Another two weeks have passed, and Summer Season is coming in sight. It’s the time where most shows get busy as they reach their final arc. Mob Psycho 100 ventures into its shounen roots, Run with the Wind does extremely well in its last leg, literally, and Kemurikusa girls part way emotionally. Let’s see how these 4 shows below perform in this last 2 weeks.
Gotoubun no Hanayome (ep09-10)
While this class trip provides many more opportunities for Futaro encounters (and improves) his relationship to the sisters, in a bigger scheme I’d prefer if there’s no overarching arc at all for Gotoubon. The fun here for me is how he tries to get closer and helps them in some ways, not about how he has to choose “the one”. I still enjoy it though how he find himself in the damnedest situation: either dance with Ichiba (and the whole Miku’s mess) or pretends to be a delinquent boy to dance with best girl Nino. The whole Nino and blonde dude situation is admittedly silly, but one that I don’t mind. This show has never shy away from rom-com tropes, and fan-service on top of it, but it’s the case where the creator knows exactly where it’s going. As a result, it’s mostly well-executed and the situations are snappy enough to land before another jokes come in. While I still regard the first half of Gotoubon is better (learning about the girls are so much fun), let’s hope this dance – which by itself will be a focal point of this cour – ends on a high note.
Again, sorry for my lack of coverage for this column, but doing these weekly summaries make me realize more clearly than ever how quickly time passes. Feel just like yesterday that we just started this season, and now it has come way past midway point. Anime this season offers a wide range of offerings. Mob Psycho 100 had many stunning episodes, Boogiepop keeps up with its unpredictability by releasing a whole batch of 4 episodes. I’m slightly disappointed at Promised Neverland, however, as it somehow becomes less and less thrilling as the story goes on. The 4 other shows that I will feature below, still have their own appeal that keep me come back every week. The next season might be an heavyweight, but I’m perfectly happy with the current wealth this season has been offering.
Endro! (ep06-08)
Endro spends the last three episodes to flesh out the characters outside of their heroes’ group, to a varying degree of success. First, loli Devil Lord is my waifu of the season so it’s a delight to see more of her, cute facial expressions (and there are heaps of it) and whatnot. It’s a good little episode since it shows how much she steers away from her supposed evil role, and learning to accept companionship even if her friends are the ones destined to destroy her. I do have a feeling that the Devil Lord vs the Heroes fight is too repeated at this point, but everything else is a delight. The same could be said for Princess, whose assigned role is to love Yuusha unconditionally and she pushes it to the max. I enjoy how she getting close to other members because those scenes, as repeated and predictable as they tend to be, spark a solid chemistry between her and each member. That is why the latest episode fares as its worst effort. Staggering a rescue mission is nice and all, but her plan becomes a bit too much in my opinion. There’s still some solid gags (like how the faked Demon Lord’s underclassmen are more powerful than the actual one). This is the show where it constantly pokes fun at the “roles” everyone supposed to play, so the segment where they play exactly like their roles doesn’t really speak well to me.
All the heroes in one shot. Sword, Luke, Gina, Sophie and talking motorcycle (? really can I call it that?) Zaruza
What it claims to be about: A secret order of knights and alchemists, the Makai Knights and Alchemists, fight horrifying creatures called Hollows who prey on human weakness .Part of the media franchise spanning anime and live action shows, this iteration is set in modern metropolis and concerns the attempts of Sword, the strongest Makai Golden Knight, Luke and Gina, two Makai alchemists, and an intrepid young girl, Sophie, to unravel the mystery behind the mythic city of El Dorado, and the King who rules it.
What is it really about: A touching story about bonding between an adult and child amid a setting characterized by body horror and schlock violence. No this is not Dororo or Berserk. The very nature of Horrors guarantees that most of this show is about our heroes killing truly disgusting creatures that devour humans in disgusting ways. There are some attempts to provide some gravitas about who and why becomes consumed by Horrors in the first episodes, but this is quickly dropped for sheer B movie horror action. Most of the secondary characters and all of the major antagonists are just boring. Battles are mostly CG and ok rather cool, but not something mind-blowing. Actually the non-CG action was much better. Horror battles have got it all! Ranging from fistfights to even Mad Max inspired car wars. While all of our heroes do get some development, generally I found Gina and Luke rather boring. Instead the real soul of the show is Sword and Sophie and their relationship.
Booby-man in action!
Why you should watch it: And it is that which makes this show worth watching. Sword is in many ways a walking anime stereotype. All muscle, a voracious eater, and a worshiper of female bosoms, which is why I called him booby-man to my wife and called the show booby-man. And yet, there is depth and maturity to Sword that belies his act. He hits the sweet spot between silliness and maturity that makes the show work. It also means that he can be both a friend and father figure to Sophie. Their relationship and its development is what keep this show together.
It also helps that the animation and drawing style is pretty pleasing to me (it also produces quite a bit fanservice keep in mind). The penultimate episode has some really interesting visual art. I have to say that at times the show is willing to try something new.
Why is it mediocre: Because ultimately this is a schlock B movie violence action show and it gets in the way of character development. Indeed the last episode spends too much time on boring URRGGHH!! battle between booby-man and the most boring of the big bads, rather than driving forward the Sophie and Booby-man relationship. The music is ok. It is rock and roll and hard electronic guitars, and sometimes it works great and others not at all. The plot is boring, and the sub-plots mostly boring, with a few exceptions.
In a final analysis, this is a good mindless action series if that is what you want (which is what I wanted from it). Sword (aka Booby-man) is different enough than the usual stereotype protagonists of these types of shows to give it that extra thing that makes it stand out, but the general character of the show sacrifices the promise. If you want just some pure, silly fun, go for it. But don’t expect more. Interesting, I would say it felt like a very USA animation show (the more adult DC kind). So keep that in mind.
We are reaching towards midway of this season where shows start to settle down and we have a firm ideas of which shows we wanna follow till the end. As for me, I decided to skip both Asuka and Domestic Girlfriend for now. I’m still mildly curious about then, but in the season where I find other 10 shows have much more to offer, “mildly curious” ain’t gonna make it. For this last two weeks, Mob Psycho 100 delivered one of the best piece of sakuga action in years, Kasuga-sama had its first meh episode, Run with the Win continues to deliver and I’ve heard good things from Dororo (which I still need to catch up). In fact, only my blogged shows remain in a quiet side of the conversation. They have their own appeal but they’re niched, to put it nicely. For the 4 shows remained here, I must say I enjoy them thoroughly. It’s such a nice set of shows that for the first time since several seasons I’d anticipate all them right after its airings. Now without saying too much let’s get run them down:
Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari (ep04-05)
Damn it, Shield Hero. It raises many head-scratching issues but it still manages to hold my attention and investment. For every touching moment of Raphtalia standing up for Naofumi we have to endure awful treatments from basically everyone against him. For all plot building of her becoming free from slaves (which is actually good) the next thing we know we have her binding the slave contract again. For all the chemistry between the fast-runner chicken and Naofumi we have the twist of it transforming into a loli naked girl. Why, Shield Hero? WHY? I was perfectly fine with the chicken being just an eccentric chicken. I was perfectly fine with him NOT gathering a harem team. And yet I’m still down to follow it. I know the only reason to explain all that is that I like trashy shows.
We get to the third week of this Winter season where I will cut down some slacks and settle in with the ones I pick. In general, this season has been a solid one for me. Mob Psycho 100 in particular hasn’t had any bad episode yet, Kaguya-sama keeps sharpening its claws, and even something nobody care for like Rinshi Edoka-chan still delivers with grace (the only reason I don’t include Edoka-chan here is because it’s only 3-minute short, WHAT CAN YOU SAY OF A 3 MINUTE SHORT EVERY WEEK?). Anyways, read on to see which shows that still make the cut for the rest of the season.
Domestic na Kanojo (ep02-03)
Curiosity got a better of me and I checked out Domestic for my own dose of suffering. Needless to say, I’m still on the fence whether I’m going to watch it or drop it. There’s a clear set of what I enjoy in the show and what it falters. In a positive spectrum, the situation the older sister Hina finds herself in is frighteningly real and weighty. Having an affair with married person is messy, as in the three-way central romance, and what she’s suffering through is grounded and believable. In addition, I found Rui and Natsuo’s chemistry to be solid so far, as both have the same concerns towards their sister’s affair. On the opposite spectrum, the comedy bits are distracting and most often the time they feel awkward. Natsuo’s best mate is the worst offender as at no point I feel he belongs to this story or even feel like real person. Natsuo’s behavior can be grating at times and I know it will get worse as the story gets messier.
Welcome to the new weekly section where I will cover current season’s shows that I’m still following that haven’t been blogged by us, the leftovers so to speak. That way readers who watch these shows below can keep tabs on how we feel about them. At the moments aside from the top tiers shows we blogged, there are 7 other shows in which I will drop 2 in the next week depending how they perform. Ideally this post will be at the beginning of the week. Without further ado, let’s jump in
Doukyonin wa Hiza, Tokidoki, Atama no Ue. (ep02)
Doukyonin is a healing show. Well, it’s a different kind of healing show where the two lonely individuals try their best effort to understand each other. It offers you a specific kind of mood and the second episode is a worthy follow-up to its premiere. Structure-wise, it follows the same pattern as the first where we at first follow the writer’s point of view before switching back to the cat. What makes it enjoyable is that the show nails its tone from start to finish. I enjoy the little gags of everyone keeps asking Subaru about his cat’s name and what makes this episode work so well is how the cat thinks totally differently from what we assume (Haru means food, simple as that), yet in the larger picture it just fits. Doukyonin is sweet and pleasant.
Aidan: Judging things as a collective is always a flawed process. Yet for simplistic presentation we stick anything we can into top tens, best of year or greatest hits. To stick a label on so much diverse content is always a matter of point in time favoritism that likely won’t be true in five years or even five minutes from now. But here we are bundling all the anime of the year into a post for easy digestion and judgement which I must insist is highly opinionated. For a general impression of the year I admit to it being a year where there were not many shows that I felt strongly about. There were shows that certainly are good but if asked which was the best of the year I would find that I wouldn’t be all to enthusiastic regardless of my pick. However this could be very much due to this year being a rather busy and tiring year for me which come with the pains of turning thirty and finally admitting that I am no longer young anymore.
Before you scroll down and prepare to scream at us for neglecting the absolute masterpiece of animation that you consider was best of the year allow me to fully concede that this post is far from an ironclad perfection. Our method of choosing this particular winners isn’t foolproof and is dependent on each writer’s knowledge of the anime of that year. I myself prove to be the worst liability in this regard considering that I just didn’t watch much anime this year and started many a series only to forget to finish them. As such you may notice some glaring omissions like the new seasons of Attack on Titan or Boku No Hero Academia which I can assure you are mainly missing due to none of our writers having a particular interest in continuing them. (Though Hero Academia fans you do have an ally on the team with Lenlo. Sadly he’s outnumbered by the rest of us.) Even I find the final list below to be missing some standouts so I at least recommend that you do not use this post as your single source on what to watch from this year.
Each writer has taken up writing a blurb for each show with a tally on what we all voted as the best of the year down below. Once again we do not expect you to agree and if anything maybe we might get you to check out a show you may have overlooked this year. Wakanda forever, let’s jam.
Worst of the Worst
Worst Show: Itou Junji Collection
Aidan: While an argument can be made over there being worse shows than Junji Itou Collection, it can be said that at least those shows have more of an excuse. Junji Itou is a horror mangaka of legendary status that to consider him the HP Lovecraft of manga is not such a far fetched statement. His work has inspired plenty yet failed to gain an adaptation be it live action or otherwise which truly gave his work justice. This anime was a chance to take that work and transform it to a new plane, adding a potential great anime to the rather underexplored anime horror genre. However due to shoestring animation, a general lack of passion or care and oddly chosen stories this anime took these stories and killed the soul out of them. Making what was considered terrifying, unnerving and otherworldly into something aggressively mediocre.
Runner-up: CONCEPTION, for being the first show to put up a link to a website when asked for worldbuilding.
If there is one thing I have lost watching seasonal anime, it is patience. Every week I expect something to happen, some kind of payoff, to make watching that week worth it. Luckily, Planetes as brought that back to me. Its depth of writing, characters, and general structure belay an anime of a different age. Before Moe and Sis-con took over the seasons. Back when a series was allowed to take things at its own pace, and actually finish its story rather than languishing in sequel hell. Of course, what else can you expect from the first work of Makoto Yukimura, the author of currently published Vinland Saga.
The controversial nature of this shows opening episode may have many turning away from it due to believing it’s nothing but shock value but that truly isn’t what Goblin Slayer is. I will say that the manga may hold some truth to that statement but thanks to some tasteful censoring(Yes, sometimes censoring can be a good thing) this story could at least be something more closer to a fantasy adventure series. In truth Goblin Slayer is more a love letter to low level Dungeons and Dragons so for those who happen to have a nostalgia for such a thing, this series could have a big appeal. However for the average anime watcher I can say this, this show is called Goblin Slayer and you can bet that’s exactly what you are gonna get.
Goblin Slayer slays goblins. It’s what he does in the first episode and you can bet it’s what he does in the last. This is essentially a series where you watch the equivalent of goblin slaying Batman go about his business of killing as many goblins as humanly possible. For some watching him do this is enough and I admit that his single minded obsession can be a source of some pretty good comedy. However if you find that isn’t enough and are looking for this series to maybe provide something deeper in regards to world building or characterisation then you will be sorely disappointed. The Goblin Slayers party of adventures are staple D&D archetypes with little in the way of interesting traits of backstory. The worldbuilding pretty much borrows a lot of it’s lore from other more notable works and not much is really expanded upon besides the small detail of goblins being the worst despite being regarded as a minor pest by adventurers. There is quite of number of light novel tropes such as Goblin Slayer having a whole harem of girls after him despite never taking off his helmet and never talking about anything other than killing goblins.
This is essentially a anime with a limited appeal and a simple objective which can be entertaining but not something you would hold in high regard. White Fox did an excellent job in adapting it for the most part in how they toned down the less unsavory aspects but there are times where the animation for action scenes is on the unimpressive side. The plot doesn’t really move beyond killing Goblins and Goblin Slayer slowly warming up to other people. Some moments have fanservice that is just ridiculously inappropriate and unnecessary. But get past that and the rather grimdark first episode and you have a show that makes for a decent watch for some.
Zombieland Saga was a show that came out of the gate guns blazing, no one expected it nor did anyone predict it but it left a strong impression when it first aired it’s starting episodes. Originally considered to be another zombie apocalypse anime, it overthrew expectations by turning out to be a zombie idol anime. Outlandish though it may be this actually worked as the idol shows ranged from death metal to Rap and the comedy hit all the right notes with special mention to the manager who is equal parts ridiculous and bombastic. It looked like this was the series to take a look at the idol anime genre and poke fun at it’s ever so tiresome tropes.
But ultimately the greatest failing of Zombieland Saga was becoming that which it originally parodied. The end result isn’t something that I would consider a trainwreck like Kado as while Zombieland becomes something lesser, it’s still at least a decently enjoyable watch. The problem is that it’s opening episodes promised something greater and could have potentially been the anime to point out and mock the very nature of idol anime itself for it is something that has been long overdue such a scathing. Sadly the case is that once episode three hits the story gears more towards traditional idol anime and the fact that the idols are in themselves zombies becomes less and less relevant. What at once was a great surprising anime just became another idol anime.
There is fun to be had with the show and sometimes it can bump up from being alright to pretty good. The opening is quite excellent and the comedy has some great highlights with Yugiri’s mistimed slaps and Yamada Tae just being the legendary Yamada Tae. Though when the series aims to hit a more emotional tone this often contrasts far too greatly with the general slapstick nature of the show itself, often not making its mind up on whether it wants to make you cry or laugh. Episodes become more formulaic as well with each often starting that a pep talk session with the manager so he can ham it up for comedic effect. Coupled with an ending which acts more as a midpoint finish rather than a finale and you have a show that’s rather half baked in nature. Overall this show can be a fun watch but it once held the potential to be greater but then went for something more more marketable but more generic as a result.
