just peaked way too much during its first arc, and then struggled to meet expectations during the later arcs. Although the later arcs were still quite good, the final arc was pretty messy. And the ending felt pretty anti-climactic too. At least it seems Haikyuu’s gonna end on a good note. I’m pretty sure it only has a volume or two left.

But with all of these big WSJ manga ending or close to ending, the magazine’s losing quite a lot of volume sellers. Demon Slayer got so big that it started to outsell One Piece, with over 3 mil per volume. Haikyuu and Promised Neverland were both selling near 800k per volume too. And with One Piece ending in 5 years, they’re gonna need something huge to replace it. Demon Slayer started its final arc before the anime started (before it got that popularity boost). Had WSJ realized that Demon Slayer was gonna get this big, they wouldn’t have allowed the mangaka to start the final arc, lol.

I will say that the directing in OPM 2 felt pretty off. The pacing was inconsistent and certain scenes didn’t flow well. And the decision to put that god-awful metal texturing/coloring on anything metallic was terrible. Some of the sound-effects were pretty off too. But there were definitely moments where the animation was quite good. It’s just that the first season was too good of an adaptation, and it was nearly impossible to match those standards from the start. J.C. Staff’s been doing a lot better lately. The current Scientific Railgun season actually looks very good, even excellent at times.

MAPPA’s been popping off lately. They’re currently packed with God of High School, Jujutsu Kaisen, and the upcoming season of AoT. If they meet expectations for all of their upcoming projects, then MAPPA’s really gonna rise in popularity. I have no idea if The God of High School will be any good writing-wise since I’m not familiar with the source material, but the anime PVs guarantees that it will be quite the eyegasm-fest.

Second season of Fairy Gone was slightly more tolerable than the first season. But it was still pretty bad. Carole & Tuesday went pretty downhill by the end of the series. The novelty wore off quick and the series started to feel more and more illogical with its writing. There were definitely some great moments, but they would come up so rarely. Kinda hard to believe that Watanabe actually directed it. The anime did look visually amazing throughout though. Kono Oto Tomare’s adaptation turned out to be great! It definitely was very limited-looking, but the directing itself was really good. Even if it didn’t look the best, you could tell that the studio tried their best to recreate the same emotions and feeling the manga created. Certain scenes were handled a lot better than the manga too, especially the music performances. Hitoribocchi was quite fun indeed. Chapters for the manga come out pretty rarely, but when they do come out, it’s always a pleasant read.

From last year, I’d say Vinland Saga stood out quite a lot. Not only was it an adaptation of what many consider to be one of the best manga out there, but the adaptation itself was fantastic. A couple of meh uses of CGI aside, the adaptation looked nearly perfect. The directing, the voice acting, everything was on-point. In a time where many anime lack originality and feel more-or-less the same, Vinland Saga felt like something truly special. Another series I’d recommend is Beastars. Before I read the manga, I thought that it was gonna be some furry stuff. But it’s a lot more complex than it seems and it’s very well-written. The way the series manages to use carnivores and herbivores to depict a society that isn’t far off from our own society is quite remarkable. And the CG-work was some of the best I've seen in an anime. I’m glad that the series gained a lot of recognition too. I was totally expecting it to be niche in popularity. I also liked Kanata no Astra and Mairimashita Iruma-kun quite a lot from last year too. Unfortunetely, both series went under the radar for a lot of people. Kanata no Astra did take some time to get truly interesting. But I think the sudden switch in direction is what made the series captivating too.

From last season, I recommend Eizouken and Dorohedoro. Eizouken felt like a true celebration of anime. It felt like it was passionately created and the staff clearly had a lot of fun making too. Yuasa Masaaki rarely disappoints with his stuff. And Dorohedoro is a full-on acid trip (in a good way, lol). It’s wacky and over-the-top, but it’s overall mystery and story is intriguing and interesting. It is heavy on CGI, but it looks quite okay. The directing made up for the CG, and they nailed the atmosphere of the manga. The staff definitely treated the source material with a lot of care and hopefully they consider making a second season someday.

This season of anime’s pretty dead, with most of the good stuff being delayed to Summer. Tower of God’s not too bad though. Fruits Basket S2, Kakushigoto, Yesterday wo Utatte and Hamefura are all quite good too. But the only true stand this season is Kaguya-sama S2. The staff was truly went beyond expectations for the adaptation. It’s actually overkill with how well it handles its source material XD

Looking forward to Oregairu the most next season. I thought the final volume was fantastic and a fitting conclusion for the series. A lot of great moments I can't wait to see adapted!

And yup, it’s still pretty locked-down here. Things are starting to open up, but many non-essential stuff, including schools and universities, are still closed. Because of that, I haven’t had any reason to head outside whatsoever. I’ve been an absolute shut-in for the past couple of months, lol. It did allow me to make a good dent on my backlog of games and get things done. The fact that it made my university stuff a lot softer and gave me an excuse to play video games, watch anime, and read manga like an absolute degenerate, I guess I’m not really complaining about the current situation that much, lol. However, I do wish things go back to normal soon. Lotta people’s lives are being affected due to this, both for health and financial reasons. Plus, I can only indulge myself in my hobbies for so long until I get a bit sick and tired of it :P
Hopefully you and all of the people in your life are doing well too. Not sure how it’s going over there, but hopefully things are improving and getting better there.

And yes, Chihayafuru is very good! I started the series last year and I absolutely loved it. Every season just got better than the last one!

Reply man. You must have seen the email. XD XD

Hey man!!! How are you? Been such a long time. You don't update your list anymore XD XD

Sorry for the late response! Had some exams during the last couple of weeks, and they’re finally done now.

Have you heard about the rumors of Super returning in July? I wonder if they’ll start off with a redoing of the Broly movie for the first cour of the anime? And yeah, the Cell arc was my favorite arc, solely because of all of the really cool Gohan moments. Hopefully him and Piccolo are given important roles in later arcs.

Yeah, Shokugeki no Souma has turned into a painful read right now. It’s only getting progressively worse right now. It’s gotten so bad to the point that I’m starting to dislike characters I’ve once used to like. Even the cooking is not as interesting as it used to be because of it being too over-the-top. The main antagonist literally has a supernatural ability, which allows him to be the greatest chef. Like, he takes other people’s cooking skills away and makes it into his own. He’s literally All for One from MHA XD

After the first two episodes, OPM2 is definitely nowhere near as good as S1, but it’s J.C. Staffs best effort in the last three years. Like, I don’t particularly blame J.C. Staff. They probably have good animators, just a really shitty schedule. Especially since they have 12+ anime projects in one year. Production committees just keep on dumping more projects on them and clearly they’re suffering. OPM S2 could’ve never looked as good as S1 because that was a special project where the director had enough outside connections to call in talented animators to work on the same series. Clearly S1’s director isn’t able to do the same thing again because ACCA 13 and Boogiepop didn’t look nowhere near as good as OPM did (they still looked good though). And Madhouse is just not good as they used to be (not to mention that most of OPM S1’s animators weren’t even from Madhouse). The only way I see OPM S2 ever looking as good as S1 is if it went to Studio Bones instead. With what they did with Mob Psycho 100 S2, it’s almost unreal O_O

MAPPA really struck gold with Zombieland Saga, which turned out to be one of the best selling anime of 2018. They definitely have their ups and downs though. Zombieland and Yuri on Ice sold like crazy, meanwhile Inuyashiki sold absolutely nothing. Sarazanmai so far is a blast and clearly different from anything else out there in the industry. A lot of it has to do with the director, Ikuhara’s work with the series. I’m planning on watching his other stuff soon, like Utena and Penguindrum.
I still appreciate P.A. Works, but Fairy Gone might be their worst original in the last couple of years or so. It’s just not very engrossing. At least it has 24 episodes, so maybe it can pick up later.

Yeah, Ace Attorney’s cases feel really straightforward and easy in an anime form, but that’s because it feels like everything is spoon-fed to the audience. Its content is really made to be experienced as a game. And honestly, the Ace Attorney anime is more appealing to the players of the games, rather than newcomers.

Yep, Madhouse doesn’t really have many talented animators in its studio anymore. Bones is where quality is at now XD

Banana Fish definitely peaks somewhere in the middle of the series, but it really picks up again towards its end.

Yeah, it might just be best to binge JoJo Part 5 whenever it ends. Taking long breaks from a series would definitely affect the enjoyment of that series, unless if you stop at the end of an arc or something. And I’m pretty sure JoJo’s a lot more fun when binging it than watching it weekly. Gotta say, Fairy Tail’s anime is much more enjoyable than the manga, even if the anime’s a stillshot fest at this point. Lack of animation aside, the anime manages to make the weak moments of the manga more tolerable. Yeah, Alicization was good stuff, and luckily, it maintained its quality for most of the time. Hopefully the next season keeps it up!

TenSura did go a bit downhill during its second half, but it’s still a good anime overall. Pretty excited for its second season! Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru’s second half really kicked it up a notch and almost every episode had me pretty emotionally invested with the characters. It’s MAL score really went up too, from 7.5 to 8.5. Agreed, Yagate Kimi ni Naru was very good. As you said, it’s a slow burn, but impactful. It manages to be either relaxing or intense whenever it needs to be.

And it seems like we’re just getting more and more two-cour stuff. Fruits Basket will be 2-cour, plus it will get more seasons to cover all of the manga. Fairy Gone, Carole & Tuesday, and Kimetsu no Yaiba is 2-cour too. And Kono Oto Tomare’s confirmed to be split-cour.

Anything you’re liking from the new season? As a manga reader and fan, I’m really hoping that Kono Oto Tomare turns out to be a good adaptation. So far it’s doing good, although the third episode cut out some stuff. Hopefully they maintain a proper pace and everything will be alright. I’m pretty satisfied with the voice acting and although the art isn’t as good as the manga’s, it’s still pretty clean and consistent. Meanwhile for Kimetsu no Yaiba, I have no worries whatsoever. Ufotable’s doing god’s work, giving such a niche Shounen Jump manga the adaptation it deserves. It looks and sounds perfect! Fruits Basket’s remake is on-point too, and with the mangaka supervising the anime, it’s bound it be a faithful adaptation. Carole & Tuesday is turning out to be Watanabe’s best work since Champloo. Its visual presentation is the best this season and the characters are already quite likable. Sarazanmai is utterly whack, but it clearly has a message and a socially relevant theme that it wants to present. It’ll be fun to decipher this one this season. Senko-san walks on this fine line of being both creepy and relaxing, lol. Still enjoying it though. Senryuu Shoujo’s a big bummer compared to its manga. It’s just not funny enough and the 4-koma gags from the manga don’t translate well to anime. BokuBen’s an alright adaptation, but the manga itself it nothing too special. Compared to Gotoubun (same premise for a harem series), it’s a bit lacking. Hitoribocchi’s pretty fun and it’s convincing me to read the manga actually. I was looking forward to YU-NO a lot because its visual novel is what inspired Steins;Gate. So far, it’s not bad, but not good either. Isekai Quartet’s a fun short, and luckily I’m familiar with all the series present in the crossover. Also, RobiHachi a lot of fun surprisingly. It’s pretty underrated tbh.
From sequels, Bungou Stray Dogs is starting off amazingly. I love how they’re coving novel content along with the manga content. OPM S2 is alright so far too. Not as good as S1, but a good anime on its own right. And the new Diamond no Ace is as fun as it normally is. Animation is limited, but DnA was always like that. 52 episodes though O_O

yea lol highest ive seen so far, the biggest difference in our scores is a 2

holy shit 86% affinity...can we be friends?

Yeah man, it’s been a while! Happy new year to you too! Everything’s going pretty good at uni, luckily. Second year courses feel much easier than first year’s, so it’s a pretty chill year so far. Oof, it’s gonna take a long time to go through the MAL database and check what series you’ve forgotten to add to your list. I know there’s probably a lot of OVAs and specials I’ve forgotten to add to my list :/

The manga probably should’ve ended after Aki and Masamune got together. Everything after that felt forced and dragged out. That being said, I think I slowly lost my interest in the manga once the main character lost his revenge motive and became just a normal MC. His narcissistic behavior was what kept me going, because I found it pretty entertaining :D

Gundam Origin was awesome, but it sucks that it’s incomplete. I have yet to watch the original 1979 series though. Iron Blooded Orphans was pretty fun. I liked its bleaker atmosphere and war-related themes it brought up. Plus it has a really cool cast of characters. It does have some inconsistent pacing (some parts feel dragged out and other parts go by too fast), but the content itself is solid.

The MHA movie was alright. A lot of the plot points felt convenient and overly cheesy. But the movie’s worth watch, solely for its insane animation quality during its final fight.

And that Broly movie was a lot of fun, holy! First off, Broly’s a much more likable character than he was in the older movies. His backstory makes more sense and his anger feels justified. Broly’s actually one of my favorite DB characters now! The writing is also quite solid, with a good blend of seriousness and humor. The pacing was a bit weird though. It has a nice, slow pace for its backstory segment, but the moment the movie cuts to present time and the moment Broly lands on Earth, the action starts. I wish there was a bit more of a buildup to the fight, but it’s not too bad. I heard Toriyama wrote a 3-hour script for the movie, but the movie was only 1 hour 40 mins. Maybe when Super gets a sequel anime, they’ll start the series by remaking the Broly movie with added content and disappointing animation, like what they did with Battle of Gods and Resurrection F. Anyways, the fight itself was sex to my eyes. The animation quality was near perfect. The only issue I’d say is the CGI. It’s really good CGI, but because it’s CGI, you get distracted by the change in art-style and it puts you out of the movie. It’s only there for 1-2 mins anyways, so it’s not bad. Vegeta got blessed, the man was able to put up a decent fight! Now if only Toriyama blesses Gohan someday and makes him as OP as he was before, I’ll be a happy Gohan fan. And Gogeta was glorious, both the form, and that fusion dance they needed to do. I gotta say though, the music was a bit weak. Like, I was listening to the OSTs before watching the movie and I thought they were hype. But when I was watching the movie, it felt a bit off-putting. Idk, the music sometimes chants the characters’ names, like “Go, Broly, Go, Go”, and it the movie, it felt weird. But when I listen to the music now, I find it pretty hype. Idk, kinda a weird situation for me. Anyways, the more I think about the movie, the more I love it. I ended up boosting my score for it a bit too!

Yeah, it’s super late to license Classroom of the Elite now, though Seven Seas has always been super weird with their licenses. It wasn’t until last year that they started releasing the Toradora LNs. This series is ancient now, lol.

Agreed! The final arc was the most “Gintama” Gintama can get. A great mix of comedy and action, with a bit of emotional stuff scattered throughout. The final arc is basically a celebration of what Gintama is. Manga’s about to end in one chapter, and I’m hoping for the best. Things are starting to wrap up, but it seems like the series will need more than one chapter.

You know what? As weak as that Daddy Nakiri arc was, I still sort of enjoyed it. And I was totally fine with how the series was going. But the current arc? Oh boy, I haven’t seen a series derail so hard my entire life. The current arc is absolutely atrocious and it’s almost mentally painful to read. When people start cooking with chainsaws and explosives, you know there a limit that has been crossed. And the premise for the arc is sooo cliché. I can just smell the manga being cancelled soon, lol.

Yeah, the OPM S2 PV’s lack of animation cuts worries me a bit. OPM S1’s first PV was released 4 months before its premiere (just like the OPM S2 PV), and it had a fair bit of animation cuts in it. The art looks alright. The line-work and outlines look a bit weak and the color palette for skin colors has a bit to much color gradient going on. The background look way too blurred out too. Art-wise, it actually looks extremely similar to Taboo Tattoo and I would be surprised if it has the same animators from that series. Luckily, Taboo Tattoo was pretty well animated, though its animation style isn’t too fitting for OPM. I’m not expecting much from J.C. Staff though, since all their recent projects looked like crap. Shokugeki was a stillshot-fest, Back Street Girls was basically a slideshow, Satsuriku no Tenshi started off decent, but looked dull later on. Planet With, Saiki, and High Score Girl are all great anime, but visually, they’re not the best. Magical Index III looks inconsistent and Date A Live III is cancer to my eyes. Yeah, I’m not a big fan of J.C Staff -_-;

Yeah, Franxx went downhill. But Trigger made up for it with Gridman. I’ve been Gridman since episode 1, and at first, I was super bummed out by how unpopular it was. But luckily the series got a lot of exposure, thanks to good reception and a certain character’s thicc thighs.

Golden Kamuy’s anime might have some pretty lackluster animation, and they might’ve skipped some arc, but man, the directing is just sooo good! Somehow, I found the anime to be more intense than the manga at times, thanks to well-directed scenes. Good directing really can elevate a source material, even if an adaptation is lacking in other departments. A good example is the new Promised Neverland anime. The anime is skipping monologues, but the directing and top-tier storyboarding replicates the manga’s intensity.

I liked that Megalo Box didn’t try to copy Ashita no Joe’s ending, and went for something different and happier. Hope you enjoy Ashita no Joe though!! Yeah, I wish we get more stuff like Zombieland Saga. Take cliché premises and put a twist to it. Luckily, Zombieland Saga’s selling like crazy, so we might get some more experimental stuff from the industy. Speaking of experimental content, MAPPA must be the king of that. From Zombieland Saga, to Banana Fish (a retelling of an 80’s manga), to Dororo (an adaptation of an 60’s manga), to Inuyashiki (niche premise and appeal), they’ve been pushing out some unique stuff. And their work always feels so different from another. Not all of their stuff works (like that Bahamut S2 was a trainwreck), but I appreciate their effort. Their next work, Sarazanmai, looks like quite the unique project. Speaking of appreciation, I really like what P.A. Works is trying to do. They constantly produce anime-original stuff, when most studios are desperate in doing adaptations. Although not many of their stuff I’ve watch I’ve actually enjoyed, but their one of the only studios out there that primarily does anime-original stuff. Plus, I haven’t watched their best stuff yet, like Shirobako, Nagi no Asu kara, and Maquia. Went on a studio tangent here, sorry, lol.

Yeah, S;G 0’s directing was a bit weak and in comparison to the original series, it does fall short, but I still enjoyed it for what it is. It was both interesting and heartbreaking to watch a broken Okabe throughout the series. I wish the pacing was a bit more proper. Like, the first 15 or so episode could’ve been done in 11-12 episodes, and the last 8 or so episodes could’ve gotten the other 11-12 episodes. It’s hard to decide whether the anime is better than the VN or not. The anime added more plot-points and clarified some stuff. The emotional parts in the VN were done much better in the anime too. At the same time, a lot of interesting S;G 0 moments comes from its alternate bad endings (which even contains plot points for the main routes), and since the anime cut those out, a large part of what made the VN interesting is gone. The VN’s main story was basically two small routes (with 4 extra bad routes, which the anime skips). The anime turned those two routes into one, long, linear story, which makes sense, or else the anime would’ve felt too disjointed. But the merging of two plot-points made for some awkward transitions in tone at times.

Persona 5’s anime’s situation changed up a bit. It went from 3-cour to two-cour, but the rest of the series is being done in hour long TV specials. I still think the pacing is decent, but it can’t replicate the game’s magic. A big appeal to Persona is the self-insert aspect and it’s gameplay. The stories are decent, but they’re not Persona’s strong point. And the story only works when slowly presented during its 100-hour playthrough, and not when it’s crammed into a 26-episode anime. It’s the same way I feel with Danganronpa and Ace Attorney. No matter how good the pacing is, the detective aspect is Danganronpa and Ace Attorney’s greatest strength. Take away the gameplay and you have a hollow replication.

I’ve grown to appreciate Grand Blue’s anime more after a rewatch, but some parts are still lacking. It doesn’t have the same energy the manga has. And I think the voice cast is a bit underwhelming. Imagine how much funnier Grand Blue would be if Kamiya Hiroshi (Prison School’s MC’s VA) did Iori and if Sugita did Kouhei. I know almost every manga reader in the west and in Japan wanted Kamiya to do Iori, and it sucks that he wasn’t given the role.

Yeah, I’m looking forward to the next SnK season! It’s gonna be adapting my favorite stuff from the manga after all! That teaser they put in the last episode’s ED has me so hyped up!! I take back what I said about Overlord III, lol. Madhouse really screwed up at the end, with some of the most godawful CGI for its most important moment. Its important moments were pretty much just this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ps6J6LeSR3E
And it’s most brutal and gory content was turned into this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUpxnsiYX40
Yikes Madhouse. Even with a lot of their animators leaving, this is quite the drop in quality.

Chio-chan was a lot of fun. The references it made were all great!! From Summer, there was a lot of stuff that turned out to be great later on. Banana Fish turned out to be good, and High Score Girl and Planet With were quite the surprise!

From Fall, there’s a lot of strong sequels. JoJo Part 5 is amazing! Somehow, my second-least favorite JoJo part (manga-wise) is turning out to be my second-favorite part anime-wise. The adaptation is golden, pun-intended! Fairy Tail’s final season is pretty fun too. Since I read the manga, I already know it’s gonna go hella downhill later (and I hope the anime fixes up the ending), but so far it’s doing a good job with the adaptation. I’m actually really enjoying the new SAO season! I think a large part has to do with Kirito’s character being more toned down in power, and the new deuteragonist (Eugeo) and his bromance with the MC. Their dynamic is quite fun and it’s what’s driving the series forward. Plus the animation and music is filled with pure quality, so that’s an extra. And I think SAO’s doing a much better job at storytelling than before. With it being a 4-cour series, I hope it keeps up the quality. Or maybe it can take a break midway, who knows! And Golden Kamuy S2 was my favorite from last season, so there’s that.

In terms of new stuff from Fall, I think TenSura’s my favorite of the bunch. Something about it makes it a relaxing watch every week. Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru is also turning out to be a great sports series. There’s a lot of other good stuff from Fall though, like Gridman, Boarding School Juliet, Zombieland Saga, Bunny Girl, and Yagate Kimi ni Naru. 2018 in general has been such a good year for anime! Plus it had two seasons of Gintama, so by default it’s an amazing year for me, lol.

A bit off-topic, but I realized that there’s been more 2+ cour anime recently. Before, almost everything was one-cour, but now, multiple cour anime is kinda common. Stuff like FranXX, Grancrest Senki, Captain Tsubasa, Persona 5, Banana Fish, TenSura, Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru, Hinomaruzumou, Karakuri Circus, Radiant, and many more got more than one cour. And that’s not including sequels like MHA, JoJo, SAO, S;G 0, etc. Stuff like this is what I want to see more. With so many one-cour adapations, I can’t help but feel like most anime nowadays are just advertisement for their manga or light novel. It’s expected, since most of their source materials are ongoing anyways. But with one-cour stuff, most of the time it feels like I’m just scratching the surface. With a longer series, even if it’s incomplete, I’ll feel like I’ve gotten something more out of it. And with Winter having stuff like Shield Hero and Dororo being two-cour, it makes me look forward to them more.

Speaking of Winter, what’s your favorite stuff from this season? Mob Psycho, Kaguya-sama, Promised Neverland, and Dororo are my favorites so far. They’re all spectacular adaptations of their manga. Shield Hero’s getting a bit more interesting now, so I’ll be looking forward to more of that. Domestic na Kanojo and Gotoubun no Hanayome are quite interesting too, and since I’m a manga reader for both of them, I’m interested in seeing how much of the manga they cover. And Kakegurui’s redeeming itself after that anime original ending from the last season. Boogiepop’s starting to gain my interest, and My Roommate is a Cat is pretty fun. Overall, a solid start to this season.


This message got a bit too long... yikes :O

Ugh man, I know that pain of refreshing the page while typing a reply! Now I always type stuff on another document. Anyways, no worries, I’m pretty late with replies myself too.

Yeah, I was on my summer break, but that’s ending in another 2-3 weeks.

My memory of the manga is already pretty bad (even though it ended not too long ago), but the Masamune OVA seemed anime-original at times. Well, the OVA will probably feel too fast-paced for those that haven’t read the manga.

For Gundam, you can start literally anywhere, haha. I think I personally started with Gundam 00. Though since Gundam: The Origin just ended, I’d say to start with that. It recreates the story from the original anime (which I have yet to see). Unfortunately, it’s doesn’t cover up to the end of the manga, but it’s a good way to start Gundam. And then from there, you can watch whatever Gundam series appeals to you, since they’re their own self-contained stories.

Honestly, I’m kinda surprised with how often anime plays in our city’s theater. They played the AoT S2 recap movie and Fate/stay Night: Heaven’s Feel this year too. And the new Pokemon, My Hero Academia, DBS movie should be playing in the next couple of months.

Gamers didn’t sell all that well, but it’s still one of Pine Jam’s only work that actually sold something. Maybe they might give it a second season, who knows. The chances of an English release for the light novels isn’t impossible. Seven Seas just announced an English release for Classroom of the Elite last month (even though it would’ve been more profitable to announce something like that a year ago… back when the anime was actually relevant).

Yen Press translations tend to be hit-or-miss, but their Hakomari releases have been top-notch. I’m glad they put their most competent translators on that series XD

ReLIFE probably has one of the most satisfying ending I’ve seen for a romance series. Had I been an anime-only I would’ve loved the ReLIFE OVAs. But knowing what was skipped, I can’t appreciate it that much.

Gintama’s anime is about to hit its major fight pretty soon, so I’m pretty excited for that. But yeah, the manga is still going on. There are rumors suggesting that the manga will end in 5 chapters, but that doesn’t seem possible. That’s not enough time to wrap up the story. And the fact that the recent chapter was about gorillas and that’s it, it makes it hard for me to believe that Sorachi would make chapters like these when he only has 5 weeks left. Sorachi’s troll, but not that troll XD

Yeah, both Shokugeki cours were a disappointment. Significantly worse than second season, but content-wise and production values wise. Even the improved pacing over the second season couldn’t save them.

Yeah, currently OPM’s older staff is working on Boogiepop and Others, and the new PV for it looks amazing. OPM S2 was announced for April 2019!! Unfortunately, it can’t cover all of the current arc, nor can it end off at a hype note. But it should be a fun season regardless. A PV was out for it and the art style change is apparent on the poster. It’s not bad though and it can still work. I need to see it animated to judge it.

Darling in the FranXX was probably the best trainwreck I’ve seen in recent times. I was sort of onboard with it until Episode 19 happened. That “worldbuilding” was hot garbage and made me lose faith in its overall story. I found it hard to get interested in the next couple of episodes when the motivation, or overall story/end goal was so lackluster. Everything was all over the place and by the end, I couldn’t wait until it was over. Final arc tried too hard to be an Evangelion/Gurren Lagann combination that it failed at doing either one properly.

Golden Kamuy was a lot of fun. Artwork in the anime was iffy at times, but the god-tier voice acting made it up for me. And yeah, the manga’s a lot of fun!

Hinamatsuri is a strong contender for AOTY for me, excluding sequels. Haven’t laughed that hard in a while. I recently caught up with the manga, and post-time skip part is even funnier! Megalo Box started off pretty hype, but derailed into predictable territory pretty fast. Though I was surprised that it had a happier ending, unlike Ashita no Joe. Wotakoi was fun. I enjoyed the manga and the anime was fun too. Some of the comic timing was a bit off at times, but I didn’t mind it too much. And it’s a shame that Hisone to Maso-tan went under-the-radar for a lot of people. I was expecting more from Tada-kun, since it had Nozaki-kun’s staff. It was fine enough though. The less we talk about Mahou Shoujo Site, the better. Ore was at least kinda funny at times. I swear though, with that premise, it could’ve been way funnier if they tried. 3D Kanojo has terribly unlikable lead characters, lol. Amanchu started off well, but it jumped off the cliff real bad by the end. I head Piano no Mori’s manga is better, so I might check that out someday.

From last season, and currently going into the current season, I liked Steins;Gate 0 the most. Definitely an improvement over the visual novel so far. A lot of buildup, but the last couple of episode are making it worth it. BnHA S3’s first half was probably the series’ peak. The current arc isn’t as good, but it’s still fun. I’m also one of the very few specimens that’s actually enjoying Persona 5 the Animation. The pacing is actually pretty good and they’ve added more depth to certain characters. It’s just that certain moments aren’t as impactful in the anime as it was in the game, and the production values are pretty low. Considering how this anime exists solely to advertise the game and the anime is three-cour, I can see why the production values are low for the series. And I’m really liking Captain Tsubasa. Glad it’s gonna be 52 episodes.

“It is more like they are reading the lyrics of a song rather than singing it”. That’s actually the most accurate way of describing the Grand Blue anime. I expected more from Gintama’s old director, lol. It’s not cutting out much, but the jokes don’t land at all due to poor comic timing. Punchlines are supposed to be emphasized, not to be treated equally as the set-up. Sound effects and proper use of music during those moments could’ve helped. The anime’s improving a bit now, but it’s still nowhere near the manga.

For sequels, I’m liking Gintama.: Second Half of Totally the Final Arc, and SnK S3 a lot. SnK S3 is much faster paced than the manga right now. I wish they didn’t cut out certain things, but at the same time, this improved pacing adds more thrills to the series. I’m also enjoying Overlord III and Free quite a lot. Definitely a step-up from their last seasons. For non-sequels, I guess I’m still enjoying Grand Blue. Banana Fish and Hataraku Saibou are really good too. Asobi Asobase’s getting funnier for me too. And Planet With is kinda fun, albeit, a bit too confusing. Hanebado is visually amazing, but I’m not sold on the characters and drama yet. Isekai Maou to Shoukan is kinda funny at times, but ehh, not sure I’m gonna end up liking that one all that much. Tenrou is kinda generic stuff so far, but hopefully it picks up. There’s a lot of other stuff I’m watching, but they’re not really worth recommending atm, lol XD

I recommend watching it in broadcast order, since I think there’s some sort of treat in leaving Kizumonogatari for near the end. It’s a prequel to everything else in the series, and the only Monogatari entry that solely focuses on the protagonist. Plus, Kizumonogatari is a step-up visually from the rest of the series, so it will be jarring to watch Nisemonogatari right after Kizumonogatari. My recommended watch order is:
Bake > Nise > Neko (Black) > Monogatari Series: Second Season > Hana > Tsuki > Owari S1 > Koyomi > Kizu movies > Owari S2 > Zoku-Owari (whenever it comes out)

Whoa, super sorry for the late response! I thought I replied back to your message, but it turns out that I didn’t :(

But yeah, uni’s been pretty good so far. My finals are this month actually, so once I’m done with that, I’ll have a 4-month break.

Yeah, Masamune’s sales were bad. But if the anime was able to boost up manga sales, then maybe they might continue with its adaptation.

Yeah, the way Clannad was able to make me hate Tomoya’s father, then make me sympathize for him, was great. Ugh, I need to give that series another rewatch, but I know I’ll be needing a tissue box with me since the Tomoya and Ushio scene gets me every time xD

Besides Gundam 08th MS Team, I don’t remember what other scores have went up for me. But I still have more rewatching to do I guess.

Lol yeah, Natsume has a pattern of doing a split-cour, then taking a long break. Expect Season 7 and 8 in 2020, lol. Recently, a lot of anime movies have been playing in theaters where I live, so it would be cool if the Natsume movie gets distributed here too! Though I’m not sure Natsume is popular enough for that to happen. But the Gintama live-action movie played in theaters here, and Gintama’s pretty niche I guess (well, not on MAL, lol).

Fan translations for Gamers’ light novels basically stopped, which is a shame. I wonder if a company like Yen On would license and localize the novels. They’ve been localizing Hakomari, which is something I’m super happy about!!

ReLIFE’s manga ending was amazing!! And the anime ending… uh, I felt a bit underwhelmed. I got to see some of my favorite moments animated, luckily. But I wished it was longer and it covered everything. Oh well, it was still alright.

Gintama is “ending” huh? That’s what I though at first, but it seems like the gorilla mangaka doesn’t want it to end, lol. It seems like the series entered a new arc in the manga, haha!! And even by Gintama standards, the current events in the manga are really troll-like. It’s more troll than that timeskip arc in Gintama (the starting episodes of Gintama’). Sorachi be trolling, even when the series is supposed to end! For all I know, Gintama might still go on for the rest of the year. But surprisingly, it doesn’t seem like the series is dragging. The current plot is intriguing, while being humorous. It really feels like Gintama’s at its best right now. And the anime’s still on point too. The new season was all buildup for the next season (which airs in July), but it was still super entertaining. I like how the final arc feels like a celebration of what Gintama is, by having an equal amount of comedy and seriousness, and bringing back a lot of old characters.

Yeah, the production value drop was disappointing, but hopefully J.C. Staff steps it up for the new season of Shokugeki.
But OPM 2 is an even bigger worry. Considering how the first season was done by a lot of freelancer animators, if J.C. Staff can get a hold of them, then things should work out well.

3-gatsu no Lion’s second season just ended, and wow, it was amazing from beginning to end. And yeah, Porori-hen ended up being one of my favorite Gintama seasons. When it comes to longer Gintama seasons, there tends to a couple of episodes that I don’t find as entertaining, but in Porori-hen I liked almost all the episodes. I guess the first episode of the HDZ48 arc was the weakest for me, mainly because I barely understood the Japanese band references XD

Violet Evergarden sure got better later on, but I still think the series is simply alright. I’m still looking forward to its sequel anime though, since a proper closure would be nice. Agreed, I find Hibike Euphonium to be much more visually appealing. The flashy looks and the overuse of blur effects kinda hinder the effort put in by KyoAni. It comes off as more “distracting” than “cinematic”. Darling in the FranXX had its ups and downs, but it seems like the series is on track again. I kinda expected that the second half of the series will be more story driven than the first half.
Golden Kamuy is a lot of fun! Its over-the-top, balls to the wall, fast-paced action is insane and fun. The characters are batshit insane at times and it’s fun seeing these quirky characters interact with one another. And the series is filled with a lot of dark humor too. Only Golden Kamuy can go from this:To this:Back to this:And then this:
Y-Yeah… quite a weird manga :P

Any anime you're excited for this season? There's quite a lot I'm excited for!

Hey, it's been a long while. Hopefully you've been doing well, and I noticed it's your birthday! So happy birthday! Hopefully you'll have a good one!

Happy new year to you too!! Man, it’s been a while since we’ve talked! How’s it been for you? You haven’t been on MAL much recently, so I assume that it’s been pretty busy for you too. It was kinda busy for me for the last couple of months since I started my first year at university, but now I’m think I’m getting more used to the curriculum now.

I guess we can get a second season if the manga goes on for longer. Maybe a movie sequel if there’s not much content to adapt. But a movie seems unlikely for a series that didn’t sell all that well.

Oh yeah, Clannad AS’s familial themes are what really caught my interest. The saddest moments in the series for me were probably the Ushio and Tomoya’s scene in the flower fields, Tomoya’s talk with her grandmother, and Tomoya’s talk with his father in the next episode. Besides the fact that all those scenes revolve around Tomoya, those scenes also have a strong familial feel to them (particularly in a parental scenes).

I ended up change up my scorings a bit for a lot of stuff. For most stuff, my ratings dropped a bit. But for some stuff, my ratings went up a bit.

Yeah, a Natsume movie! I think it might adapt a manga arc that goes on for 3+ chapters (like what would normally be a 2-3 episode arc). But something anime-original would be good too.

Made in Abyss and Ballroom e Youkoso were awesome! And as you said, Gamers’ first half was much better than the second half. Honestly, without the overly convoluted misunderstandings, Gamers just feels like a regular romcom with nothing special to differentiate it from the others. But the first half was hilarious, and the second half had its moments.

If each episode is an hour long, they still might need to skip some stuff. But yeah, the manga’s coming to an end. These last several chapters were amazing!

Talking about manga coming to an end, Gintama probably only has a couple of chapters left. The final arc has been amazing, and it’s sad to see the series coming to an end. At least its ending on a high note, unlike so many other long-running shounen series. And the final arc’s adaptation has be going perfect so far. It has some of the funniest moments from the entire series XD

Shoukugeki S3 was good, but not great. Adaptation wise, it’s better paced than S2. But in terms of overall enjoyment, I enjoyed S2 a bit more. The problem is that S2’s content it was adapting was the best from the series, yet from an adaptation standpoint, they really messed up with the pacing and direction. Also S3’s pacing is almost as good as S1, the content it adapts feel weaker because it’s all just build up for the next cour. Also, the production values are very low for the third season. Too many still-shots to minimize animation efforts. Hopefully it’s because J.C. Staff busy working on OPM S2 (yeah, they’re doing the second season…) or something XD

From the fall season, there were a lot of good stuff. Mahoutsukai no Yome is pretty good I guess. It’s a nice breather anime to watch every week, and it has some really outstanding episodes every-so-often. Net-juu no Susume was nice, and it was a simple and fun romcom with very likable characters. Blend S was alright. Some episode aren’t the most entertaining, but when it does things well, it’s pretty entertaining. Black Clover isn’t as bad as most people make it out to be, but it’s not good either. Studio Pierrot and their godawful pacing, jeez. Just Because was a decent romance series. It gets compared to Tsuki ga Kirei for good reason, but Just Because feels a bit, idk, emptier (in terms of impact)? Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou was pretty good. In some ways, it reminds me of Made in Abyss from an atmospheric sense. Ousama Game The Animation is funnier than Divine Gate and is comedy of the year. Imouto sae Ireba Ii is a much-improved Eromanga-sensei, lol. It was actually pretty funny though. Juuni Taisen is the poor man's version of the Fate series. Houseki no Kuni is the hidden gem of the season (pun intended), with some breathtaking visuals and cinematography and solid storytelling that’s always captivating. Dies Irae is the worst visual novel adaptation I’ve ever seen, tied with Chaos;Child (and it’s a shame, since Dies Irae’s VN was amazing and Chaos;Child’s VN was Steins;Gate level good). But my favorites from the season was definitely Gintama: Porori-hen and 3-Gatsu S2. 3-Gatsu S2 is just so damn captivating. Shaft has been doing wonders with the adaptation! And Porori-hen was hilarious and it was nice to see certain skipped comedy arcs getting an adaptation, like the Excalibur arc, the Homeless arc, and the Guardian Spirits arc. Even weaker arcs in the manga, like the HDZ48 arc, felt immensely funnier with voice acting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uP4kaQR8BuA

From the Winter season, there’s some fairly interesting stuff going on. Violet Evergarden is alright so far, nothing too special. It has the potential to be great later on though. Darling in the FranXX is okay so far. It’s pretty generic, but I’m just in it for the mecha action. Death March is pretty generic, and Citrus is alright. Poputepipikku isn’t always funny, but when it is, it’s hilarious. Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san is okay. It should’ve been a short-series since the manga’s format is idealistic for a shorter-episode format. Because of this, the pacing in the episodes seem a bit slow. Koi wa Ameagari no You ni is probably the most interesting non-sequel anime of the season. I like seeing a romance series that feels different from others. I guess that’s the same reason why I like Kuzu no Honkai too. Kokkoku has this nice old-school feel to it. The premise is absurd, but what follows it is entertaining. Hopefully this anime sells so Golden Kamuy can get some nice production values.

Lol, sorry for the long message XD

Super late, but thanks for your explanation about Air. I am speaking about this one. Especially the last part about the was confusing.

Nah, I’m even more late with my replies XD

Yeah, the manga for Masamune-kun felt like it was about to wrap up, but it seems like a new arc is being introduced. But the new situation is actually interesting and feels relevant. I guess the series isn’t ending anytime soon. They really should’ve kept the anime open for a second season, lol.
Yeah, they got rid of the death of a certain major character. I guess they did that because they had no plans for a second season and wanted the anime to end on a happier note (not that it’s a bad idea or anything). Death scene or not, Fuuka is still an average series that isn’t really worth a watch.

Same here, I’m rewatching some stuff and changing up my scores a bit. My opinion on a lot of the stuff I’ve watched feels a lot more critical than they initially were.

BnHA S2 is just too damn good! That Midoriya vs. Todoroki fight, and then the Stain fight, were just so good! BnHA truly is the king of modern shounen. Yeah, SnK S2 was really good. I guess the hype died down in Japan quite a bit. Plus, instead of releasing each volume with 2 episodes (like a normal anime), they bundled the season into two volumes (each having 6 episodes). Plus, those volume cost around 200,000 yen each, so yeah, I bet people in Japan didn’t feel like paying that much in one go. Yeah, Natsume S6 was probably the best Natsume season. Almost every episode made me tear up, lol.
Yeah, Spring was underwhelming. Summer’s slightly better though.
Tsuki ga Kirei was great. Despite its simplistic premise and approach, it kept me interested throughout. Still, it’s kinda weird that middle-schoolers would have romances on that level, but it’s still great series, lol. SukaSuka was really good too, and considering how they only adapted half of the LN series, it may get a second season. As for Rokudenashi Majutsu… I kinda lost a bit interest by the end. It started off good (but still generic), but it ended off a bit cliché. Still, I wouldn’t mind a second season.

I’m liking a lot more anime from the summer season. Youkoso Jitsuryoku, Gamers, Ballroom e Youkoso and Made in Abyss are probably the best from the series. But I prefer the original source material over the anime for the series I listed above. Same goes for Kakegurui and Aho Girl too.

Yeah, I’m so happy to know that Gintama’s getting a complete adaptation! There’s a lot of funny arcs that they skipped and seeing them animated will be a blast!
Yeah, ReLIFE’s final season being only 4 episodes is a total bummer. Let’s hope that each special episode is an hour long XD

Agreed, I thought that Masamune-kun's anime would at least show that stuff that they previously hinted. It almost feels like as if the studio originally planned to give a full adaptation, only to cut it short by the end. And having the story wrap up like that ruins the possibility of a sequel.
Fuuka's change was a big one because it changes the outcome greatly. I guess it was a reasonable change as it makes the anime feel more 'complete' and not open for a second season.

I felt like rewatching Divine Gate because I thought I could get some laughs from it. But the series isn't "so bad that it's good", but rather it's "so bad that it stays bad".

Just like the Winter season, I mainly care about the sequels. BnHA, SnK and Natsume are my favorites from the season. But out of all the new anime, The King's Avatar is probably my favorite. It might be the first time I actually liked a Chinese anime. Other than that, Tsuki ga Kirei, SukaSuka and Rokudenashi Majutsu (surprisingly) are fairly decent. Everything else it pretty meh.

those are great choices, haha. i liked those a lot as well! although, acca was kinda alright to me tbh though.

oh, i really recommend uchouten kazoku! a very unique and highly enjoyable one! oh yeah, zero kara is pretty decent, but sakurada reset is tbh kinda average so far. i thought it looked really interesting as well, but it's been really disappointing so far tbf.

thanks a lot!! i appreciate it! :)