Anime for the Season: Spring 2018 Week 5

There’s some double reviews this week and a lot of playing catch up after my week of travel but mostly I’ve managed. I’m quite surprised that of all the returning series Full Metal Panic and WIXOSS are the two I’m most caught up in and that My Hero Academia is still a little bit lacking. For the new shows, I’m enjoying the couple of rom-coms I’ve picked up and GeGeGe No Kitaro has just been kind of adorable.

How is spring for you so far? What anime are you really excited about this season?

What I watched

3D Kanojo: Real Girl (Episode 6)

Teen melodrama continues with some lessons learned and a heavy reliance on coincidence and miscommunication to keep fuelling the plot. While that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, there is definitely a slight clumsiness about how this one is put together and its showing. While I’m still kind of enjoying these characters, there’s more and more elements to this anime that just aren’t impressing.

Caligula (Episode 4 – Not reviewed)

This anime really wants to be edgy and maybe thought provoking but mostly it is just kind of lurching from sequence to sequence with some poor exposition to try to string together a more complicated plot than what seems to actually be the case. Throw in a whole bunch of terminology that seems to exist just for the sake of it and mostly this anime is just kind of something I watch between other episodes but am not really getting into.

Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card (Episode 17)

We get closer to a reveal, though at this point the audience is pretty clued in and it is only that the characters remain in the dark. Cardcaptor Sakura has maintained a fairly consistent quality and while I haven’t been as super into it as I would have liked, if this had come out just after the original Cardcaptor when I was a bit younger, I’d have loved every minute of it.

Cute High Earth Defense Club Happy Kiss (Episode 5)

Right, so two episodes of this anime reviewed this week as catch up and they have me hoping I never fall behind again given watching one episode of this anime is amusing enough, but two is just stretching the friendship and had me watching the time until it was over. There’s only so much of the same joke I can take before I want to run in the opposite direction and by the end of episode 5 I nearly hit my limit.

Darling in the Franxx (Episode 16 – Reviewed for patrons)

The children are left to their own devices in the garden with the mysterious caretakers having vanished and so they go fishing and learn to cook. That seems somewhat anti-climatic but it all seems to be setting up some big reveal that they are dragging out as long as humanly possible. I really don’t like the pacing of this anime and yet I really do want to know where they ultimately go with it.

Devils’ Line (Episode 5)

Devils’ Line decided to actually settle itself this week and didn’t do anything too stupid with either its characters or setting (though that’s only in comparison to earlier plot developments). As a result, I kind of enjoyed watching this week even if overall the anime isn’t objectively very good.

Doreiku The Animation (Episode 4)

Yep, this anime develops plot by drawing random cards out of a hat. And the reveal of the all-mighty slave master is… A white haired boy with red eyes, because why not. This is again a case of I’m watching it more just to see how far it plans to take its own absurdities before maybe it recovers or bottoms out.

Full Metal Panic Invisible Victory (Episode 4)

Everything hit the fan this week as the crisis at the school was finally resolved in a way that leaves no doubt in my mind that this season intends to keep things fairly dramatic. Season 2 of FMP was also pretty full on with the drama and I’m really appreciating this returning series continuing that rather than focusing on the more comedic elements. Truly impressive episode.

GeGeGe No Kitaro (Episode 6)

GeGeGe no Kitaro is doing episodic stories right. We’ve got an interesting core cast but not every one of them appears every episode so the mix keeps changing. We also get a different monster each week with a slightly different motive and personality which gives each conflict a different flavour. They also keep moving the settings around. So while there’s a fair amount of formula at play here, it hasn’t yet devolved into rinse and repeat story telling and hopefully it won’t.

Kakuriyo No Yadomeshi (Episode 6 – Reviewed for Patrons)

Still a fairly slow burn, this anime is entertaining enough and yet really isn’t in a hurry to get anywhere. Six episodes in and we’ve only just opened the eatery. Though the progress toward opening the restaurant is nowhere near as slow as the meandering way this story crafts character relationships. Now while it is pleasant to watch it makes it hard for me to really love it when I feel like the whole thing is just kind of ponderous.

Libra of Nil Admirari (Episode 5)

As much as this anime isn’t amazing, it has been pretty consistent so far. And while consistently average isn’t exactly a great recommendation, it does make for a reasonably enjoyable viewing experience when you aren’t worried about the show taking a nose dive every five minutes.

Lostorage Conflated WIXOSS (Episode 5)

I am continuing to enjoy this anime as it sets about making every character in the show pretty miserable. Well, except the villains who seem to be having a blast as they cackle their way through Selector battles. Still, there are definitely some basic world building questions that are going to need addressing if this series is going to stick its landing. Love for these characters and their dramas can only go so far without a plot to hold things together.

My Hero Academia Season 3 (Episode 5)

My Hero Academia is definitely taking its time getting going but there’s a lot of promise in the set-up this week (and a few cool fighting and character moments). It is odd that Midoriya actually feels like the weak link right at the moment because normally I love his character, but right now I’d like the focus on pretty much anyone but him because there are so many things that could become very cool if the show would just focus on them.

Record of Grancrest War (Episode 17)

The ride continues with Grancrest delivering another logically flawed story with heavy exposition to skate over the worst plot holes and generally just keeps charging forward hoping we won’t notice all the gaps and cracks in this production if they just keep moving. It isn’t working but at least it is entertaining in its own way.

Rokuhoudou Yotsuiro Biyori (Episode 5)

Kind of a downward turn at episode 5. The show is still pleasant but I’m just not sure about what happened during the second half of episode 5. If they can get back to keeping things simple, or possibly the story they started introducing in episode 3, that would be great.

Space Battleship Tiramisu (Episode 6)

After being fairly certain this one was heading for a drop after episode 4, episodes 5 and 6 really surprised me by how solid they were and how they re-engaged me with this anime. I don’t know if it is going to be a lasting revival of interest, but episode 6 certainly suggested some real potential for this series to become more than just short space skits.

Spiritpact: Bond of the Underworld (Episode 11)

With one episode to go, this second season has been a fantastic follow up to a first season that had quite a number of issues. It is as though everything that worked with season one was kept and improved upon and the elements that really didn’t work have been cut loose. While that means there’s some continuity issues in terms of tone and style, I think ultimately the show has been better because of it. Looking forward to the conclusion of this one.

Steins;Gate 0 (Episode 5)

They are definitely pushing coincidence and interconnections in this anime, though it makes sense given the nature of the show. I’ll admit, I’m feeling more into this anime now then when it first started. I’m still not totally loving it, but I’m finding more and more that I do like about it as it progresses so hopefully that is a good sign.

Tada Doesn’t Fall in Love (Episode 5)

Teresa has an absolutely fantastic smile and I love how many times she gets to show it. This anime remains pleasant and charming, though isn’t doing anything more than that. The cast work great together, there’s plenty of good details included, and the story itself remains fairly low key but sweet.

Tokyo Ghoul: Re (Episode 4 – Currently on hold)

Episode of the Week