Colors, boys, colors!
ExtraCareful - blue
OboeOtaku - red
RightToLeft- forest green
I almost wish Summer 2014 just had a whole bunch of bad series, because I would have found that to be slightly more interesting than what actually occurred. Glasslips disappointed (please don't talk to me about that series). Sabagebu ended up a bit too crazy with nowhere to go. Himegoto was a braindead short with ruined potential. The series that implied fanservice didn't deliver (with either fanservice or story) and the series that promised to be middling (e.g.: Locodol) I just didn't have enough commitment to keep watching the same schticks being repeated over and over and OVER again. Overall, just a season filled with series that I simply was apathetic about.
I plan on finishing Zankyou no Terror, Ao Haru Ride, and Hanayamata later as they seem to be more popular, as well as Yama no Susume S2 since that series is good. However, as per usual, this season was not a good one to take popular advice on. Akame ga Kill was a straight adaptation of the anime with nothing left to different interpretations, and Aldnoah Zero carried with it the same flaws that marked Suisei no Gargantia and doomed it to mediocrity. I mean, if even Urobuchi Gen didn't learn from his mistakes and did the same boring stuff again, it's hard to expect others to put in more effort in being more original and down-to-earth.
Two surprises for me during the summer were Majimoji Rurumo and Rail Wars, two anime that I did not expect to be more than a standard insertion of either bland interactions or train trivia with main character and co. What I did not expect was the amount of decent fanservice and the above-average quality of interactions with the entirety of the cast coming from both series, and for that I was grateful. These two series managed to make this summer season...not too splendidly boring.
That being said, should I keep high expectations for this upcoming season?
I plan on finishing Zankyou no Terror, Ao Haru Ride, and Hanayamata later as they seem to be more popular, as well as Yama no Susume S2 since that series is good. However, as per usual, this season was not a good one to take popular advice on. Akame ga Kill was a straight adaptation of the anime with nothing left to different interpretations, and Aldnoah Zero carried with it the same flaws that marked Suisei no Gargantia and doomed it to mediocrity. I mean, if even Urobuchi Gen didn't learn from his mistakes and did the same boring stuff again, it's hard to expect others to put in more effort in being more original and down-to-earth.
Two surprises for me during the summer were Majimoji Rurumo and Rail Wars, two anime that I did not expect to be more than a standard insertion of either bland interactions or train trivia with main character and co. What I did not expect was the amount of decent fanservice and the above-average quality of interactions with the entirety of the cast coming from both series, and for that I was grateful. These two series managed to make this summer season...not too splendidly boring.
That being said, should I keep high expectations for this upcoming season?
Akame ga Kill! was
an interesting anime. However, it is
hard to give it my honest opinion because there really wasn’t much to go
on. The beginning is by far the most
boring part, and they just so happen to spend the most time. Esdese better carry the latter half in order
to make this pull through in my mind.
Aldnoah.Zero
reminds me of a first season of Code
Geass. The series relied more on
strategy and politics, and you can start to see character breaking down.
Barakamon was
pretty funny, but the whole slice of life comedies are few and far
between.
Free! is so
dumb. Seriously, this does not need to
exist.
Gekkan Shoujo
Nozaki-kun was probably one of my personal favorites. The manga was pretty hilarious, but the anime
offered a lot more than one panel punchlines of the manga.
Glasslip just
tanked. It was worse than the
Titanic. I think the creator gave up at
some point.
Rail Wars! was
terrible. The MC is so lame, yet has the
superhuman ability to make women putty in his hands. Only good if you are into shows with tons of
fanservice.
SAOII made a great
effort to make the characters have development.
The gun action, no matter how implausible, was pretty freaking
cool. This is what the first season
could have been if they had actually tried.
Also, Sawashiro Miyuki was new MC.
Tokyo Ghoul was an
interesting idea. I wish they didn’t
make the MC so dumb and feeble. Pretty
good otherwise. Definitely looked better
than the manga.
Zankyou no Terror
was pretty much what I thought it would be.
I didn’t really care for the characters, and since I didn’t finish the
characters were doing some pretty contradictory stuff.
======
Terra Formars (9/27)
Essentially aliens vs superheroes with the standard 90s space theme.
LOL IT'S COCKROACH HELL
So basically, everyone gets bug powers. Ok. Seems like a more pseudo-sciency, bloodier version of Arachnid. Or whatever series you can think of, this is hardly uncommon.
Yo, this has a character called "God Lee." From Israel. And he has the powers of a bombardier beetle.
That's fucking amazing.
This reminds me of Black Bullet, a very cheesy version. Whoever the scientists are, they probably are hobos now. Also, roaches as a measurement tool for sustainability; they can survive radiation...
Not impressed. Should I be?
Tribe Cool Crew (9/28)
Dance battles - the shounen series.
Might as well just watch R.A.B. videos. Practically the same thing, except they dance in front of the Eiffel Tower and rape dakimakura pillows in front of French tourists.
Friendship. Magic. Breakdancing.
On ice.
I think that the MC might have a psychotic condition.
Denki-Gai no Honya-san (10/2)
Slice-of-life + rom-com (multiple relationships). Group of characters working at a fictional manga/doujin shop.
I actually really like the manga for this. If you don't watch the series, I would highly recommend at least trying out the manga. It's...quite a pleasant read. And not completely braindead, which is always a plus.
Mostly same as what OboeOtaku said. Pacing is erratic at times, but that's unusual with an aimless slice-of-life series such as this. The personality schticks that each character has were actually peculiar enough to keep be engaged for a while. The series seems to be in a dangerous position of petering out pacing-wise in the future though, due to its relatively vague nature.
Don't really feel like analyzing what I read.
Amagi Brilliant Park (10/3)
Guy with shitty version of mind-reading powers plays Rollercoaster Tycoon under threat of gun-wielding girl.
Spiritual successor to Full Metal Panic. (Un)fortunately(?), as far as I am concerned, "spiritual successorship" doesn't mean squat. I think EC has a bit to say about this though, so I'll let him rant.
Hey KyoAni I heard you didn't take up Little Busters, did two seasons of both Free and Chuunibyou, then a fucking Tamako Market movie as well as an adaptation of a light novel that, from all sides, looks like a plot that couldn't have been railroaded harder to a specific sequence of events if it was built during the goddamn Industrial Revolution.
Fuck you guys.
Pretty good plot, and by pretty good, I mean horrible.
Danna ga Nani wo Itteru ka Wakaranai Ken (10/3)
No.
Gundam: G no Reconguista (10/3)
It's Gundam. I don't know what else to say.
^
shrugs
Gundam
Garo: Honoo no Kokuin (10/4)
Supernatural-feudal-fantasy-action. Powerful son of murdered parents who wants revenge meets outed prince who wants revenge. Revenge occurs. Many names are used.
Nope.
Something something catharsis.
Tries to be epic, probably fail in most aspects.
Log Horizon [Season 2] (10/4)
Season two of "stuck-in-video-game"/fantasy/world-building series Log Horizon.
I'm only gonna say this once. It's the 2nd season/sequel of something. You know the drill. Either start from season 1 if you aren't immediately sold/horrified, or ignore the fuck out of it as always.
After seeing how the 1st season ended, I seriously question why they thought that it would sell a season 2. I honestly think that MC being a genius/strategist thing was overplayed. He just introduces random logic about some random new aspect of the game. Basically, Tatsuya with glasses. Oh yeah they all need new nose pieces on their glasses.
The problem is that, like with every game-related anime/manga, authors are simply not putting in the extra effort to emphasize the interaction/interface between the fact that people are gamers aware of the "limits" of the fantasy world and the fact that they are "bound" to the fantasy world. Log Horizon is not only turning into a simple, standard fantasy series, but also starting to slow down hugely in pace. If this happens. this series will be one of the larger disappointments of the season.
Madan no Ou to Vanadis (10/4)
Odysseus Jr. meets up with army-commanding girls of mighty might that wield supernatural weapons of mass destruction. He impresses them with his command of a bow with unlockable powers (bonus DLC most likely) and his wit. Light harem ensues.
He uses a bow instead of a sword. Originality I guess?
I've read all of the volumes translated on Baka-Tsuki. Two major things:
Pro: The author visibly improves the main character's ability to handle situations, based on previous events covered in the light novel. And this isn't just a casual reference (i.e.: "I've beaten X before, so beating Y should be easy!") - the main character draws out strategies or things to say in a conversation that he learned from before via brief, helpful flashbacks.
Con: Nothing else in the story changes and the "first stranger girl is main girl" syndrome is way too obvious. Sometimes the plot even takes a step back via convenient tropes such as amnesia. I mean, fuuuuuuuuuuucccccccckkkkkkkking hell, don't do that.
Magic Kaito 1412 (10/4)
Adaptation of a 1987 manga due to celebration of the 20th anniversary of Detective Conan. Protagonist tries to uncover the truth behind his father's death by becoming a magical thief phantom ninja knight assassin samurai warrior shaman spirit.
I'm going to use my experiences with Detective Conan to draw assumptions about this series. That is to say, that it might just be better to read the manga if this series catches your fancy. Anime will probably hella slow and minimum 40% filler.
Though I do follow Detective Conan, I personally hate 95% of it. It was always a murder, and always Shinichi doing 90% of the work and getting no credit. How is it that he doesn't age? I always thought that Kid story was terribly underdeveloped, even though he was a recurring bad guy. I never read Kaito, but I assume it is going to be as boring as Conan.
I could probably like it as long as it stayed flashy and didn't try to hard with regards to becoming serious or complex. I haven't tried Conan seriously either though, so this could be a good initial dip into the pool for me.
Selector Spread WIXOSS [Season 2] (10/4)
I'm only gonna say this twice. It's the 2nd season of something. You know the drill. Either start from season 1 if you aren't immediately sold/horrified, or ignore the fuck out of it as always.
I don't watch things that aren't new unless recommended.
From what few episodes I saw, there was a lot of anguish but I forget why. It's some kinda tournament to fulfill your wishes but the card game doesn't even have enough rules for the viewers to make sense out of so what does it matter.
Ushinawareta Mirai wo Motomete (10/4)
Eroge from Trumple Studios. School rom-com in Astronomy club. Only the deepest of plots.
The title is based off of some French guy's novel, so this has to be legit right?
VNDB has "super deformed CGs" as a tag. Sounds good enough for me.
This just sounds like the initial premise of Ebiten mixed with a standard harem/rom-com. Not impressed, but it won't be easy to completely fuck up unless they really try to make it boring or of poor production quality.
Cross Ange: Tenshi to Ryuu no Rondo (10/5)
Magic-based dystopia meets mecha. Slice-of-life. Just kidding.
Will watch the Nana Mizuki OP, then probably ignore the series itself. Standard practice for me.
To specify, I think the girl is being hated but she has to save the world that hates her anyways with a mecha or something. In any case it's not something that we haven't heard before about 50 times.
Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works (10/5)
Remake adaptation of the original Fate/stay night visual novel and the only anime of F/SN that Type-Moon fans will accept.
Tsukihime-verse is better. It's hard to go wrong with Type-Moon X Ufotable though. I'll probably watch it because I haven't actually played through the relevant arc of the VN.
I saw the movie, and it was basically a recap. I hope that this does a better job of actually relaying the plot. Story telling is pretty much the only reason to watch this. Did you mean bane?
Aren't most movie adaptations recaps...? Anyways, hopefully this one turns out well or I'll just start laughing halfway through the season. Is this 24 eps?
Grisaia no Kajitsu (10/5)
One school. One male. Five females with problems (so like Kawata Shoujo except this came first and has better everything). No condoms. A Prototype Studios and Front Wing Studios visual novel collaboration.
Gonna leave this one to EC, since I think he's played the VN (as for me, well...Macs lol). I've heard good things about the VN, but as we all know, this can mean next to nothing for an anime adaptation (shoutouts to Little Busters).
Haven't played it yet. May do so soon. But it's quite obvious that for each main girl (supporting cast may vary) it'll be just like: see a relatively normal girl, maybe with a quirk --> get to know her, become friendly with her --> (potential pre-problem romantic event) --> problems --> problems --> problems --> slight tension and falling apart and not talking and binge eating the ice cream one week past expiration date --> talking + conflict resolution, with regards to both the problem girl and the weird school --> collecting the seven dragon balls --> kiss, cry, sex scene --> happy end
I mean, unless this series can prove me wrong I don't see how the usual problem girls trope in anime/manga literature escapes from this cycle.
Nanatsu no Taizai (10/5)
Shounen. Powerful knights protecting the kingdom are actually normally acting humans. People are surprised.
I'm too lazy atm to actually read the series to find out what it's like. However...I am a bit interested. The art style is a bit of a throwback to me, feels nostalgic.
That being said, people on batoto forums seem to be hesitant on the success of an anime adaptation (basically, they say it's too early, not enough source material to make a decent series out of it). Keep that in mind as you consider this series. Reading the manga is always a safe bet.
Director: Hiroshi Hamasaki
Original creator: Kenichi Tachibana (art); Yū Sasuga (story)
Animation Production: LIDEN FILMS
Scientists send roaches to Mars to make it habitable. When people land on Mars later, they get destroyed by Martian roaches of doom. Genetic modification gives people superpowers so they can fight off the roaches.Original creator: Kenichi Tachibana (art); Yū Sasuga (story)
Animation Production: LIDEN FILMS
Essentially aliens vs superheroes with the standard 90s space theme.
LOL IT'S COCKROACH HELL
So basically, everyone gets bug powers. Ok. Seems like a more pseudo-sciency, bloodier version of Arachnid. Or whatever series you can think of, this is hardly uncommon.
Yo, this has a character called "God Lee." From Israel. And he has the powers of a bombardier beetle.
That's fucking amazing.
This reminds me of Black Bullet, a very cheesy version. Whoever the scientists are, they probably are hobos now. Also, roaches as a measurement tool for sustainability; they can survive radiation...
Not impressed. Should I be?
Tribe Cool Crew (9/28)
Director: Masaya Fujimori
Original creator: Hajime Yatate
Animation Production: Sunrise
Dance battles - the shounen series.
Might as well just watch R.A.B. videos. Practically the same thing, except they dance in front of the Eiffel Tower and rape dakimakura pillows in front of French tourists.
Friendship. Magic. Breakdancing.
On ice.
I think that the MC might have a psychotic condition.
Denki-Gai no Honya-san (10/2)
Director: Masafumi Sato
Original creator: Asato Mizu
Animation Production: Shin-Ei Animation
Slice-of-life + rom-com (multiple relationships). Group of characters working at a fictional manga/doujin shop.
I actually really like the manga for this. If you don't watch the series, I would highly recommend at least trying out the manga. It's...quite a pleasant read. And not completely braindead, which is always a plus.
Mostly same as what OboeOtaku said. Pacing is erratic at times, but that's unusual with an aimless slice-of-life series such as this. The personality schticks that each character has were actually peculiar enough to keep be engaged for a while. The series seems to be in a dangerous position of petering out pacing-wise in the future though, due to its relatively vague nature.
Don't really feel like analyzing what I read.
Amagi Brilliant Park (10/3)
Director: Yasuhiro Takemoto
Original creator: Shoji Gatoh
Animation Production: Kyoto Animation
Spiritual successor to Full Metal Panic. (Un)fortunately(?), as far as I am concerned, "spiritual successorship" doesn't mean squat. I think EC has a bit to say about this though, so I'll let him rant.
Hey KyoAni I heard you didn't take up Little Busters, did two seasons of both Free and Chuunibyou, then a fucking Tamako Market movie as well as an adaptation of a light novel that, from all sides, looks like a plot that couldn't have been railroaded harder to a specific sequence of events if it was built during the goddamn Industrial Revolution.
Fuck you guys.
Pretty good plot, and by pretty good, I mean horrible.
Danna ga Nani wo Itteru ka Wakaranai Ken (10/3)
Director: Shinpei Nagai
Animation Production: Seven
4-koma. Slice-of-life. Interactions between an office lady and her otaku husband.
Looks like 5 min fodder. Extremely light, casual, and brainded. Read the pitiful 3 scanlated chapters of the manga if you really want something (each chapter is like 10 pages, 1 strp a page).
Sounds dumb. Otakus are lame.
No.
Gundam: G no Reconguista (10/3)
Director: Shinya Watada
Original creators: Hajime Yatate, Yoshiyuki Tomino
Animation Production: SunriseIt's Gundam. I don't know what else to say.
^
shrugs
Gundam
Garo: Honoo no Kokuin (10/4)
Director: Yuichiro Hayashi
Original creator: Keita Amemiya
Animation Production: MappaSupernatural-feudal-fantasy-action. Powerful son of murdered parents who wants revenge meets outed prince who wants revenge. Revenge occurs. Many names are used.
Nope.
Something something catharsis.
Tries to be epic, probably fail in most aspects.
Log Horizon [Season 2] (10/4)
Director: Shinji Ishihira
Original creator: Mamare Touno
Animation Production: Satelight, Studio DEENSeason two of "stuck-in-video-game"/fantasy/world-building series Log Horizon.
I'm only gonna say this once. It's the 2nd season/sequel of something. You know the drill. Either start from season 1 if you aren't immediately sold/horrified, or ignore the fuck out of it as always.
After seeing how the 1st season ended, I seriously question why they thought that it would sell a season 2. I honestly think that MC being a genius/strategist thing was overplayed. He just introduces random logic about some random new aspect of the game. Basically, Tatsuya with glasses. Oh yeah they all need new nose pieces on their glasses.
The problem is that, like with every game-related anime/manga, authors are simply not putting in the extra effort to emphasize the interaction/interface between the fact that people are gamers aware of the "limits" of the fantasy world and the fact that they are "bound" to the fantasy world. Log Horizon is not only turning into a simple, standard fantasy series, but also starting to slow down hugely in pace. If this happens. this series will be one of the larger disappointments of the season.
Madan no Ou to Vanadis (10/4)
Director: Tatsuo Sato
Original creator: Tsukasa Kawaguchi
Animation Production: SatelightOdysseus Jr. meets up with army-commanding girls of mighty might that wield supernatural weapons of mass destruction. He impresses them with his command of a bow with unlockable powers (bonus DLC most likely) and his wit. Light harem ensues.
He uses a bow instead of a sword. Originality I guess?
I've read all of the volumes translated on Baka-Tsuki. Two major things:
Pro: The author visibly improves the main character's ability to handle situations, based on previous events covered in the light novel. And this isn't just a casual reference (i.e.: "I've beaten X before, so beating Y should be easy!") - the main character draws out strategies or things to say in a conversation that he learned from before via brief, helpful flashbacks.
Con: Nothing else in the story changes and the "first stranger girl is main girl" syndrome is way too obvious. Sometimes the plot even takes a step back via convenient tropes such as amnesia. I mean, fuuuuuuuuuuucccccccckkkkkkkking hell, don't do that.
Magic Kaito 1412 (10/4)
Director: Susumu Kudo
Original creator: Gosho Aoyama
Animation Production: A-1 PicturesAdaptation of a 1987 manga due to celebration of the 20th anniversary of Detective Conan. Protagonist tries to uncover the truth behind his father's death by becoming a magical thief phantom ninja knight assassin samurai warrior shaman spirit.
I'm going to use my experiences with Detective Conan to draw assumptions about this series. That is to say, that it might just be better to read the manga if this series catches your fancy. Anime will probably hella slow and minimum 40% filler.
Though I do follow Detective Conan, I personally hate 95% of it. It was always a murder, and always Shinichi doing 90% of the work and getting no credit. How is it that he doesn't age? I always thought that Kid story was terribly underdeveloped, even though he was a recurring bad guy. I never read Kaito, but I assume it is going to be as boring as Conan.
I could probably like it as long as it stayed flashy and didn't try to hard with regards to becoming serious or complex. I haven't tried Conan seriously either though, so this could be a good initial dip into the pool for me.
Selector Spread WIXOSS [Season 2] (10/4)
Director: Takuya Satō
Animation Production: J.C. Staff
Season two of The Shadow Realm: The Trading Card Game. Now with more girls per booster pack.
I'm only gonna say this twice. It's the 2nd season of something. You know the drill. Either start from season 1 if you aren't immediately sold/horrified, or ignore the fuck out of it as always.
I don't watch things that aren't new unless recommended.
From what few episodes I saw, there was a lot of anguish but I forget why. It's some kinda tournament to fulfill your wishes but the card game doesn't even have enough rules for the viewers to make sense out of so what does it matter.
Ushinawareta Mirai wo Motomete (10/4)
Director: Naoto Hosoda
Animation Production: feel.Eroge from Trumple Studios. School rom-com in Astronomy club. Only the deepest of plots.
The title is based off of some French guy's novel, so this has to be legit right?
VNDB has "super deformed CGs" as a tag. Sounds good enough for me.
This just sounds like the initial premise of Ebiten mixed with a standard harem/rom-com. Not impressed, but it won't be easy to completely fuck up unless they really try to make it boring or of poor production quality.
Cross Ange: Tenshi to Ryuu no Rondo (10/5)
Director: Yoshiharu Ashino
Animation Production: SunriseMagic-based dystopia meets mecha. Slice-of-life. Just kidding.
Will watch the Nana Mizuki OP, then probably ignore the series itself. Standard practice for me.
To specify, I think the girl is being hated but she has to save the world that hates her anyways with a mecha or something. In any case it's not something that we haven't heard before about 50 times.
Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works (10/5)
Director: Takahiro Miura
Original creator: Kinoko Nasu
Animation Production: ufotableRemake adaptation of the original Fate/stay night visual novel and the only anime of F/SN that Type-Moon fans will accept.
Tsukihime-verse is better. It's hard to go wrong with Type-Moon X Ufotable though. I'll probably watch it because I haven't actually played through the relevant arc of the VN.
I saw the movie, and it was basically a recap. I hope that this does a better job of actually relaying the plot. Story telling is pretty much the only reason to watch this. Did you mean bane?
Aren't most movie adaptations recaps...? Anyways, hopefully this one turns out well or I'll just start laughing halfway through the season. Is this 24 eps?
Grisaia no Kajitsu (10/5)
Director: Tensho
Animation Production: 8 BitOne school. One male. Five females with problems (so like Kawata Shoujo except this came first and has better everything). No condoms. A Prototype Studios and Front Wing Studios visual novel collaboration.
Gonna leave this one to EC, since I think he's played the VN (as for me, well...Macs lol). I've heard good things about the VN, but as we all know, this can mean next to nothing for an anime adaptation (shoutouts to Little Busters).
Haven't played it yet. May do so soon. But it's quite obvious that for each main girl (supporting cast may vary) it'll be just like: see a relatively normal girl, maybe with a quirk --> get to know her, become friendly with her --> (potential pre-problem romantic event) --> problems --> problems --> problems --> slight tension and falling apart and not talking and binge eating the ice cream one week past expiration date --> talking + conflict resolution, with regards to both the problem girl and the weird school --> collecting the seven dragon balls --> kiss, cry, sex scene --> happy end
I mean, unless this series can prove me wrong I don't see how the usual problem girls trope in anime/manga literature escapes from this cycle.
Nanatsu no Taizai (10/5)
Director: Tensai Okamura
Series Composition: Shôtarô Suga
Animation Production: A-1 Pictures
I'm too lazy atm to actually read the series to find out what it's like. However...I am a bit interested. The art style is a bit of a throwback to me, feels nostalgic.
That being said, people on batoto forums seem to be hesitant on the success of an anime adaptation (basically, they say it's too early, not enough source material to make a decent series out of it). Keep that in mind as you consider this series. Reading the manga is always a safe bet.
I haven't read this, but is the interesting part of this series the fact that the knights/deadly sins people are doing cool shit with their powers, or is it the fact that the main knight/male lead is actually a nice guy in disguise? Because if it's the former, it's probably just gonna turn into a fanservice series based on action, and if it's the former, it's going to be boring since we've seen that "super bad guy is actually normal and nice" schtick before. The premise isn't impressing me.
Ookami Shoujo to Kuro Ouji (10/5)
Director: Kenichi Kasai
Original creator: Ayuko Hatta
Animation Production: TYO AnimationsShoujo, dominant/bad-boy male for the female lead.
I'm a guy. I want the dominat/bad GIRL lead. I don't have much experience with shoujo anime (or shoujo as a genre to begin with), but I feel like the manga would be a safer bet here. EC?
Haven't finished Ao Haru Ride, but I mean is it going to be any different from the usual "blackmail girl into doing dates and couple-like stuff with the guy until girl voluntarily falls in love and starts doing things for him in earnest" into makeout sessions that we see logically happening from these shoujo premises?
Sora no Method (10/5)
Director: Masayuki Sakoi
Original Concept: Naoki Hisaya
Animation Production: Studio 3HzWriter behind Kanon makes a story about girls + wish. Bonus male included with package.
"'Kanon writer Hisaya, MM! artists QP:flapper make anime about girls in town with giant disc in the skies"
I burst out laughing at that. Also burst out laughing at the "running through the sunflowers" scene in the PV. So typical of Key.
I'll watch an episode and decide from there. It'll depend largely on how ridiculous the premise for that "giant disc in the sky" is.
I'll hold my judgement, but I've heard nothing of this series so far that would make me interested in watching all of the episodes. The usual "girls each have one cute wish based on their friends/family/etc that improves quality of life" into probably some kind of light rom-com + tension when the giant disc in the sky starts crashing down into the town or some shit.
World Trigger (10/5)
Series Director: Mitsuru Hongo
Original creator: Daisuke Ashihara
Animation Production: Toei AnimationTwo worlds. Humans suck at fighting back vs the other world. Protagonist from other world comes over and helps the cast out.
So, after Kyousogiga...I am extremely hesitant to try out another Toei Animation series. For fear of maximum disappointment. This just seems too...normal, after the whirlwind of I-don't-even-know that was Kyousogiga.
This is giving me the same "culture clash into main character learns how to deal with normal humans" vibe I got from Suisei no Gargantia. Overall, I agree with OboeOtaku's assessment above about how it might end up being too normal, too par-for-the-course for Toei. And that's not good enough for this studio.
Gugure! Kokkuri-san (10/6)
Director: Yoshimasa Hiraike
Original creator: Midori Endō
Animation Production: TMS Entertainment4-koma about a little girl and a spirit who is a "white-haired, handsome, young man" that decides to protect her.
That girl looks really damn cuddly. It pains me to say this, but I feel like trying it out. It seems cutesy.
At least she didn't summon Archimedes LOLOLOLOL.
Same shoujo with girl + handsome male spirit that we've seen for the past couple of seasons, except now with more comedy I guess. And fuck you dude.
Reference
Inou-Battle wa Nichijou-kei no Naka de (10/6)
Chief Director: Masahiko Otsuka
Director: Masanori Takahashi
Original creator: Kota Nozomi
Animation Production: TriggerSlice-of-life. Except everyone has superpowers. Essentially Heroes except not as dramatic.
Will try in hopes of finding it surprisingly funny. Ready to be disappointed though.
Could be decently ok at best and horrifically boring at worst. It's hard to stretch the limits when it's essentially the "one club, one boy, multiple girls" scenario but slightly wackier.
Kaitou Joker (10/6)
Director: Yukiyo Teramoto
Original creator: Hideyasu Takahashi
Animation Production: Shin-Ei AnimationThe other series involving a mysterious phantom thief joker ninja knight dentist samurai warrior shaman spirit.
Nope.
No comment.
Orenchi no Furo Jijou (10/6)
Director: Sayo Aoi
Original creator: Itokichi
Animation Production: Asahi ProductionBL/yaoi series with a boy and a sexy merman. Manga original.
My dick says no, my head says no...my troll sense says full steam ahead.
Now it's a gay merman. Your move, Free.
Shingeki no Bahamut Genesis (10/6)
Director: Keiichi Satou
Animation Production: MappaAdaptation of card game. Parts of a key of a lock holding down a demon is stolen by a woman. Soap opera ensues.
They make some sexy figures of this series, but idk about watching it.
Only if it's dubbed in Spanish will I watch this drama.
Akatsuki no Yona (10/7)
Director: Kazuhiro Yoneda
Original creator: Mizuho Kusanagi
Animation Production: PierrotEssentially a Korean historical drama but in manga form. Female protagonist's lover ends up being a murderer and steals the throne of the kingdom. Much revenge occurs.
I'll let EC tackle this, since he actually knows about Korean history. I'm not going to watch this because I don't want to learn bullshit Korean history from a manga.
Too lazy to watch revenge tales but I may try a few episodes in a faint hope that the development doesn't go haywire, as is often the case with plots involving a complex plan to get back at a person.
Yowamushi Pedal: Grande Road [Season 2] (10/7)
Director: Osamu Nabeshima
Original creator: Wataru Watanabe
Animation Production: TMS EntertainmentBiking manga original gets even MORE episodes.
I'm only gonna say this thrice. It's the 2nd season of something. You know the drill. Either start from season 1 if you aren't immediately sold/horrified, or ignore the fuck out of it as always.
I read the manga, I think it is pretty interesting premise. I hope they update the chapters soon. I think that they left off at a good place last season. Shit is going to hit the fan sometime in the next season.
It's good exercise.
Gundam Build Fighters Try (10/8)
Director: Shinya Watada
Original creators: Hajime Yatate, Yoshiyuki Tomino
Animation Production: SunriseIt's Gundam. I don't know what else to say.
I'm only gonna say this 4 goddamn times. It's the 2nd season of something. You know the drill. Either start from season 1 if you aren't immediately sold/horrified, or ignore the fuck out of it as always.
Trinity Seven: 7-nin no Mahoutsukai (10/8)
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Director: Hiroshi Nishikiori
Original creators: Akinari Nao (art), Kenji Saito (story)
Animation Production: Seven Arcs PicturesSeven girls, one boy. All of them have overpowered skills. Banter and fanservice for days.
I'm getting lazy, so here:
http://bato.to/forums/topic/6758-what-is-the-reason-for-you-to-read-this-manga/
Seems legit.
The characters are nice and more down-to-earth, the art is good, the banter is good, the fanservice is good, the powers are cool, the plot is clearly pulled out from the author's ass at leisure but is shoehorned into the series, disrupting opportunities for the good stuff to surface. Watch if you will.
Daitoshokan no Hitsujikai (10/9)
Animation Production: Hoods Entertainment
Original Creator: AugustManga original into visual novel into anime adaptation, made by August Studios. More random stuff happening with perfectly average guy and several girls at a private academy that will laden them with student debts for many years to come.
ExtraCareful, can you not remind me about college debt hell?
So, I have a very elaborate, sophisticated system for deciding whether or not I am going to watch random VN adaps that I know nothing about. I go onto Gelbooru and look at the artwork/cgs and let my dick do the thinking (sadpanda also works, since that legit has...everything).
Following are some slightly NSFW links which I used in my judgment.
Ohoho...very nice.
OHOHOHO
YOOOOO
OH BABY
Uh...
She uses Beats? Fuck this series I'm out.
August visual novels are pretty cool but this one doesn't seem that interesting or at least thought-out, especially when compared to their previous series such as Fortune Arterial (at least has vampires that do stuff) and Aiyoku no Eustia ("dark" fantasy). We'll see if they managed to pull up something decent from the slice-of-life drawer.
Hitsugi no Chaika: Avenging Battle [Season 2] (10/9)
Director: Soichi Masui
Original creator: Ichiro Sakaki
Animation Production: BONESSecond season of the Hitsugi no Chaika light novel original's adaptation. Now with additional episodes of girls that are unable to speak in proper sentences.
I'm only gonna say this 5 fucking times. It's the 2nd season of something. You know the drill. Either start from season 1 if you aren't immediately sold/horrified, or ignore the fuck out of it as always.
Kiseijuu (10/9)
Director: Kenichi Shimizu
Original creator: Hitoshi Iwaaki
Animation Production: Madhouse StudiosRomeo loves Juliet but the Montagues hate the Capulets. Now replace Romeo with the protagonist, Juliet with a parasite, Montagues with people, and Capulets with evil parasites of doom. Manga original.
^Wat.
Seems interesting, but can the premise last past the point when the aliens and the humans start battling each other incessantly? My mind says....no.
SHIROBAKO (10/9)
Director: Tsutomu Mizushima
Animation Production: P.A. WorksFive girls. One anime production club. Much nonsense. Manga "original" will be serialized in tandem with the anime.
P.A. Works = need to try at least one episode. Not expecting the signature P.A. Works feels from this though, for whatever reason. Kappa.
Series composition/script is headed by the experienced Yokote Michiko (Cowboy Bebop, Genshiken, Ika Musume, Valkyria Chronicles). I'm sure it'll give us some laughs - but will it be one of the series I'll remember fondly or will it be another mediocre Red Data Girl from P.A. Works? I'll choose to trust P.A. Works once again for this season (mainly because they didn't hire Nishimura Junji), but I'm not optimistic about the very limited potential of this series.
Ore, Twintails ni Narimasu. (10/10)
Director: Hiroyuki Kanbe
Original creator: Yume Mizusawa
Animation Production: Production IMSThis is a story about twintails. Also involves standard gender-bender (boy -> girl).
If this weren't gender bender, I would definitely try it for the lols.
...Probably going to try it anyways. My dick is going to be hella confused.
I guess Kampfer with less evil seductive girls?
Or more evil seductive girls. That'd be cool too.
Psycho-Pass 2 (10/10)
Chief Director: Katsuyuki Motohiro
Director: Naoyoshi Shiotani
Animation Production: Production I.GSecond season of the anime original involving soft sci-fi, action, police, and a Kana Hanazawa female protagonist. The last point is especially important to the series.
I'm only gonna copy and paste this shit 6 times. It's the 2nd season of something. You know the drill. Either start from season 1 if you aren't immediately sold/horrified, or ignore the fuck out of it as always.
They ended with a cyclical turn of events. I really wonder what they are going to do this season, because it was pretty much concluded. Crime coefficients were pretty interesting.
Not impressed by standard moral calculus themes, nor with the "crime science". Especially not impressed with the obvious Hanazawa main.
^But the tutturuu~
Director: Kyōhei Ishiguro
Original creator: Naoshi Arakawa
Animation Production: A-1 PicturesThe classic battle between "mechanically perfect but robotic performer" vs "free-spirited and sloppy but vibrant performer".
I'm always amazed at how accurately, concisely, and snarkily ExtraCareful makes these short summaries.
Music series are risky for me personally. I always want to try them out, but I'm always afraid that I'm going to headdesk myself into the ER.
Well, it has the "award winning" tag on Batoto at least. Should be worth a shot.
I've read quite a bit of it. Has little to do with actual music. Mainly focuses on friendship and the usual "you can't play music perfectly and mechanically, you gotta be sloppy but lively to shine" and all that. As someone who has invested relatively deeply into music (esp. classical), I don't buy that premise and never have. I'm disappointed that the author didn't do the homework that was needed in order to understand the implications behind a performer's interpretations and how/why they act the way they do in front of an audience, but I'm not sure if I expected that high of a standard from the start.
All in all, this series leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. It's not a series about music, after all.
The last sentence can probably sum up the entire series. As well as most series with "music" as a premise in general...
Sanzoku no Musume Ronia (10/11)
Director: Goro Miyazaki
Original creator: Astrid Lindgren
Animation Production: POLYGON PICTURESBased off of a Swedish children's fantasy book published in the 80s. Bandit daughter meets boy into semi-Romeo + Juliet tale. Co-produced with Ghibli.
I was hella hyped for this. Until I saw the animations. I get that CG usage is a work in progress, and that it will undoubtedly lead to very fancy crap in the future...but right now, it does not look all that good. Ni no Kuni gameplay (not even the cutscenes) had better looking CGs imo.
Now, that being said...I'm probably still going to try to watch it. I will most likely end up ragequitting and transitioning over into the actual source material. It seems like such a wasted opportunity to me. Ghibli being paired with Astrid Lindgren (most famous for her Pippi Longstocking books) feels like a match made in heaven.
Fucking CGs.
How embarrassed would Ghibli be if they fucking failed at co-producing a super-easy adaptation of a goddamn children's story?
Girlfriend (BETA) (10/13)
Director: Naotaka Hayashi
Animation Production: SILVER LINKAdaptation based off mobile dating sim. Many, many girls + voice actors + free-to-play model. The rest is history.
Iunno about you, but when the websites describing the upcoming series don't actually say anything about the plot and just give an extremely vague premise (i.e. we have X and Y voice actors! yay!), I generally get a bad feeling.
I'm gonna say it right now: if it's not full-on harem, it's going to suck in both storytelling and pacing. If it's multiple relationships in parallel, if it's omnibus, if it's episodic, whatever, it's going to suck. You heard it here first, feel free to question me in the comments below.
Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru (10/17)
Director: Seiji Kishi
Original Concept: Takahiro
Animation Production: Studio Gokumi"The story takes place in the era of the gods, year 300. Yuuna Yuuki lives an ordinary life as a second year middle school student, but she's also a member of the "Hero Club," where club activities involve dealing with a mysterious being called 'Vertex.'"
Essentially another girls + random club series.
I love seeing random girls do random shit and appealing to a male audience despite never showcasing any males in the series. Please, Japan, give me more.
This could be some cool Kokoro Connect "mess with supernatural powers that also heavily affect interpersonal relationships within the group" series...or some really lazy, subpar "girls in a random club" series. Pray for the former.
Donten ni Warau (10/2014)
Director: Hiroshi Haraguchi
Original creator: Kemuri Karakara
Animation Production: Dogakobo
Three boys are assigned to transport criminals to an inescapable lake prison in the Meiji era of Japan. Other stuff occurs.
Well...it's Dogakobo. Might as well see what the hell they're doing instead of making Love Lab season 2 or another Yuru Yuri.
I'm not sure how this is gonna go, so I'll reserve judgement. Sounds like a slower, josei kind of series though.
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Total Previewed Series: 39
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Well, once again...
TOEI DON'T FAIL US PLS PLS PLS
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