Well, the only shows that are still set to air are that cats and dogs show and that one Shaft series, but all of the shows I cared about have aired. Here’s a quick spoiler-free overview of the series that I’m going to try and follow, and think have it in them to keep watching in order of preference:
Baby Steps: Very knowledgeable, but it still needs to deliver on the emotional level.
One Week Friends: I’m a bit on the fence on this one, but it has the potential to be really heart-warming.
Knights of Sidonia: Dystopian sci-fi that has an actually good atmosphere. Note that you need to be able to stomach 3D CG to watch this.
Hitsugi no Chaika: Lots of magic this season, but this show did it actually well by putting restrictions on its magic. Beyond that it’s got very good characters and a setting that has quite some potential for an epic yet grounded storyline.
Captain Earth: This show sets itself apart in the writing with lots of references back and forth to keep it interesting and fun. Because of that there is also a lot of potential in the characters.
Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Not a moment of boredom or waste. Huge heaps of fun returning and the third season looks as strong as the others.
Ping Pong: Awesome animation, but also really well acted characters who are different, yet very fun to watch. Also Masaaki Yuasa took some cues from Osamu Dezaki.
Mushishi: Fantastic return. A truly relaxing and authentic show with deep and intelligent storylines and characters. The best of the best.
These are the series I’ll be looking out for. I have no idea how I’ll cover that in this blog, that’s going to be a matter entirely dependent on how I feel. I’ll try to at least cover Mushishi though. It deserves it.
So what are your favorites of the season after just one episode?
can only find time for 2 animes on weekly basis mahouka and mushishi it is then everything else will marathon when they end
I am terminally confused as for what potential Psgels saw in Captain earth. Did he ignore the rushed story, horrible exposition, and the generic characters and villains? Not to mention how the main character knew how to pilot a gurren lagen sized mech without instructions… Please tell me I am wrong believing this :/
ignore it bro 😀 iam sure if you have been reading this blog for a long time you will know that like many reviewers he is incredibly biased about somethings but will sometimes praise something just cause it has atmosphere 😛 still its fun to read his opinions sometimes no matter how off the mark they are
Of course I’m biased. I like what I like. But you say it in such a way that suggests that you do not have some sort of bias. And that is doing both you and me a bit of a disservice.
Yo Psgels, I don’t think you should respond to, or even bother to look in the comments section anymore. Instead just blog what you like and if people don’t like it, they can go jump in a lake. The anime community has gotten worse as of late, Its like not mater what you like, or don’t like (especially that) people are goin gto be assholes to you instead of having an actual discussion like adults. So it would just be better if you’d just blog and not bother with the comment section anymore. Yes some people maybe say “it’s only a few bad apples” But really, a few bad apples DO spoil the bunch. I think ignoring the comment section would also make blogging easier for you as I’m pretty sure you havet slowed your blogging down a lot for these reasons and balancing real life issues. I’m sure after you get off work and blog a bit seeing some jerk ward being a jerk on the internet – because he can makes you think “yeah…fuck it.” Especailly after the last incident with that Mentar dude.
You really don’t need to humor your readers, we read because we like your insights on different shows also because you blog shows that others don’t. . .shows that aren’t in the main stream of moe blobs and useless male main characters in some sort of silly high school setting every season.
But yeah, if people don’t like what you like and want to bash you about them, ignore ’em you have work life and blogging and other life stuff to balance.
Captain Earth’s first episode was very typical, but the presentation was good. The first episode was rushed, but that’s a good thing I think because it got the generic beginning chunk of every mecha series out of the way quickly. I disagree on the characters being generic. The lead character and his childhood friend were pretty good, at least. Besides, this is by the people who made Star Driver, so it’s unlikely to be bad.
Well, I meant that I liked other aspects of the presentation such as the flashbacks and the way the show is implying things rather than spoonfeeding us everything. Well, so far, at least. The introduction wasn’t skipped, it was just covered quickly. And I think what it covered was done well. The pace was fast, but I like it that way.
I agree with Joe in terms of it just implying a lot things rather than skipping it entirely. I think at least many of those will be explored more throughout the series’ run, rather than ending with just the snippets showed in episode 1. I think that’s what psgels was referring to as referencing back and forth.
Yes, but I don’t think it’s a bad thing. Much better than shows like Kill la Kill where one fight scene takes two episodes.
You might as well ask what he sees in Chaika, for that matter? Sometimes you just feel like watching something that’s borderline, and Captian Earth will end up on some people’s shortlists. I’d imagine it’s one of the ones he’s liable to drop first.
For my part I’d say Captain Earth was a mess, but had a a bit of a Eureka Seven feel to it that interested me… right up until the episode 2 preview. It seems capable of good storytelling, but also quite content to remain lazy. The kind of show where you might watch a few episodes in the hopes that it improves.
Captain Earth was exceptionally well paced, both last week and this week. You don’t need your hand held and everything explained in the first episode.
In fact it seems to be the anti-Evangelion, explaining just enough and assuming that the protagonist and his friends are not going to stay pawns or victims, and that you can fight against institutionalized injustice while still defending Earth. Even if the villains won’t make it easy for you.
For me its looking like I am sticking with Chaika and ping pong for sure, but I’m unsure about nanana but thats it for me this season.
Ping Pong, Mushishi, and JoJo are by far my favorites of this season.
Exactly, but also Haikyuu too for me.
hope One Week Friends will get better!
I will probably go with Chaika after one episode. One Week Friends and Baby Steps also had great first episodes.
This is basically my shortlist too, psgels. Though I’ll probably watch a few more other anime for a bit, because Chaika, Baby Steps and Captain Earth seem like they could be replaced by others if those improve while these falter.
I’m following Jojo, Mushishi, Captain Earth, and Ping Pong as well. On the fence about Mekaku City Actors, hasn’t aired yet so there isn’t much to judge but if I get too busy it’ll probably be the first to go. I like my four picks though, they’re all strong and solid before (and Mushishi is practically a masterpiece with the bonus of the second season being just as strong as the first despite the long wait). The others didn’t really catch my eye or interest me and I’m already satisfied with my choices.
Good choices.
I’m disappointed that you have chosen not to blog WIXOSS not because I think you underrated what looks to me like a promising show, but because I was looking forward to possibly seeing your thoughts on it. I can only hope that, if it ends up being as good of a show as I think it has the potential to be, you’ll make the decision to watch it for fun, without feeling the need to blog about it.
It’s my first post here. These are the ones I will watch:
Baby Steps: because I loved the manga (even thought the anime version is quite ugly). Gokukoku no Brynhildr: I read some chapters from the manga and I liked it, but the adaptation was not that good. I hope that it will change. Hitsugi no Chaika: It wasn’t anything special, but it was lovely fantasy which felt very nostalgic for me (in 2007-2009 there was a lot more of its kind, I always had a fantasy anime to watch, but now it’s a lot less). JoJo2: It should not be missed, the first 2 episodes is fantastic. However, the opening is not as good as in the first season. Mushishi 2: It was so long since the first season, I hardly remeber it anymore, but I know that I liked it. And the second season started really strongly. As a huge Natsume fan, I really love it so far. Sidonia no Kishi: I loved the atmosphere and the world of the anime. Soredemo Sekai: Another fantasy. I really like the main heroine and her voice, and I liked the first anime original episode which further introduced us to the world of the anime. Kindaichi R: As a Conan fan, I really waited for this anime. The first case is still ongoing, but I like it so far. Not as good as Conan (I know that, because I watched about 20 episodes of the old anime), but it is among the best. And I’m still on the fence about Isshuukan Friends.
I’ll watch for sure Jojo, Baby Steps and One Week Friends. The World is Beautiful, Captain Earth and No Game No Life are second-tier. Ping Pong and Mushishi I’ll keep for when they’re completed probably, especially Mushishi as I haven’t seen season 1 yet.
Selector: Infected WIXOSS wins the dubious honour of being the first show I dropped this season, right in the middle of episode 2, out of sheer boredom.
Did you forget to watch Abarenbou Kishi!! Matsutarou psgels? 😮
Are you going to be watching Madoka Rebellion?
I’m hoping the answer to this is yes.
Only Mushishi and Ping Pong for me.
Big fan of Nihei, but I think I’ll stick with the manga for Sidonia. Might give Captain Earth a watch, just to see what everyone’s bickering about.
Knights of Sidonia could have been good, if it wasn’t for the characters looking like lifeless zombies. Stiff animations, no facial-expression, half the characters being copy-paste of the others. I couldn’t stomach it. It would have been fine if they just had gone 2d with the characters and 3d with the rest.
Knights of Sidonia seems like the only show I’ll be watching this season. For all the reasons PSGELS listed.
Aegd:
Agreed on the lazy CGI use, especially in the extreme close-up shots, and duplicate characters. Yes, I get that they’re supposed to be clones, but that’s a lazy trope to excuse re-using cgi renders.
@Oroboros: Glad to hear you looked into sidonia, I recall you also read blame and biomega which I recommended to you? What is your take, comparing Sidonia with both those series?
Hi Emma 😀
I haven’t read BIOMEGA, to my eternal shame, but I did read several volumes of BLAME! (is that still on going?)
and fell in love with its minimalist nature. I think I lost my place when I updated my browser, so I’ll have to dig around one day.
It’s hard to compare the two stories, largely because I only watched one episode of Knights of Sidonia, but both properties share in a similar mood of fatalism or the like.
@Oroboros:Aye, blame is finished , same with biomega.
I’m three volumes into sidonia right now, theres a fair bit to like but I miss the roughness, same strength athmosphere, sidonia is mainstreamish in comparison to his indie-ish work and thats a bit of a throw off for me.
Sidonia is a great example of something the Japanese can do that the west just doesnt – cold, quiet, lifeless, stark SF. (It’s why they can do so much with horror – and why western film studios grab it and paste that terror into often gorier and dumbed down versions).
This show is spectacular. If you’ve read Tsutomu Nihei’s earlier works – Biomega or Blame (the art is just amazing), you know that sort of quiet surreal style that would translate terribly to film. Whole chapters go without a single word. I never thought they’d try to put any of his stuff to film – but if they were going to do it with one Sidonia was going to be it.
The art fits the style and tone of the book perfectly. Doing this story with Kyoani would be an abomination. The stark colors, the clones, the general creepiness of everything… that’s just not ‘accessible’ to a lot of people. The closest many get to it would be something like Mardock or Titan – shows that can be ‘a little off’ but still bright and colorful with explosions… This one is Ridley Scott – not Michael Bay – and that just turns most people off on either side of the Pacific.
Out of the series I’ve seen so far, the ones I’m going to watch this season are Jojo, Mushishi, Akuma no Riddle, Soredemo Sekai wa Utsukushi, Captain Earth, Selector Infected WIXOSS, and Kamigami no Asobi. Jojo and Mushishi are for the obvious reasons, and I’m certain I won’t drop them. Akuma no Riddle I’m watching because it’s atmospheric, it flows well, and it could shape up to be pretty good. Soredemo Sekai has potential but I just hope that it won’t get more fanservicey padding. Captain Earth has all the elements to be good but it remains to be seen if it can follow through. WIXOSS is actually decent so far (your review worried me; I thought from it that the person with the incestuous crush would be the main character, and I was very happy to find out it was actually someone else!). And Kamigami no Asobi is very sparkly and silly.
Knights of Sidonia, Isshukan Friends, and Mekakucity Actors. I was kind of surprised you decided not to watch Mekakucity Actors, though. The art is gorgeous and distinctive. I decided to drop WIXOSS even before I watched it, lol. And I am kinda having mixed feelings about Nanana’s Buried Treasure (if it wasn’t because the fanservice and the pervert main char!) so I am not sure if I want to watch this series or not (it’s such a waste, it has such a great premise though, but where is the noitaminA spirit?!). Hitsugi no Chaika sure is good, but not really my cup of tea. Captain Earth delivered such a promising start, but I like Sidonia better (because of SF ambience >_<), but let's see what will happen next.
Not Soredemo Sekai wa Utsukushii? Well I can understand. I never thought they’d adapt it though it is a nice read.
I believe if anything is going to revitalize the shoujo adventure genre I love so much, it might be Akatsuki no Yona and maybe Choukakou.
Are you still reading manga? You should check these two out! The characters and development is phenomenal, and carries the same feelings I had when I watched Twelve Kingdoms & Saiunkoku Monogatari. I especially love Yona. 😛
Hi psgels!
I’ve got a good gut feeling about:
Baby Steps, and Hitsugi no Chaika. I have a hunch they will be very well written shows, episode after episode. I also believe I will probably never come to love them.
I’m really interested in:
Soredemo Sekai wa Utsukushi, since the female lead has an enormous amount of personality, and they spent some effort and time animating her powers. I’m mildly concerned that the script will be uneven.
I’m charmed by:
Nanana’s Buried Treasure, because it just seems fun. Taking the ‘pervy male lead gets punished’ trope and turning it in to something he does to himself struck me as the ultimate deconstruction. Also, Nanana’s character design/animation is cute. Based on the next episode preview, and the OP/ED, I have real concerns about the rest of the cast, and the rest of the plot.
I’m horrified and intrigued by:
Kanojo ga Flag wo Orareta. I predict I’ll tune in week after week, just to see what crazy thing will happen next. I like the comedy aspect.
I’ve dropped:
More shows than any other season. Just an amazing number. Even shows I would have otherwise grudgingly watched. I think the industry is going to discover exactly how many medium-quality shows the fans are willing to support. They’ve finally out-produced what I’m willing to watch. I’ve even decided not to pick up Mushishi, but that’s because I know it will be great, even if I watch it later.
you’ll be surprised bro, as most anime is directed at jap audience not “us” light novels and manga’s don’t get adapted on a whim they get adapted since they already have a huge fanbase
@psgels: Have you seen Mekakucity and Rowdy Sumo Matsutaro? I didn’t see you mention them but I found Matsutarou funny as hell and it’s very different from the usual anime nowadays. My other two favorite first episodes would be Captain Earth and Sidonia no Kishi I think. I have at least 6 series I already love very much though (including Jojo and Mushishi of course).
I hope he does first impression on them
I’m actually following a ton of shows. Am I the only one who really likes this season? Soredemo Sekai Wa Utsukushii, Knights of Sidonia and Mekakucity Actors are the things I’ll be looking forward to the most. Speaking of the latter, aren’t you even going to give your first impressions? At least check out the first episode, haha!
I liked the anime so I’ve been reading the Brynhildr manga and it’s actually pretty great. I’m about 16 chapters in. Psgels, you judged this show too quickly. The MC acts intelligently and the relationship between the main character and Kuroha is great.
Yeah, definitely not typical or dry at least. It’s similar to Elfen Lied, but that’s not a typical type of show. Brynhildr does have some fanservice and some of the characters other than the MC are pretty stupid so I can see how psgels might be turned off by it, but the plot is pretty good so I think if he gave it a chance he’d give it an 82.5.
Knights of Sidonia. I ended up catching up to the manga xD; I’m also watching Broken Blade 2014 (as I’ve lost track of the ova) and Captain Earth. I’ve yet to watch Mushishi so it’s not on my list yet.
I might also give that one series with Nike and the rain thing. I was going to read the manga. Should go watch it now.
I’m only following Black Bullet actively right now, though I kinda cheated on that one – the first episode wasn’t that good, though I know the source material, so I know how amazing it gets soon (by soon, I of course mean the second episode).
When I have a bit of time, I will also be following:
No Game No Life – fun series overall, similar vibes to Problem Children from Another World and likely going to be fun to watch.
Brynhildr – Also cheated on this one. The manga is terribly depressing, and I need some of that in my life at the moment.
Mushishi – It’s Mushishi, of course. I’ll probably actually wait until the end of the season and marathon this, actually.
Hitsugi no Chaika – Seems like it could be fun to watch.
Knights of Sidonia – Seems like it would be awesome.
WIXOSS – Just want to see where they go with it.
One Week Friends –
Ping Pong –
All-in-all, despite what others are commenting, I actually think this is a really good season for anime. Even if first episodes can be deceptive occasionally, there are a lot of shows that are worth checking out this time. I’ll probably give some of the other series the three-episode rule as well.
Looking forward to:
No Game No Life – It’s pretty. And seems fun in a completely outlandish way. Whilst I love watching competent characters, as with psgels, I wish I could see how they work.
Soredemo Sekai – Because it’s been a while since the last shoujo with an interesting premise. I feel it’s a little lacking for a first episode, but I’m curious to see how it develops.
Chaika – Seems fun. The characters appear atypical and it feels like it’ll be a smart show.
~~~~~
Captain Earth was pure eye candy and the pacing was okay, if a little fast. I do have a few issues with it though from the main character’s automatic assumption that he had to go out into space, (nevermind in a mech that he instantly knows how to pilot)to the names of certain actions (It can’t just be me and my boyfriend who received perverted vibes! A libido pod? And that female mech). The “expand” sequence was also completely unnecessary. I feel that in the time it takes to line up the station and everything, that female mech/manifestation thing could probably blow it up. Yeah. Really confusing first episode.
That scene in PING PONG where they are outside while the two friends play inside, and there’s all this silence and white space, then bam, they analyze the player just with the sounds of the game that rises to them–wow. That was fabulous. I totally am gonna keep up with PP.
Mushi-shi–what can I say. I always feel like there’s this glow of magic when an episode ends, like something supernatural lingers. Beautiful.
I’m gonna follow Sidona and Baby Steps. I read a lot of the manga of the latter and enjoyed the progression and quirks of the players. I know squat about Sidonia (my hubby was familiar), but I liked how it looked and the questions raised. Plus as a sci-fi lover, I enjoy that subgenre of the floating communities in space….
We’re also following Haikyuu! Seems like lately the sports anime draw us, as we just finished up Kuroko 2 and still watch Yowamushi Pedal and Daiya no A.
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I will follow Fuuun.
That’s the true ecchi spirit : not fanservice, but lots of embarrassing situations.
A great laugh after a full day’s wok !
I’m going with Mekakucity Actors, Knights of Sidonia and Mushishi. I’m iffy on Soredemo right now, but I may give it a few episodes.
Just loving your reviews! Always fun to read them. Right now, enjoying all the new animes and the ones that caught my eye are No Game No Life and Bokura wa Minna Kawaisou. Very great opening episodes for me so far.
Hitsugi no Chaika made me sad, they omited WAY TOO MUCH INFO on the first episode and it was so fucking rushed, literally first 2 chapters of the manga rushed as fuck(first chapter has 66 pages and 2nd haves 40+)
Stuff that caught my eye:
Mushishi – psgel’s has already said everything that needs to be said about why this should be followed. XD
Bokura wa kawaisou – Tickles me a lot. Lovely art style, colorful characters and fun atmosphere. Also like how they throw in manga-like mini-phrases into the convos. Good for those trying to pick up reading Japanese.
Black Bullet – Morbidly compelling, although I may drop this if it gets much more depressing. Reminds me quite a bit of Walking Dead cos there are serious questions raised on the worth of the surviving community.
Knights of Sidonia – Interesting international mix in the staff list. I’m used to seeing Koreans and maybe some Chinese but there’s a whole mix in this time. This might be some kind of international collaboration of some significance. Excellent song by Angela although the lyrics make me sad. Feels a bit like the opposite of Gargantia, in terms of atmosphere, although I’d put them both in the same genre.
Mekakucity Actors – 2 Shaft series airing simultaneously? I like Nisekoi so I’m giving this one a shot too.