Now that the final October premiere has aired (a subpar beginning to Blue Miburo), we’ve reached the end of our First Impressions period. Our plans for the next couple months are looking light: Lenlo will continue his Horus Heresy book club series and publish some mini anime reviews as they’re completed, Amun plans to periodically write up his thoughts on DanMachi season 5, and I’ll be finishing my delayed Dead Dead Demon episode reviews. Between the three of us, we ought to compile a few check-in posts, as well, since there are some decent seasonal shows airing this autumn. We don’t all agree on which ones are the best, but we did vote for our now-traditional First Episode Awards, so hit the jump to see what we’re most (or least) anticipating as a collective. Hope everyone has a happy and healthy fall!
Category: Uncategorized
I Parry Everything Anime Review – 73/100
There’s no shortage of OP MC fantasy shows out there. Even ignoring the entire Isekai sub-genre, your still left with shows like MASHLE, Tower of God, Solo Leveling, the list goes on. Point is, there’s a lot of them, and standing out can be hard. Some do it with fantastic animation, good comedy, or compelling writing. Most though? Most fail spectacularly, and are forgotten to history, never spoken of again. Sadly, that seems to be exactly where I Parry Everything, originally created by Nabeshiki, directed by Dai Fukuyama and animated at OLM, appears to have landed. But you know what? I think it deserves better. I think this show, despite it’s average visuals and standard narrative, deserves your attention. So if you take one thing away from this review, make sure it’s this: I had more fun with I Parry Everything than almost anything else this season. Here’s why.
Be warned, this review contains minor unmarked spoilers for I Parry Everything. It also contains major spoilers in some sections however these will be heavily marked to avoid accidents. Continue reading “I Parry Everything Anime Review – 73/100”
Summer 2024 First Episode Awards & Other Announcements
Another frenzied half-month of aniblogging has come to a close, with a handful of series emerging as summer frontrunners. There probably isn’t an all-time great among them (though Mario might disagree, given his love of the recently returned Monogatari Series, ranked here for your viewing pleasure). Even without an undisputed classic to spur us back into weekly coverage, however, we’ve got a couple things coming down the pipe. I know Lenlo is still plugging away at his Vinland Saga-inspired Ancient Greek Love post (outlined here), among other things. Plus, we’ll soon be stress testing the phrase “better late than never” with a 2023 Anime of the Year post, which will appear on the blog by mid-August. Will our writers’ tastes run deep enough to prevent the whole thing from being a Frieren-fest? You’ll have to check back next month to find out.
That’s enough about the future, though – which summer 2024 shows ended up taking the cake in our First Episode Awards? Hit the jump to find out, and as always, thanks for reading.
Continue reading “Summer 2024 First Episode Awards & Other Announcements”
Winter 2024 First Episode Awards
And that’s it everyone! That’s the premiers of the season! We waded through a lot of mediocre crap to get here, but we finally made it. So, was there anything worth watching? I would say so! There’s plenty of shows, from Bucchigiri and Yubisaki to Renren to Solo Leveling and Dungeon Meshi that I’m going to keep up with weekly. I don’t know how many will last until the end of the season, but as far as things I’m curious about there’s plenty. Sadly however, there’s nothing I really want to write about. There’s no show that sparks my interest enough to dedicate 1,000+ words to it every week. As such, I’m going to take a bit of a break this season. You’ll still get the weekly “What I’m Watching” where we can talk about the season, see how it progresses. And Throwback Thursday, where I’m watching Black Lagoon, will continue as normal. But as for everything else? I think I’m going to use this season to catch up. I still have a Dr. STONE S3 P2 review to write, and I haven’t forgotten about Undead Murder Farce, not to mention the 2023 yearly wrap up. There are plenty of side projects that need to be finished. So look forward to those as the season progresses and I recharge my batteries a bit.
Now, onto the awards!
Winter 2024 Lineup
- Black Lagoon (Throwback Thursday)
- Weekly “What I’m Watching”
Fall 2023 First Episode Awards
We’ve made it everyone! All the premiers (barring Dog Signal but who cares) have aired! And that means it’s time to finally announce the seasonal lineup, though I figure that’s obvious by now, as well as my awards! This was a pretty easy set to be honest. Frieren dominates in every production category, it’s just that good looking of a show. Meanwhile there were a lot of good options for the “Worst” categories, so many that any of them could be valid. So I ended up picking the ones that annoyed me the most! As for the other awards, like exceeding expectations and best continuation? These were limited by what I had experience with. Obviously as someone who hasn’t even finished the first season of Kanono no Kanojo I’m not going to watch this one, so stuff like that lost out immediately. Meanwhile there are some series that I had high expectations for and they met them. In the end the winner for both of these came down to being the only new season I’m watching and something I expected to be terrible for the first few episodes. Decent picks if you ask me. Now onto the lineup and the awards!
Fall 2023 Lineup
- Jujutsu Kaisen S2 (Continued)
- Dr. STONE New World Part 2
- Migi & Dali
- The Big O (Throwback Thursday)
Fall 2023 Impressions: The Apothecary Diaries
The Apothecary Diaries
Short Synopsis: Maomao lived a peaceful life with her apothecary father. Until one day, she’s sold as a lowly servant to the emperor’s palace. But she wasn’t meant for a compliant life among royalty. So when imperial heirs fall ill, she decides to step in and find a cure! This catches the eye of Jinshi, a handsome palace official who promotes her. Now, she’s making a name for herself solving medical mysteries!
Alright I’ve waited long enough for Dog Signal, we’re just skipping it and bringing this season to a close. So! Apothecary Diaries! How was it? Initial impressions are… fine? I’ll admit to not being as wow’ed by it as I expected to be. It looks nice, but not amazing. The characters are cute, but I haven’t fallen in love with them after 3 episodes, and the balance of chibi to regular designs is… not great for me, they often feel out of place. And the setting? Well it’s just the Chinese Imperial Palace. Apothecary Diaries is promising a lot of things to come, the Emperor has appeared looking for Maomao and Jinshi is slowly involving her in his various plots and schemes. It’s very much billing itself as a slow burn. And with 24 episodes promised, it’s going to get plenty of time to fulfill that promise. For now though? It’s another one on my watch list, but I think there are a number of shows this season that were better, and more compelling, by the 3 episode mark than Apothecary Diaries.
Potential: 60%
Spring 2023 First Episode Awards
Amun: Ah, Spring bursts forth. Flowers bloom, birds sing, and the new anime franchises (Oshi no Ko, Skip and Loafer) start to rear their little heads. Maybe they’ll only last the season. Perhaps one can burst forth and become a beautiful flower or a strong tree (maybe even get a movie). Or….we can all just sit under the shade of established IP (Dr. Stone, Kimetsu no Yaiba) and ignore anything new. This season has both! The choice is yours! With a solid mix of new series and solid sequels, this spring promises anime for any taste. Our awards favored “Tengoku Daimakyou” for 3 positives (and, for a bit of irony, the season sleeper goes to “Insomniacs after School”). Join Lenlo in his reviews of a few of the returning series, or Amun as he gets himself into trouble with the occasional summaries!
Spring 2023 Lineup
Lenlo
– Vinland Saga S2
– Kimetsu no Yaiba S3
– Dr. STONE S3
Amun
– Occasional Weekly Summary
What should Amun do this season?
TL;DR: I’m not really feeling this season of DanMachi. What should I do instead? Comment on this post and let me know! Read past the break if you care to know more.
Winter 2023 Coverage & First Episode Awards
Lenlo: Sniff Ahh, do you smell that? The smell of a new year, with new anime. Not all of them are great. In fact most of them suck! But there are a few standouts even in this generally light season, and a few with the potential to be something special. Down below you’ll find our usual seasonal trophies, voted on by all of us here, as well as our coverage list for the season! Well I say “Our” coverage list, it’s really just me since Amun hasn’t decided what they want to watch yet. Keep a lookout for their post though, as they mentioned doing a poll with a bit of a rant attached! As for myself? Well I need to get to filling out my Anime of the Year ballot, as well as writing up Michiko & Hatchin and Kaina. Busy busy.
Winter 2023 Lineup
Lenlo
– Michiko & Hatchin – Throwback Thursday
– Kaina and the Great Snow Sea
– Vinland Saga S2
– Fire Hunter
Continue reading “Winter 2023 Coverage & First Episode Awards”
Fall 2022 Coverage & First Episode Awards
Amun: It’s that time again, where we give the all-important first episode awards. I don’t have a pretty graphic this season, but I do have a few trophies – one franchise managed to capture it’s own award (Berserk), while another provided a first episode the polar opposite of its namesake award (Bleach). With one of the highest hyped seasons in a while, I hope even some of these shows live up to expectations as we come to the end of 2022.
Once again, Lenlo is going to be covering the bulk of the shows here, but Aidan has returned for the adaptation of Chainsaw Man. I will be enjoying this season as a viewer, and I hope to see all of you in the chat box and the comments! Join me past the break to see our awards!
Fall 2022 Lineup
Lenlo
– Mob Psycho 100 S3
– SpyXFamily P2
– Isekai Ojisan
– His and Her Circumstances
Aidan
– Chainsaw Man
Amun
– [Watching and enjoying Bleach]
Continue reading “Fall 2022 Coverage & First Episode Awards”