So, I’m just going to continue to write articles whenever I have inspiration. One thing I always loved doing is compile these previews for the upcoming season, and that still hasn’t changed. There are a few changes now though, because I don’t feel like going into detail about all of the crappy shows that come out every single time, so my entries for them are very much simplified in order to save time. Also, my standards have become much harsher. Series that I was previously willing to give a chance right now are most likely shows that I’m not interested in anymore, due to a huge amount of red flags showing.
For example, in the past I probably would have praised this season for at the very least not containing anything that is absolutely utter crap, but the problem with that is that it glosses over the fact that there is so much mediocrity coming out. The only silver lining I can offer is this: there are hardly any pointless sequels. At the very least there are a lot of attempts at new series, and the sequels that are there, are there for a reason. And in the end, there are a few series with a very good pedigree that I’m looking forward to.
Series that I Don’t Look Forward To
Sengoku Musou
Why I don’t like it: Sengoku Musou is yet another piece set in the sengoku era, just like the countless other shows that preceded it. It really looks like a generic clone of the other series: everyone has weird outfits, the focus is on fighting. Nothing here looks like they put any effort in it.
Soul Eater Not
Why I don’t like it: I watched about half of Soul Eater. When I saw this promo material, I really had to do a double-take. I mean dear god, how much can you moefy something? The original soul eater had its own style, but this looks just like a generic cloned show about cute girls. The trailer’s even worse. Everything looks generic.
Baby Steps
Why I don’t like it: Boring show about this guy who has no skills and joins a tennis club. The same thing we’ve seen many times before, just with tennis. The only mitigating factor is that it’s got a really good direction for the action: Masahiko Murata, but he won’t be able to save this premise.
Haikyu!!
Why I don’t like it: Yet another high school sports series, this time with volleyball. And really, the premise looks to be incredibly generic again without much creativity. At this point a sports series really needs to come with something really impressive in order to be able to beat the standard that was set in the genre a few years ago. The director of Cuticle Detective Inaba is not one to do it.
Brynhildr in the Darkness
Why I don’t like it: Okay while it’s good that Arms is finally stepping away from doing these crappy fanservice shows, this one looks like a boring “boy meets supernatural girl with loads of mysteries”-story, without much more. The trailer has good music, but put the focus too much on bad action and a pointless swimsuit.
Mekaku City Actors
Why I don’t like it: Oh hey. Did you know that Shaft really likes NEET? Well, if you didn’t: here is another one! Obviously my Shaft-bias is working against this series, though granted it does look slightly better than their usual series. The show has promise if the right people were behind it, not Shaft.
La Corda D’Oro Blue Sky
Why I don’t like it: The first la Corda D’Oro was already incredibly contrived and so it really did not need a second season. For those who don’t know: it’s about this talentless girl who receives a magical violin that makes her able to play beautifully and make her compete with the top music students at her school. The same creators as the first season also seem to be behind this one.
Bokura wa Minna Kawaisou
Why I don’t like it: Brains Base doing romance again, but it doesn’t really look promising in any way. A generic premise without much to say about the different characters other than that they look boring, Apparently it’s from the people who adapted Blood Lad, so if you liked that one you might give it a chance.
Futsuu no Joshikousei ga Locodol
Why I don’t like it: The director of KissXsis doing a 4koma adaptation about two idol high school girls. Do I need to say more? Moving on.
Blade & Soul
Why I don’t like it: Gonzo doing another MMORPG adaptation. You know, if this was the old Gonzo then I would have been slightly interested, but this? This looks like your generic battle anime with silly powers and no substance. However, what is the director of Steins;Gate doing there? Maybe this could- no, wait. The trailer contained some really bad action so never mind.
Inu Neko Hour
Why I don’t like it: All 47 Japanese prefecutres…. as dogs. Okay, I thought that this would be a random catgirl show when I first saw the title. At least it’s creative. It’s in no way going to be a good series, but at least it’s creative.
Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei
Why I don’t like it: This series has this one line in its premise when I looked it up on ANN: “the young woman who feels far more for her brother than sibling love”. Yeah. It’s one of those shows. Beyond that, it’s a high school show about magic users, so yet again another really bland and boring premise.
Black Bullet
Why I don’t like it: Boring fighting show with a ridiculously complicated reasoning in order to try and explain why the fate of humanity rests on a bunch of teenagers. It fails. Great background art though.
Akuma no Riddle
Why I don’t like it: Another ridiculously stupid premise: there is a school, where one of the students is targetted by 12 assassins who all disguise themselves as random students. Lots of early warning signs, like loads of snarky characters and character-designs that look exactly the same aside from just some hair swapped around. Unfortunately it looks like just another battle show without much creativity.
Soredemo Sekai wa Utsukushii
Why I don’t like it: I think the best way to describe this one, is if you see it as the director of Fushigi Yuugi doing a similar series. The premise of a princess being sent off to a young king who somehow did a really good job at conquering at least has that same feeling. The premise does seem rather juvenile, though and I don’t have much hope for it.
Kanojo ga Flag o Oraretara
Why I don’t like it: The director of Space Brothers doing a crappy harem show. Well, so much for him then.
Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky
Why I don’t like it: The one thing that this series has going for it is that the people adapting it have more than a decade of experience. An RPG adaptation isn’t necessarily bad, if enough things work well. However, the central focus of this series seems to be fighting with alchemy. Boring! Been there, done that!
Gochuumon wa Usagi Desu ka?
Why I don’t like it: Kazuyuki Fudeyasu is working on this project, and he is a great writer who uses lots of emotion in his storytelling. If only the story he’s going to tell this time was a bit more than “a girl works at a cafe and cute girls drop by”. I mean have some variety at the very least: advertise with a diverse cast. Why does everyone have to be a cute girl on the promotional material? In this way everyone just looks like each other!
No Game, No Life
Why I don’t like it: OH MY GOD, THE EYE CANDY! Anyways, this one probably is the most interesting show in the list that I’m not interested in, it looks good, it’s got a very good director and adapter. I would have given it potential, if it wasn’t for a few red lights that I saw here. First of all, there’s the overabundance of cute girls. They try to hide it, but when you look at the trailer you see lots of shots just being cute girls demonstrating flashy powers. Been there, done that. The premise of this show is that all violence has been outlawed. That’s definitely not something that you can gather from the trailer. The whole premise of this show depends on the games that nations need to play in order to compete with each other. If you can make these games creative and inspired, then that would make a good series, but you don’t do that by focusing way too much on these flashy powers. That’s boring!
One Week Friends
Why I don’t like it: This show. It’s a cross between 50 First Dates and Kimi ni Todoke! It’s probably going to be the best school series on this list, but it lacks a bit of ambition if I have to be really honest here. You can make this work really well, but only if you really put in the effort, which I don’t think these creators will be able to.
Mangaka-san to Assistant-san to
Why I don’t like it: Yet another ridiculously complicated excuse to have two characters frisk up each other and just show some touching some boobs. I mean I’m not denying that some mangaka indeed draw inspiration from their girl/boyfriends for their sex scenes and all, but that doesn’t mean that you have to make an entire series about it. Here’s an idea: how about we make a series that’s about a guy and a girl, who are in a healthy relationship and are living together after about a year of dating? Outrageous right? You can show all the sex you want!
Kamigami no Asobi ~Ludere deorum~
Why I don’t like it: Ahem. Let me quote the premise for this series, because this is too priceless not to share: “Kusanagi Yui is ordered by Zeus, a god and the headmaster of a school he created, to teach the meaning of love to young and handsome gods. The reason he has for doing this is to cancel the negative effects of the weakening bond between the world of the divine and the world of the humans.” – This has got to be the most ridiculously far-fetched premise I have ever seen for a bishie series, and with stuff like Uta Prince already existing that has to say something!
Series I Am Looking Forward To
Fuun Ishin Dai Shogun
Produced by: ACGT, JC Staff
Director: Takashi Watanabe
Script: Dai Sato
Impressions: This one looks like crap, and it probably will be. However I do want to put your attention to the two main people in charge, who are two of the biggest trolls walking around in the anime business. Takashi Watanabe, I know he is intelligent. Otherwise he could not have directed something as Boogiepop Phantom and Starship Operators. Most of the time though, he just acts like a complete idiot. Dai Sato goes the same: this guy is a really talented writer with a drive to create unique works of art, however has been known to sell out if he’s assigned on a project just to make money. It also doesn’t really help that the art for this one is horrible.
Hitsugi no Chaika
Produced by: Bones
Director: Sochi Masui
Script: Touko Machida
Impressions: Yes, there is hope! This series can be seen as the spiritual successor to Scrapped Princess: it’s based on a novel by Scrapped Princess’ author and the director is also going to return. Now while I wasn’t the biggest fan of Scrapped Princess, I did appreciate what it was trying to do. It just could have been done better, so here’s to a second chance. The premise of focusing on a war veteran after a war has ended? That’s actually pretty nice. Simple, but you can do stuff with that. I do have to put a question mark to the promo art though: that puts the emphasis on fighting with magical powers. Don’t do that! Focus on the psychological aspect!
Nanana’s Buried Treasure
Produced by: A-1 Pictures
Director: Kanta Kamei
Script: Hideyuki Kurata
Impressions: Well, it IS a Noitamina about teenagers, and granted this does look very sketchy, there are other parts of the story that seem like they have ambition in them. For that I’m interested. Kanta Kamei is a solid director after what he has shown with Silver Spoon and Bunny Drop, and my inner mystery-fan might find this one interesting.
Selector WIXOSS
Produced by: JC Staff
Director: Takuya Sato
Script: Mari Okada
Impressions: Mari Okada again, this time accompanied by the director of Steins;Gate and JC Staff. This can work. The trailer looks quite impressive: it knows its atmosphere, and this seems to become quite a psychological series that ties these six girls together. I see potential here to become a very interesting series, and Mari Okada can actually go all-out psycho here. Note: a good story takes balance: you can’t just go psycho all the time and think you can get away with it.
Knights of Sidonia
Produced by: POLYGON PICTURES
Director: Kobun Shizuno
Script: Sadayuki Murai
Impressions: Sadayuki Murai is one of the best people at adapting stories currently in the business. He brilliantly adapted Mouryou no Hako, the final two seasons of Natsume Yuujinchou and Boogiepop Phantom for their anime format. This time it’s a manga written by the creator of Blame, which seems to be quite a famous manga, although I’ve never read it. It’s in full CG so the faces look a bit awkward, but the trailer has me intrigued and it looks very good. Just one thing: please let that girl do more than just hold the main character’s hand and get dragged along. If you do that then I’ll drop this show really quickly.
Captain Earth
Produced by: Bones
Director: Takuya Igarashi
Script: Yoji Enokido
Impressions: Do you know what this is? This is the creators of Star Driver making another series! Basically, what this means is the following: this will be a mecha-series made by people who haven’t been into the genre, and therefore aren’t the most familiar with most of its conventions, as seen with the Galactic Pretty Boy. What has me most interested here is that there are some people involved who can deliver some really great series. Bones is very solid as an animation studio, Takuya Igarashi directed Ashita no Nadja, and Ouran High School Host Club (series that really stood out in their presentation), while Yoji Enokido wrote Revolutionary Girl Utena, Redline and parts of FLCL, and Rahxephon. Yes, there is talent here! One side-note though: the visuals are boring and standard. The robot and characters look generic.
Ping Pong
Produced by: Tatsunoko Production
Director: Masaaki Yuasa
Script: Taiyo Matsumoto
Impressions: I said before: at this point sports series have to bring something very impressive to the table. These are the people to do it. The guy who wrote Tekkon Kinkreet and Masaaki Yuasa. Two people who have an amazing eye of bringing people to life. That’s what a series like this needs. The premise is generic here, so they’re going to have to do something very special here to make it work. But if anyone can, they will. The trailer already showed signs of potential.
Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders
Produced by:
Director: Kenichi Suzuki, Naokatsu Tsuda
Script: Yasuko Kobayashi
Impressions: I remember how incredibly fun the first season of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure was. And the great thing is that every arc is significantly different, with different characters to do things with. This is the series you need to be at if you want over the top action, because it will deliver, and much, much more. It’s one of those series in which both the source material rocked, and the animation really managed to bring the characters alive. This will be chockful of adrenaline!
Mushishi: Zoku-Shou
Produced by: Artland
Director: Hiroshi Nagahama
Script: Hiroshi Nagahama
Impressions: Well, what can really be said here? One of the best anime ever made, getting a second season in order to animate the rest of the manga chapters that the first season never got to, all by the same creators and the same director. Hiroshi Nagahama is a brilliant director who screws every possible convention in order to get the best out of his work, no matter what. There of course is the danger of expecting too much, so I’m not going to expect this to blow my mind. And I’ll try to get to the 1-Hour special as soon as possible.
Wow. psgels, is that really you? Have you finally cracked and joined the row of smart-aleck-flamer-blogs who diss shows they don’t know anything about simply on prejudice born out of reading 3-lines summaries of them, and extrapolating from that?
With all due respect in memory for the psgels of old: Your summary of Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei is so fundamentally wrong that it’s evident that you know ZIP about the show. As an example: “Bloom” and “Weed” are not the two highest-ranked students in class. “Blooms” are the better half of the students, and “Weeds” are the underachieving “spares” who only get to graduate as full magicians if “Blooms” drop out. In other words, discrimination plays a role in the first arc. Which you would definitely know if you had any idea of what you’re writing about.
I encourage you to take a deep breath, delete what you wrote (there are many more mistakes in it), and rewrite it after reading at least the first 5 chapters of the manga or light novel. I’m not saying that you are necessarily going to like it, but it definitely isn’t remotely what you were writing.
I have not changed because of the flamer blogs, let me be absolutely clear on that. The reason I’m so much harsher now is because of how often I’ve given so many shows that sounded mediocre at first sight a second chance because of some silver lining, only to get disappointed by a shoddy execution again and again and again. These previews are not meant to judge based on generalisations, I’m simply looking for red flags that all of these disappointments also all had, in order to prevent getting disappointed again so that I can focus my attention on the series that I’m truly interested in. Including incest, combined with taking place in a school for example hardly ever works for me.
The summaries I’ve taken from ANN by the way. Apparently not all of them are as good as the others. And some of those comments indeed do not make much sense.
And about reading the first 5 chapters of the manga: why would I? If the premise doesn’t excite me, and it looks just like all the other magic school shows? I have enough trouble watching the series I actually like, so giving series like this the benefit of doubt is only going to make it harder to follow everything.
psgels: My point is this – it never ceases to amaze me how reputable blog sites (like yours) have to invest endless hours to simply _list_ the shows and mini-summaries for them. I consider it completely inconceivable that any blog author can actually KNOW this many shows, yet they always seem to try.
However: If you happen not to know a show, wouldn’t it be fairer to write something closer to “I’m not interested in this because…” instead of “this is terrible”?
About the show itself: This is going to be big, probably the most prominent show next season. The Light Novel – with all its flaws – is excellent, high-class stuff. And no, it is very different from “magic school” or “imouto” shows. It’s fine if you’re not excited – but before dumping on it, shouldn’t you at least know a bit more about it than reading equally clueless summaries from ANN?
*shrug*
I’m just tired of every single series that looks the same and is about high school students using magic. If the show is supposed to be so special, then why couldn’t the creators have put in some more effort to make it stand out right from the start.
I guess that I’ve been disappointed a few too many times. I mean, right now this reminds me a lot of Bakemonogatari and Sword Art Online: they too arrived, while being praised as the next biggest thing. And yet in the end they failed to impress me with how they kept focusing on lame powers, harem antics, pointless fanservice and romance.
Plus, and I indeed failed to mention this, but Manabu Ono is not really the best director out there for bringing these characters to life. Most of his shows lack soul and are filled with enormous boobs. And while I know that this is an adaptation, the thing is that I’m not sure whether he is the guy who is able to make the best part about this story (that are apparently there, according to you) shine in anime-format.
The problem with Mahouka is that it takes quite a while for it to get to the familial politics; I highly doubt that the anime will get that far within one season, so a lot of people will probably watch and see the beginning parts of the bloom vs. weeds discrimination…which is, unfortunately, not the LN’s strong area.
Of course, once the anime gets far enough to get to the international politics, it runs into a different problem. I know there are a lot of people that refute the nationalism by pointing out the comparatively lighter shade of grey that Japan is portrayed by, but it’s definitely still there and might anger a lot of international viewers.
@psgels: I don’t think you’re being too harsh. I think it’s a perfectly fair analysis that only three or so shows next season will actually be good. It’s like that most seasons, after all.
But you are right about the part of the weeds being completely irrellevant, so I did edit that out.
“Your summary of Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei is so fundamentally wrong that it’s evident that you know ZIP about the show.”
I don’t know, I read the manga(Yes yes I know it’s oringally a light novel.) and he seems to hit the nail on the head. For on the sister who wants to badly play docter with brother is right on the money. And it is also a school setting for magic users. It is also remarkable generic. Only real difference is the main character being a carbon copy Lelouch.
So yeah. I actually think his discription is spot on.
Sorry. Anyone who so completely misunderstands the implications of “Blooms” and “Weeds” can’t know anything of the franchise (which psgels then explicitly confirmed).
I don’t see which other show you could compare it to to call it “remarkably generic”, and “real difference” would invite the question “different from what”?
So, what remains is a remarkably oblivious summary bordering to ignorance – and if you call this “spot on”, it reflects very poorly on your own judgment, too.
Ah yes, you must be the one who is going to defend this show from haters like they were insulting his mother.
Anyway don’t act like not knowing about blooms and weeds invalids an opinion. Those things are just terms to put in the age old discrimination trope. Much like Assassination classrooms class A and class E or x men’s muntants and humans. Maybe it plays a bigger role later but I honestly don’t see how that is relevent. It’s like saying someones opinion on fate/stay night is irrelvent if they don’t know what a reality marble is.
Hahaha…oh god. What can I compare to? Where do I even start…pretty much every anime involing a school of magic students. And that is a lot of anime. Examples from anime currently airing would be Tokyo ravens.
(And here comes the stupid, this is nothing like that show response)
Personally I find a opinion which fails to see the flaws in the show it’s praising to remarkable more ignorant. Psgels may be judging a book by it’s cover but the problem is that his judgement despite lacking information is not entirely wrong. Do you deny that this anime does not have a school setting of magic students? Do you deny that the mains sister is dying for her brothers magic stick?
*mutants
*does have a school
This is the problem with typing fast on a computer that doesn’t spellcheck.
Look, kid. If you state an opinion on something without any knowledge of it, then it IS worthless by design. Simple fact. I guess you’re one more of these nutcases who think that “it’s my judgment” entitles them to any kind of respect, no matter how ignorant it is.
psgels gets my respect, because he’s a long-standing blogger who had many contributions to the community. I primarily remember you from wannabe-elitist bile-spewing on various hater blogs, so you don’t.
That the best example you come up is “Tokyo Ravens” is more than telling. Then again, you already know that.
So the facts that the setting is “Magic School” and the imouto’s feelings for her brother way exceed the normal (something which is properly explained in a later volume) already is a “flaw” for you? Fair enough. In this case, please jump back into your usual cesspools and don’t pollute the air for those who’d prefer a _factual_ discussion of the show.
But hey, nevermind. I forgot. Haters hate, it’s all they can. At least you properly labeled yourself 🙂
Mentar, I disagree strongly. I don’t care if the incest gets explained. It’s still incest and the creators still shoved it in there like 50% of all other shows that have siblings of opposite genders. I’m not mad at incest because it’s some kind of plothole, but because anime and manga creators continue to push for it , again and again and again.
The incest vibe is here but it’s because of the sister( and I said she can be extremely annoying) it has been very clear that she is hopeless. The reason for the male protag’s extreme brotherly love for his sister is much more important. There is no way it can end like Oreimo unless the author decides to completely change the personality of the Male protagonist. He is comparable to Batman lol.
“you must be the one who is going to defend this show from haters like they were insulting his mother.”
That made me lol. Anyways I didn’t read the entire thread. But GOSH just stop coming to this blog if you don’t like it (directed to Mentar). In the past year or so psgels basically demonstrated that his passion for anime is not exactly the same. I think he’s much more critical and just not as open to trying every anime out there. That’s really his bias. Anyhow I also don’t think anime shows should be judged before watching at least one episode. Synopsis alone doesn’t demonstrate how bad/good an anime is. But to each his own.
@Mentar,
“Look, kid”
Tsk tsk tsk. First two words and already wrong. Though I am flattered that you would think of me as quite young despite having great wisdom.
“If you state an opinion on something without any knowledge of it, then it IS worthless by design.”
Agreed. Not sure what relevance it has though. After all this is a preview. Meaning of course that psgels is just giving his impressions based on the little information provided. It would be unreasonable to ask him to research every little show on the list. Specifically if that shows synopsis gives him no reason to look deeper.
“I guess you’re one more of these nutcases who think that “it’s my judgment” entitles them to any kind of respect, no matter how ignorant it is.”
Pot, kettle, black.
“I primarily remember you from wannabe-elitist bile-spewing on various hater blogs, so you don’t.”
Ah but you do remember me. I am rather honored.
Ah Tokyo ravens wasn’t the best example. I just figured it might get the point across if I gave you a current example. There is at least one every year you know.
Why are you talking about me? Psgels is the one who said it. And you confirmed it. Therefore he is not wrong. That’s the point dear fellow.
Haters gonna hate silly fellow. Get it right if you reference it. I do enjoy our chats so maybe I should watch it. Who knows, it might surprise me. But if not I can rip it apart and watch you try to defend it. Which should be equally fun.
I think it’s better like that so that it won’t be overhyped like SAO. Mahouka is my favorite LN and I am glad it will be adapted by a studio which seems to know what is is doing. To really have a good opininon on it I think they should read the 4 volumes of the LN and not manga chapters.
I do find Miyuki incredibly annoying sometimes but Tatsuya and a lot of characters are good, Mayumi and Erika especially.
By reading the first chapters most of people will just think “OP MCs, Incest, Info dump”. That’s not a good…
Yeah. If something is good, people shall see it sooner or later. Hype ruined things. Current season Hamatora is very good. I wonder why not many people talked about it.
Hamatora is a terrible series, eternia.
I dropped Hamatora at episode 5. So fvking generic.
With all due respect Mentar, you may also need to take a deep breath before you write any more comments here.
DUDE mentar awesome analysis :’D
<< Die Hard Mahouka Fan here
“Have you finally cracked and joined the row of smart-aleck-flamer-blogs who diss shows they don’t know anything about simply on prejudice born out of reading 3-lines summaries of them, and extrapolating from that?”
Whoa whoa dude? what’s with the insults? just because someone has a different opinion than you? Maybe you should just go back to your own blog if you’re goin gto start off like that.
Broad Generalizations: The Blogpost
What else can you do when the shows haven’t actually aired yet?
By having a broader vision than you, through the reading of the materials the animes are based off.
All the materials for every anime that is going to air? Psgels has enough trouble with the just the anime airing currently. Some people have lives, y’know?
At least do SOME research. Doesn’t scamp does that, for example? Well, whatever. Psgels is obviously already one of theose annoying elitists.
“However, the central focus of this series seems to be fighting with alchemy. Boring! Been there, done that!”
I think you’re jumping to conclusions here tbh. While I’m no hardcore fan of the Atelier series, I think you’ll find that its treatment of Alchemy is way different from say, FMA. It most likely is different from how you’re expecting, from what I know of the games.
Okay, fair enough, no Full Metal Alchemist. However, how does it distinguish itself from all other shows in which characters are fighting with magic?
Having played all the Atelier games that came out on the PS3 you have to understand that there is very little actual fighting. The focus is very much on the Alchemy side of things. If anything the games are SoL. There is no huge ‘save the world’ plot and they tend to be quite personal.
Anyway, the one thing I have learnt over the last few seasons is to not trust a premise description on how good a show is.
Contray to what others think here I found this post refreshing. It’s nice to see you be a bit cynical. With your other season previews it really felt like you were stuggling to try and say the thing people wanted to hear. This post is the most genuinely honest sounding in a while.
Just some thoughts.
Brynhildr in the Darkness is by the same writer who made elfen lied. It isn’t as generic as the premise might sound. There is quite a lot of dispair. That said I would hesitate to call itgood. It has some nice idea’s and one really awesome character(Uncle Docter guy just steals the show with every appearence.) but with Arm’s at the hlem I have quite low expectations.
Don’t listion to the naysayers up there. Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei has nothing special. To call it terrible would go too far but quite frankly after five chapters I was utterly bored with it. It is fairly genric.
I read a bit of no game no life. There’s a bit of incest in there as well but the premise seemed interesting enough. Wasn’t really modavated to continue with it.
Personally, I’m actually looking forward to Brynhildr in the Darkness. The manga was seriously depressing to read, and I am looking forward to how the mood gets translated into Anime form (surely, even ARMS can’t mess it up that much, can it?)
Mahouka is kinda generic. It does have a Mary Sue and strong-willed protagonist, though, which kinda but not really distinguishes it from other harem shows. It does pick up a bit after a while when international politics comes into play, though…the novel is ridiculously overtly and excessively nationalistic with that (it also loves to diss China every chance it gets).
*lol*
Knows five chapters of the manga. Talks big like an expert 🙂
I rest my case.
Read 17 chapters actually. Got bored with it after five. Beside weren’t you the one telling psgels to judge it after five chapters?
was going to make the same comment about brunhildr, looks generic but same author as elfen leid and nononono. okamoto a knack making stories that are just enerally exciting to watch/read, regardless of execution or actual content…. So i’m pretty interestedin checking it out.
Agreed, I think Brynhildr doesn’t have the most interesting premise, but it’s dark despair filled atmosphere will be strikingly different then most of the stuff out there just like Elfen Lied. That said, I still wish they’d adapted Nonononono instead. Now that’s one had a great premise.
He’s always done these kinds of posts so why is it a big deal now? I liked this post, and all of the Season previews because he talks a lot about the people behind the show. I like seeing who made it, what else they made, and how he felt about them. That’s really what I get most out of these previews.
Overall, it looks like another season that doesn’t have many stand out shows. I’m really looking forward to Jojo’s, but I’m not too too hype about Mushishi. I’m 14 episodes into the first one and its pretty Tame. Yes it has a Good atmosphere and is executed flawlessly, but that’s about all I can say about it. For me the story was just lacking, along with the characters. I’ll be watching season 2 in hopes that watching on a weekly basis makes it easier to enjoy.
Wow… calling shows “utter crap”, because you don’t like the premise/genre/etc? I mean, you could simply say “It’s not my cup of tea”.
It’s just a matter of preference, so I don’t think it’s fair to use this kind of elitist attitude.
“I mean, you could simply say “It’s not my cup of tea”.”
Isn’t that just the fancy way of saying “This sounds like utter crap.”? Besides there are shows that sound like utter crap.
Some things aren’t your cup of tea, and some are utter crap. There’s a difference.
For example: I don’t like Space Dandy much because it’s not my cup of tea. But I don’t like ImoCho because it’s utter crap.
(I could have mentioned Sword Art Online instead of ImoCho but that could have started a flame. Oh, wait…)
TAKE BACK WAHT YOU SAID AOBUT SWORD ART ONLINE YOU ELITIST JERKWAD!!!!!!!!!!
God, fandoms are the worst. They are made even more worse, if they are fandoms of franchises that really don’t deserve a second thought. Its this type of behavior that builds a market out of the least redeemable aspects of the medium. Thanks a lot.
The worst thing about this all is that people expect psgels to give way to their “standards of taste” — I would say that psgels has seen enough anime to call it as he sees it. He’s usually right too.
Life is too short to watch shitty entertainment or to do research figuring out if something is “truly shitty”. What a waste of time.
We have enough hater blogs already who cluelessly barf over everything they don’t know/understand, but don’t like for some oblivious reason. In the past, Star Crossed Anime was _not_ part of these cesspools, so I take the liberty to point out when psgels is erring. Many of his anime/episode reviews are very worthwhile.
But hey – if you seriously think that judging shows based on ANN summaries, flanked by wannabe-elitist haters, is the way to go, be my guest. I would find that regrettable, but it’s just one less place to check on the bloglist. Because THAT would be a waste of MY time.
Men are mortal. Feel free to donate to psgels via paypal to hire a staff writer to blog the series he doesn’t want to. Then you would have your cake and you’d be eating it too.
In the past, many of the anime had potential and ambition, and at the end of their runs definitely delivered the goods. I guess this was more up Psgels’ alley.
Nowadays, because of the what the anime industry has become, it is hard to watch an anime (or even read a synopsis) without feeling that the creators are pandering towards the type B otaku majority. We usually only have about 2 or 3 good studios working on good original material, with decent production values.
I can see why Psgels would be apprehensive about a series after seeing moe promo art or reading about “the young woman who feels far more for her brother than sibling love”.
Some series in the Not Interested category that you should definitely give a chance:
Baby Steps: I’m not lying when I say this is the best of its genre. I know you have a bias for most sport series, but I would most certainly give this one a chance. Also the main character is far from boring.
Brynhildr in the Darkness: It’s from the same guy who wrote Elfen Lied. Not sure if you liked that show, but this is mostly likely more than run of the mill.
One Week Friends: This isn’t anything special, but the manga is pretty charming and I know that that’s you’re thing. Has a great staff too.
main interests are…
high;
knights of sydonia (looks good)
medium;
jojo (for jojo)
mushishi (for love of original)
low;
mekaku city actors (for cute girls)
but will probably check out all new episodes…
also, b/c of rage comments about mahouka, i took a look out of curiosity. i think psgels is entitled to whatever opinion he has of stuff, and you can’t just hate on someone’s PREVIEW opinion just because they don’t have a deep understanding of the plot. it’s again PREVIEW opinion. w/e man.
tbh, the premise seems pretty bad to me. combination of incest/magic/weird fanfic vibes. but those are just my impressions based on limited information. there’s a chance that it’s actually a good show. i seriously hope it’s a good show. god, i hope all the anime ends up fucking amazing… sigh. the dreams
“The director of Space Brothers doing a crappy harem show.”
WELP. I guess that truly does mean Space Brothers is ending this season, or at least getting a different director.
On another note, it sure is disappointing that Brains Base sucks nowadays. Nothing but otome adaptations and generic shows. What the hell happened to anime like Baccano, Durarara, and Natsume?
Anyway, I’m excited for JoJo, Mushishi, new Masaaki Yuasa anime, and Captain Earth.
/shrug, it’s psgel’s right to write whatever he wants on his blog, including cynical generalized dismissals that’s on par with what flamer blogs likes to put out, but other people also have the right to voice their opinions on his post.
While I personally agree with some of his assertions (and disagree with some as well), I can’t help but get the feeling of “wow, this guy is really starting to hate anime” as I read this post.
Yup man exactly what i felt in my 5 years of reading his blog for the first time i think he has started to seriously lose interest maybe?
I think what psgels have gotten bored with is the industry’s tendency to pander to the otaku group.
I really miss the shows that tried something different instead of getting those game/movie/LN adaptions that come out each season.
It’s like: Man, I miss the 2007 anime seasons.
Rather than criticizing psgels’s blogging style, I feel I should give my opinions of three of the “not interested” series from experience with the original media:
Mahouka – Mahouka is weird. The LN starts off as being rather generic. There was supposed to be conflict between the blooms and weeds, but the LN captures this rather poorly. Then the MC’s history and overpoweredness is revealed and the story turns really good, though I don’t think the anime will get to this point in one season.
Brynhildr – The story of Brynhildr is a harem story about despair, and the manga was often hard to read because of how much it emotionally crushed me. You find out quickly that the organization that created the magician girls is pretty much gunning to eliminate them, and the story quickly becomes a horrific survival story with minor harem elements. It is very good, and I would highly recommend giving it a chance.
Blade and Soul – I have less experience with this (Chinese servers lag way too much). However, BnS is supposed to have a rather good story for an MMO (about revenge for your dead MA master), so this might be worth looking into.
The craziest thing about that “Mangaka and assistant” is that I’d totally buy into that as a premise to an actual erotic story. I don’t mean porn, I mean a series with characters and a real plot but that also features sex. But that’s not going to happen sadly – guy will touch her boobs and she’ll blush because every woman in anime is a virgin and it’ll be oh-so-fun.
I get why some people are angry about the cynicism, but once again it’s pretty much a matter of opinion and in your case I’d say a whole lot of experience. From your latest posts it’s obvious that you’re tired of being disappointed time and again, so a bit of cynicism after years of optimism is somewhat an expected barrier. You might be wrong about some of the shows you think will be crap, but hey- in that case you’ll get a pleasant surprise instead of being let down again.
Personally I liked this post since you’re expressing yourself without buttering anything up. I don’t mind the honesty.
It would be fine if he was surprised, but this post gives the impression that he isn’t even going to give them a chance…
I applaud PSGELS’ efforts at compiling the season preview, and especially noting the fact that the anime genre has lost its shine. Maybe the industry will recover from its current downswing – once they stop pandering to that otaku base?
In case some of you that are freaking out don’t understand, this is a blog – aka psgels’ thoughts. Whatever he writes down whether you agree or not, is what he himself thinks – so it’s not a lie. If you haven’t yet figured it out, Psgels’ taste has evolved a bit and he really doesn’t like 95% of what makes anime – anime. That’s fine.
But you shouldn’t get upset. It’s like how I hate reality TV, but a giant portion of the population loves it. I know this, I will not be convinced otherwise though – I still think it’s crap. You need to acknowledge this a personalblog with one writer and will be biased. You can call Psgels’ taste awful if you like but getting up-in-arms is pointless.
However, I do not share PSGELS’ distaste for SHAFT anime, so I will give Mekaku City Actors a shot.
I feel like a fair bit of the ones you’re not excited for are really, really hopeful (assuming direction/adapatation goes well)
Rettousai, no game no life, baby steps, and Brynhildr in the Darkness have so much potential if they have good adaptation. The premises are usually kind of hit/miss, as the actual depth of these become apparently (particularly with brynhildr, which was created by the same author of elfen lied)
Aaaand here comes another round of seasonal dissapointment. Will we ever get decent anime again?
I’m really looking forward to Ping Pong, Mushishi, and that new BONES mech series.
Sometimes the best part of a new season is discovering that a series you had no interest in ends up being great. Let’s hope there are some real gems hidden in the line-up!
My many of these shows’ fans really go into a fit from anything negative. Even though I like some of the shows he hates doesn’t mean that he can’t hate them. And having to read the manga in order to watch the show is also stupid because the shows need to stand by themselves.
My 2 cents:
Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei
– I read about 8 novels a few months ago and I found it ok (my memory is somewhat hazy). What irks me about this more is really that the sister is supposed to be pretty talented yet she is still so dependent on her brother. And most of the women seem to be incidental characters that are in line with acceptable Japanese gender roles (which is no surprise of course, this being a Japanese light novel and all). Most of the action are done by the men like the revenge part for the parents of a certain character and the main character and that guy with the sword or something. There’s the standard tournament arc, beach arc etc. One commenter said that he is like Lelouch but he never does anything clever either. He just deduces why other people are acting the way they are. That is not the main draw of Lelouch; the scheming is what’s interesting. It really has to be special to set it apart from the others.
Brynhildr in the Darkness
– I am up to date on this one and it is fine. Pretty good story but nothing extroardinary.
Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky
– Since this is not released in English yet I have not played it. But based on the other games, there would not be any major, earth-shattering story. It is mostly a slice of life series based on character interaction and backstory with an incidental goal to accomplish. So the main draw is really to get to know the characters. There is no “real” super fighting save the world stuff in this series.
Knights of Sidonia
– I like this one a lot. The art is sort of weird though. Liked it much more than Gargantia.
Mushishi
– I also like this one. I just wish it also has an overarching plot but I guess that really isn’t the point.
Baby steps, the manga at least, contains legitimate strategies and teaches the real metagame of tennis. The author covers ideas such as movement, shot selection, mental control, and tactics all very realistically so I suggest giving it a shot.
Forgive me as I didn’t read all of this but did psgels ever say he wasn’t going to watch all these shows? He has always done so in the past, so why wouldn’t he now? Unless he specifically said he wasn’t gonna watch them I’d be willing G to bet he’ll watch the first episode of all of these.
Gah, that sounds like torture… I don’t think even psgels in his current state would or could subject himself to that… would he?
Usually he watches the first episode of all these shows. He doesn’t continue all of them obviously, but he dies watch them. It’s not like he says “this show looks bad” then doesn’t watch it. But it does sound like he has lost his interest in anime, so this might be the first time he doesn’t.
I get the impression me and psgels are in a similar situation with anime right now. I used to watch the first episode of pretty much anything not directed at children, but these days I just skim through anything that doesn’t look like a guaranteed win. If I like the art, the characters don’t sound bland and the general feel seems ok in the parts I skim past I’ll typically watch the whole thing.
I kind of suspect psgels is getting to that point too, and honestly I can’t blame him. When you have real responsibilities wasting even 30 minutes of your free time sucks.
Neat post.
I just love when blog owners cluelessly barf over everything they don’t know/understand… except, of course, after more than 10 years of watching anime people get experience which allows them to judge a book by its cover… just like a doctor could tell a flu just by looking at someone’s face. The only difference is that the doctor should perform a complete examination in case it’s facing some rare anomaly that happens once in a million… someone could die.
Thank Dog Psgels is just writing about anime…
Love the negativity of the preview. 😀 That’s how it is for the last several seasons – 90% crap and 1-2 series to watch.
Overall Japanese pop culture turned out to be a massive disappointment for me. At first it looks like nothing else – stylish, deep, emotional. But at some point you start to see how cliched and one-sided it actually is. I would say anime and manga + J-pop and J-rock is a great hobby for max 10 years.
“Boring show about this guy who has no skills and joins a tennis club. The same thing we’ve seen many times before, just with tennis. The only mitigating factor is that it’s got a really good direction for the action: Masahiko Murata, but he won’t be able to save this premise.”
Seriously? How can you assume that just from its freaking premise? WTF.
Baby Steps is fucking awesome, but please don’t watch it, I really don’t wanna read an COMPLETELY biased opinion, thank you very much.
Haha, it’s easier for Baby Steps’s awesomeness to save it for the director.
Sports anime is a very hit-and-miss genre in general. I’ve seen that Guardian Enzo from Lost in Anime seems to have great expectations for Baby Steps, which makes me think it could be better than the average ‘cos Enzo has good taste usually (he doesn’t like Kill la Kill though – nobody’s perfect). But in the end, “sports anime” IS always the same story told again and again. It just differs in how well it’s told, how compelling the characters are, whether the tone is serious or comedic, and if you’re interested in the details of the specific sport. But in the end even the best written sports anime story is probably going to be a story of self-realization, rivalry, sportsmanship, and a good tutorial about the basic rules and strategies of some specific game/discipline. If you don’t like these elements, you’re probably not going to care.
The Baby Steps manga stands as the the very best that the sports shounen genre has to offer, because:
1. It’s realistic. As a casual tennis player, I can see that the author has a thorough understanding of tennis, and the story never resorts to unrealistic nonsense (see: Prince of Tennis) to entertain.
2. It’s relateable. In some sports shounen, you often have these already absurdly talented people, who sometimes may as well be super heroes. Instant disconnect. They are not normal, but you are. In the case of team sports, it too often becomes centered around skill and team development. As soon as those special, unbelievable powers become a driving factor of victories, or it becomes too focused on team synergy, it begins to feel impersonal. With tennis mainly being a singles sport, the focus is narrowed and the author capitalizes on that to explore the heavy psychological elements of the sport, without having to compromise on the physical elements.
3. The writing is great. As a shounen, it delivers all the right messages to its audience. As a story, it has never dipped. Every match is well planned, and it never feels like there’s a low point. Characters are all presented as they should be. It steers clear of cliches too. No transfer student at the beginning, top players aren’t exaggerated, people aren’t vilified for the sake of having antagonists, no one hates anyone for no apparent reason, the romance isn’t contrived/glamorized, etc.
I can go on and on about it, but the bottom line is that with source material this great, it’d be difficult for the anime to be disappointing. Judging it already, when we haven’t even gotten a PV yet, is a huge mistake.
Most looking forward to Ping Pong (for something new) and Mushishi sequel. And you’ve changed my mind about Sidonia and Captain Earth, might actually give those two a chance. Thanks for the great post @psgels for yet another season, great to see you back on board 🙂
Psgels seasonal preview
This why I like it
I wouldn’t say your standards got harsher, just more knee-jerk reactions to save time. But glad you were pretty merciless this time in culling things out, I’d rather see you posting honest thoughts than half-hearted reasoning.
It’s misguided honesty, really. He posted his raw reactions to these shows he knows nothing about.
How can honesty with his own thoughts be misguided? If you mean his opinion isn’t reflective of the actual source, then you’re right. But that’s a separate issue and it’s banking on the fact that anyone has the time to peruse the material for every single of these shows. It’s one thing to encourage him to give it a chance, another thing to put down his initial impressions for being an impression.
If he doesn`t have the time, stop blogging because that`s some awful writing he did there.
Well, maybe the next posting psgels will say, “Guys, I delete this posting because I think the posting is awful because I didn’t do a very deep research in every anime that will come up. I’m sorry I really don’t have time for that. For the next posting I will read the first 5 chapters of the original source for each anime and 10 or more chapters if the original source is good by some people before posting this preview. Maybe this will hurt my life really hard but it’s for you guys 🙂 who want a better judgement. If you’re not satisfied, maybe it’s better if I leave this blog.”
Pretty much had a disclaimer at the top of the post saying his impressions would be compressed for time.
Yes, that problem with time. Maybe he’d put more time into it if you paid him ;).
Thank you for this. I’m guessing that the hardest part is always accepting when you’re done with something – in this case as your “standards have become much harsher”. I’d like to wish you good luck on your new direction and ask you not to become bitter over it, but continue to hold hope for good new series.
I like this post from psgels, I like his brutal honesty, I find it refreshing. I’m also slowly losing interest in anime because it feels like I’m rewactching the same shows over and over again. Where has all the creativity gone? So I might pick up 3 or 4 animes this season if I have the time.
Just going to jump in here with my countless years of varied reading tastes, love of old school pulp literature and as someone who lives and breathes narrative structure in a variety of media….Mahouka is complete garbage as far as its elements and setup goes, and its developments aren’t all that interesting either. It gets a bit better as it goes along, but its still a pandering garbage franchise that appeals to people who’ve never sat down and see what else is out there.
Mahouka’s biggest problem is that all of the aesthetics that comprise its setting, characters and how all these things intersect are things we’ve seen a billion times before, and it doesn’t do enough to elevate itself to the degree where it becomes compelling. Like most things, it’ll convert around 12.5% of some demographic and the smart ones will see it for what it is and avoid it like the plague.
“Like most things, it’ll convert around 70.5% of some demographic and the smart ones will see it for what it is and avoid it like the plague”
Fixed that for you. Let’s be honest, this is the kind of show that’s going to be popular. Wherther we want it to be or not. It’s sad…but true.
I have lost interested in anime as well.Lately I go to watch more korean drama ,sentai-rider series or reading the manga a bit more.I don’t why.It’s not like I lost interested in animation that much,but like many of here said,It’s like watching the same thing over and over again.And somehow Rider-sentai have the creativity.But J-pop still be my favorite thing.HAHA
However,I’m a bit shocked to see you write this kind of preview.I’ve followed your blog for a long time.I thought that your peak time is around 2010-2012.Your blog in those time is so genuine.It’s like you express your love of anime but this?? It look like you’re bored with everything.Generic design ?? What !? No more magic show!? Hey… come on. If I have a time,like the summer break or whatever I still give a chance likes 10+ shows. moreover if it has the hidden gem there.I will check it.It’s sure that I have my taste as well.But it’s not like I shut down everything.I’m still love anime and could devoted completely for some show in that season.
I prefer Guardian-enzo-san nowadays.His blog is really great and seriously…One Week Friends for not interested list!?? That’s all.
Well, he did write a post that he was going to be more upfront with what he watched rather than catering to the readers. I think he’s more genuine in this post, it’s some anime has lost his love, that’s all. And not everyone has a gap of time like summer break ;).
This season preview is less thorough than psgels’ past season previews, but that’s fine. Better than fine, actually. Around 80% of every anime season is garbage. For psgels to have blogged so many series every season in spite of this statistic is heroic, but it had to come to an end. He’s earned his rest.
I’d actually take these previews a step further and just list every series, include a brief summary of each, and then immediately disregard the ones you’re not interested in. It’s not necessary to justify which series you’re watching or not watching, even if it only costs you a couple sentences. Watch the anime you want to watch, and write about the handful of anime that inspire you.
I do agree with some of the commenters that the writing and reasoning in this preview is subpar at places. I mean dismissing entire shows because of a line in the summary is honestly just too lazy, in a number of ways. That sort of thing is fine if you’re just thinking about it in your head or talk about it with your friends, but when you go ahead and write about it, I’m sorry but I just find it to be low quality writing, I kind of expect a little more of an in-depth look at things, everyone can look up a summary after all.
I understand your cynical outlook though, if you think your list is short, mine only has Knights of Sidonia and Mushishi and this is a good season. Admittedly it’s probably fair to not even call me an anime fan anymore, but I used to be 5-8 years back and I really enjoy the shows that I occasionally do.
This will sound rude but this has probably been my least liked preview for this season so far. I got next to nothing out of the things you didn’t look forward to but the ones you liked were quite well done.
Just my 2 cents as a non-regular.
Thanks for the nice overview psgels! I´m also looking forward to Mushishi ~~~
Just a little clarification about No game no life, the rule about the no violence it,s something who it,s about the main world where the series it,s going to take place, but the fact it,s than the PV doesn,t seems to cover any game more than the one of the very first episode.
If you look at it all the action scenes took place in a closed room with more blue tones and diferent characters desings, that,s it,s only a videogame who just serves as a prologue to show that the characters are good at games not the real fantasy world where the series it,s going to take place.
Over the amount of cute girls, well, that it,s true but i don,t thing that it will be a series who takes itself too seriously all the fanservice feels fluffy and kinda silly, who it,s like i feel that the whole series will felt in overall so it doesn,t really bothers me too much.
Ok, i usually don’t comment here, but just had to comment this time:
– first of all, to everyone saying psgels said “this is terrible” instead of “I’m not interested in this because…”…. look again pls, as he clearly said “Why I don’t like it” in BOLD.
– secondly, this isn’t a software comparison site, where u want to know how good this software’s features are compared to the rest. Instead, this is a review blog; it’s psgels writing his OWN opinion about anime. I sometimes disagree with him on stuff, but again, it’s his own blog. If everyone who’s a fan of something comes in and goes “no man, this is different… i read the novel, i played the game, i read the manga, and i tell u it’s different”, then psgels would just want to please those fans. it wouldn’t be a blog anymore, but just a software comparison site. This blog is HIS opinion on “Why I don’t like it” as he wrote in bold. If he drops the whole next season, or keeps just 1 or 2, it’s much better than him forcing himself to blog something he doesn’t like, just to please others.
– it’s ok to dislike or think a series is bad from its cover and plot summary, simply cause u’re bored of the same drawings and the ecchi/incest/etc stuff u see everywhere. If u’ve watched too much anime in ur life, u’ll know how 90% of shows these days look or feel like each other, be it in plot, drawings, settings, etc… And most of the commenters here know that feeling. U just want something different. That’s why he said he “doesn’t LIKE it” from the first impression and doesn’t wanna give it a further look. It’s just too tiring.
When i looked at this post, i laughed. I swear to God i had that feeling that psgels is really frustrated (cause i had that same feeling. and i agree with him that all of them feel bad, except that all the other ones on his “looking forward to” list were just as bad for me, apart from Jojo and Mushishi). It was very obvious from his tone in his reasons for disliking them. And it can stem from many areas; for example(just an example), he can get bored of high school settings with colorful boys and girls. That way, no matter how awesome the premise may sound, he still wouldn’t get attracted to said anime. I mean, i dunno if that’s how psgels feels, but it’s just an example of how it can be. And i especially laughed when he mentioned the “same face-different hair color” thing, cause that’s how i’m seeing most anime these days. Even if some of them have awesome plots, i still want change; give me something different already.
so ya, his reasons for “disliking” (he didn’t say all of them have to be bad, but that he’s disliking them from a first look cause of the reasons he mentioned) those anime are very plausible to me. Sorry for writing that much to explain my point (i’m bad with simple explanations). Thanks for the season preview, psgels.
Great post explaining that this truly, really is psgels opinion. Still doesn’t mean that it isn’t poorly construed and lazy.
Here’s Black Bullet: “Boring fighting show with a ridiculously complicated reasoning in order to try and explain why the fate of humanity rests on a bunch of teenagers.”
If you honestly think that’s good writing, then just slither away because you won’t be bringing anything worth discussing into the conversation.
If you have an opinion and wish it to have some worth, you’ll have to present it in a neutral and sensible fashion. Not with fanaticism.
“If you honestly think that’s good writing, then just slither away because you won’t be bringing anything worth discussing into the conversation.”
Well, an opinion is an opinion. That was psgels impression from it. There’s nothing really worth discussing anyway, since we’ll just end up discussing “why psgels thinks that way”, or “why did he get that impression”, which is useless.
Fanaticism? Fyi, and i’m sorry to say this psgels, but i disagree with psgels’ reviews 90% of the times, but just check from time to time for seasonal previews and reviews of things like jojo. It’s not about a worthy opinion, but about people suddenly acting like psgels should form “impressions” that he doesn’t really feel.
That’s not the problem, it’s that psgels hasn’t even bothered to form a real impression in the first place, and is just writing the first thing that pops into his head (at least that’s how it appears). It’s perfectly fine to disagree with opinions and impressions, that isn’t my issue.
An another example about Futsuu no Joshikousei ga Locodol:
“The director of KissXsis doing a 4koma adaptation about two idol high school girls. Do I need to say more? Moving on.”
Really, what is this? Yes, one does need to say more, this is a completely empty conclusion. Acting like this is somehow obviously completely objectively bad, when honestly probably no one got anything out of that snippet makes you look quite honestly just stupid.
There’s no point in including stuff like this in a preview where everyone can see you the writer doesn’t care and hasn’t put more effort than a 10 second skim through the summary. It completely devalues the whole preview. This probably would have been better if psgels just included the anime he was looking forward to, which have a more relevant commentary.
About opinions, I think most who read anime previews have enough experience to kind of take the information and opinions they read and put it into a context where they can make out what to expect from a show themselves, so (usually) a look at even the anime a writer doesn’t like is quite useful, and I don’t really think that’s the case here, that’s all. It would be silly to get upset over an opinion, especially so when that isn’t even the point of reading a preview.
You seem to be mistaking this for a professional review site. This is, in fact, a blog. It’s a source of entertainment, not information.
I read this blog, much as anyone should read this blog, to be entertained by psgels writing not to let him have opinions for me. I disagree sometimes, but I almost always find it entertaining because I like how he writes.
“The director of KissXsis doing a 4koma adaptation about two idol high school girls. Do I need to say more? Moving on.” is a comedic and amusing way to write about something he doesn’t care about. It’s not supposed to help you form an opinion, it’s supposed to be a funny quip.
By all means you’re welcome to your opinion of psgles writing, just as you can have an opinion on movies, games or anime. Just don’t expect it to change. Maybe take a note from psgles and if there is entertainment that you don’t find entertaining then just avoid it.
Seem to have a mix up with this “Inu Neko Hour” thing.
The show that matches the image you used, and that’s coming out next season, is “Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san”.
http://myanimelist.net/anime/22123/Inugami-san_to_Nekoyama-san
Just the image is wrong but the pretense reamins the same. However, there is an Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san series airing this summer, too!
Believe Inu Neko Hour started airing some time last month, haven’t seen much info on it aside from a few raws posted around though so can’t say much there.
Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san however should be airing come spring though, rather than summer, going from what little I can understand of japanese from its main page.
http://www.dreamcreation.co.jp/inuneko/
You were right. Inugami begins April.
Fair preview! Enough of these apologists for the new genre called ‘generic’.
There’s supposed to be a Sumo Wrastlin’ anime – which considering it is Japan’s national sport hardly ever makes it to animated format is pretty big. I agree that highschool sports anime are becoming a tired source of inspiration that a lot of once great studios are falling to. DnA, YP (which is different enough), KnB, Haikyuu and Baby Steps. Yikes, bring on Ping Pong.
Bone’s, Madhouse and Brain’s Base all look depressingly sub-par this season. Bones can be forgiven for decent outings in Winter – but BB have three new shows which look horrible, bland or retread. OTL
Jojo’s, Ping Pong, Mushi-shi and Yugioh! Arc-V(jk)are all deadlocks. I’m fine with that.
A rather bland season at first glance. But Mushishi saves it for me!
Other relatively interesting ones are:
– Jojo
– Gokukoku no Brynhildr
– Isshukan Friends
Well, 4 series to follow is more than enough for me.
P.S. Psgels, don’t mind all these snotty fanboys who believe they know better than anyone else. It’s no use arguing with them, just as it is useless to argue with somebody about religion – no one side will ever accept the argument of the other party since religious dogmas/teachings cannot be changed or otherwise they’d be undermined. It’s a moot point so why waste energy of entertaining their arguments in the first place.
keep in mind psgels listed animes he’s looking forward to, as well; claiming that he’s somehow close to wandering into ‘flame blog’ territory or whatever is unwarranted.
at first glance i wouldn’t have been particularly interested in ‘ping pong’ but thankfully pgels pointed out it’s from the writer of ‘tekkon kinkreet’ and the director of ‘mind game’! also, more ‘mushishi’! i came away from the post with something to look forward to, so, thank you psgels!
mentar also did put his foot in his mouth about ‘reading 5 chapters’…
PSGELS, I love you and I think your impressions are spot on. Keep on bashing the rehash trash the way you do ;7
Some commentary on the ones whose source material I’m familiar with:
Baby Steps: Top-tier for the shounen sports genre. Unusually realistic, and the main character takes an analytic, even flat out nerdy approach you don’t usually see in the genre (people actually call him the notebook kid because of his habit of consulting and taking notes in breaks during matches). Likable opponents. I certainly liked it. A decent and solid series.
However, if it was a choice between watching Baby Steps or Ping Pong (and I’ve read the manga for both), I’d pick Ping Pong in a heartbeat. There isn’t really any comparison. Baby Steps’s author is highly competent, but Ping Pong’s author is outright brilliant.
Ping Pong: Deeply psychological, just plain amazing author. Pretty much on top of my list for this season’s adaptation source material.
Riddle of Akuma: Somewhat more interesting than its premise suggests, but only somewhat. Not enough to be worth watching for Psgels.
Soul Eater Not: Not as good as Soul Eater, far more moebait.
Knights of Sidonia: I found it an enjoyable read, but it’s still… Let’s put this way. It’s like a slice-of-life harem anime (with less plot armor than you would expect) fused with a rather bleak mecha anime where humans’re slowly losing the war. Then shove all that through a weird transhuman filter (and I can’t emphasize this enough, Nihei’s works’re rather transhuman and weird), resulting in an odd blend of elements. It’s not quite like Nihei’s other works, or like anything else I’ve read. Worth watching/reading to see if you like it, though.
JoJo: It’s JoJo. It’s campily awesome.
Love these previews and they always play a significant role in which shows I will try out each season. Regardless of what format you choose to write them in, your hard work is much appreciated!
All about the hype train to Mushishi!
I like this preview and it’s probably because I have a similar view with psgels with the anime industry as of lately. Of course, (subjectively) decent anime are getting fewer as time goes on. But in a positive light, it means less good anime to be missed. Win-win for me.
The ones I interested in are:
– Jojo
– Mushishi
– Ping-pong
– Akuma no Riddle; since it’s finally another shoujo ai actually written by a female author. Although her other past works aren’t that promising, I’ll give it a chance, because I’m just that deprived of anime with /good/ depiction about non heterosexual romance/relationship. Especially yuri.
http://thecartdriver.com/spring-2014-anime-season-preview/
just read that. And now i finally know what exactly to watch and not to watch on a preview. Sometimes bloggers forget, that we don’t exactly care about their opinion. We just want some source of information before deciding for ourselves. And if they add some meaningful writing along that information, then that’s awesome!
I’ve read this blog for a long time, but this post really ticked me off. It was a clear example of what is making anime blogs lose credibility. True a blog is made to discuss what you like, but this is not a blog about cooking or sports where liking or disliking something is pretty easy. This is anime, a genre that has many subgenres inside, and that it’s quality relies on other material, be it manga or novels or light novel or games or whatever. When a genre covers so many genres the proper way to review/preview something you don’t like, is read or understand the material before judging it.
A true anime season preview, does not judge. It provides information about a series, and then and only once the information is given, can a personal opinion be given. And that personal opinion must be something more that what i like or dislike. It must have facts, sound arguments, whatever, to make sense and not sound just plain elitist.
I know an idiot will reply to me, goodbye nobody cares. But, i loved reading this blog. So it pains me leaving it. But whatever, nobody cares XD.
Looks like it’s going to be a dry season, i spot maybe 2-3 things to pick up.
I watched the PV for Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei and holy shit that was terrible, it got even worse when I saw some boobs bouncing.
Wow, Madhouse, wow.
Hi psgels! I say giveMekakucity Actors a chance because it’s based on this original youtube series that used the Vocaloid AI for its music videos. The series is called Kagerou Project. The story is really cool, the first episode seems to be following the manga- ene is kind of annoying but the thing is that she’s supposed to be (the voice actors are a bit meh) but after following your blog for a while I can almost guarantee you that you’ll like it!
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