Autumn 2017 Week 5

This continues to be a fantastic season for me in finding anime that I have really taken a shine to. The shows aren’t perfect and how many of them will stand a rewatch test after the fact (or even manage to end well) still remains to be seen, but so far I have genuinely loved the Autumn season. Looking forward to what all these shows do next. Except, of course, Evil or Live which I dropped this week.

Let me know your favourites and the ones you have dropped in the comments below.

Must Watch

March Comes in Like a Lion Season 2 (Episode 25)

This show is not in any danger of losing the top spot here. There are very few shows that hit me the way March Comes in Like a Lion consistently does. It just has the perfect emotional resonance for me to be completely absorbed in the story. The pace is slow, there’s a lot of shogi chat, some of the slice of life moments may not feel overly purposeful, but the driving emotions come through so beautifully clearly and the contrast between the moments of hope and despair hit hard. Completely in love with this.

The Ancient Magus’ Bride (Episode 4)

That was fantastic. This episode gave me everything I was wanting from this series in that the relationship between Chise and Elias is further explored (or made a bit murkier), we learn more about the complexities of the magical world and they continue to expand on the difference between mages and sorcerers and hopefully that will continue, we also get an interesting plot in this episode with the Kingdom of Cats and to corrupted soul that needs to be cleansed. Absolutely no complaints from this week’s episode.

Land of the Lustrous (Episode 4)

Another superb and beautiful episode that gives us a little more knowledge about the world and helps Phos grow just a little bit more. I really wonder what will happen next week given they left us on a cliff-hanger but this episode was solidly done and truly mesmerizing to watch.

Kino’s Journey (Episode 4)

Falling a little bit in the list this week, Kino’s Journey remains interesting, but I wasn’t quite as impressed with episode 4. Possibly this was the because the focus wasn’t on Kino and the stand in protagonist for the week, while a nice side character, just didn’t seem as interesting.

Usually Entertaining

Girls’ Last Tour (Episode 4)

Episode 4 doesn’t do much but it doesn’t really need to. The girls are kind of charm personified and while they are just going through the motions of survival they are doing it with a firmly grounded optimism (which is kind of better than an over the top and fake kind of optimism). Really cute show and really enjoying it despite how laid back it is.

Recovery of an MMO Junkie (Episode 5)

Fairly solid episode this week advancing the characters and the story and still being relatable and charming. While this show does have its flaws and the characters aren’t exactly deep, it really is adorable to watch and I’m thoroughly enjoying it so far.

Anime-Gataris (Episode 4)

Anime-Gataris shouldn’t take moving below MMO Junkie personally. It is just that as we hit episode 4, MMO Junkie has continued to build on its strengths while this one kind of plateaued this week. It was still good fun and highly entertaining but the cracks in the story are starting to show and they are going to have to start filling some of them in soon or work harder at distracting me from seeing them.

Just Because (Episode 4)

Episode four was a fantastic follow up and almost seemed to be a mini-climax to some of the plot points developed throughout the first three episodes. Yet I remain very interested in this show. Mostly because the question of what these characters will do now that one’s confessed and one’s been shot down before he ever got to is one that really interests me. For the most part this show is fairly solid but there are definitely scenes where the visuals aren’t quite up to scratch and the general slow pace is a little bit of a problem for me, but I’m really enjoying it overall.

Okay, I Guess

King’s Game (Episode 5)

Okay, as badly as this one is written, it is still topping this list. I’m enjoying watching it even though you could probably pick it entirely to pieces if you think about any of it for even a minute. Still, it is unashamed about being melodramatic teen horror and while it isn’t exactly going to challenge any of the classics, it is entertaining enough for the season.

Sengoku Night Blood (Episode 5)

This one might just drop a bit in the list if it doesn’t pick up soon. It is still a pretty chill viewing experience but a few things are starting to become a little annoying about it. That, and for all the frantic energy of some characters in this episode, I am not certain anything was really accomplished other than a lot of still frames with guys grunting of shouting over the top of them.

Code: Realize ~Guardian of Rebirth~ (Episode 4)

Cardia continues to get better as a character and while I had some issues with the logic of this episode, the quick pace and just the general tone was really entertaining. It isn’t going to hold up if you think about it, but if you just want to sit back and kind of enjoy something kind of historical and kind of romantic, with just a little bit of action, this may fit that spot for you.

Black Clover (Episode 5)

Black Clover is kind of finding its way. It is definitely taking its time but I think there were only two moments in this episode where I actually found Asta annoying and the rest of the time he was surprisingly okay. We also finally seem to be moving things forward and introducing characters who might actually be interesting so fingers crossed for future episodes.

Juni Taisen: Zodiac War (Episode 5)

Another boring character mumbling plots and observations to himself as we get some background on the Sheep. Meanwhile, the fight set-up last week happened but wasn’t resolved, and realistically we are no closer to actually knowing what any of the characters want. It is kind of shame because actually seeing Monkey and Rabbit fight could be pretty cool if they were actually going to show us that instead of giving us a few lines of dialogue, one strike and dodge, and then cut away to someone else.

UQ Holder (Episode 5)

This isn’t really moving anywhere on this list. It is watchable and the show works. I can imagine that some people will have fun with it. For me it is just too generic in its story and the balance between comedy and action isn’t quite fitting. There isn’t a single character I particularly like nor am I particularly curious about anything in the story so realistically there’s little appeal drawing me back to the show. But it isn’t broken and there is some silly fun to be had. The fights aren’t too bad and there’s a decent amount of carnage given none of the characters ever die so they just put them through hell.

They Made This?

Dies Irae (Episode 3)

Nope. This show hasn’t improved. It is just finding new ways to confuse me. There’s still a very small hope that maybe all of this will eventually make sense and I will move this back out of the ‘They Made This’ category at that point. But for now, this is an incoherent ramble of ideas and gore.

Tried and Dropped

Evil or Live (Episode 4)

Well it went from They Made This with me wondering who the audience was for this show, to not even caring. Episode 4 did nothing to further any of the points I was kind of interested in and really emphasised the points I hated about the show. So this one is now officially dropped from my line up this season.

My Girlfriend is Shobitch (Episode 2)

TWOCAR (Episode 1)

Taisho Mebiusline Chicchaisan (Episode 1)

Love is Like A Cocktail (Episode 1)

Konohana Kitan (Episode 1)

A Sister’s All You Need (Episode 1)

Urahara (Episode 1)

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Thanks,

Karandi James.