Autumn 2018 Week 6 | 100 Word Anime

Okay, I am still hopelessly behind this week with watching anime (due to Supanova last weekend) but I’ve been working at catching up with some double episode reviews and that will continue next week to fill in anything I’m behind on. As we hit the midseason, I’m just going to say we’ve been absolutely spoiled for choice this season and I’m kind of loving everything, even some of the shows I know aren’t so great are really entertaining me at the moment. Still, my standouts at this point in the season are Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai, Bloom Into You, and Banana Fish.

No surprises that of the shows I’m watching that I know aren’t particularly good, Conception is scraping the bottom of the barrel consistently delivering the worst thing I kept watching each and every week (and that includes Jingai-San no Yome which is a three minute short that has no plot).

Anyway, I’d love to know your thoughts on the Autumn Anime Season so let me know what you have in mind for best and worst of the season at this point in the comments below.

What I watched

A Certain Magical Index Season 3 (Episode 5 – Not watched this week)

Yep, still totally lost as to which group is which but the episode was enjoyable anyway. It is more like a series of fun moments than an actual coherent story, but it looks like they are slowly filling in enough that the links are coming into place. Still, I would probably be enjoying this more if I were to rewatch season one and two and pay a bit more attention.

Banana Fish (Episode 19 – Not Reviewed)

Is anyone surprised that Ash has finally cracked? I’m more surprised it didn’t happen sooner. Okay, Banana Fish is full of stupid people who have stupid plans, and none of it makes any sense at all when you step back and think about it for even a minute, but it is nicely dramatic for dramas sake and I really have a lot of fun each and every episode.

Bloom Into You (Episode 5 – Reviewed for Patrons – Not watched this week)

This anime continues to be gorgeous and incredibly well put together. While this still isn’t my favourite type of story or tone, I’m genuinely impressed by Bloom Into You so far and I really hope it can maintain this quality until the end of the season. Patrons can access the post using the link, password on Patreon.

Conception (Episode 6)

Episodes 5 + 6 were reviewed together this week and I will never fall behind on this show again because watching a double episode was almost more than I could take. If you wonder why I haven’t dropped this fairly vapid story that shoves innuendo into pretty much every line, it is most definitely curiosity at this point to see whether they will stop making dirty jokes long enough for the plot to resolve.

Dakaichi (Episode 7 – To Be Reviewed with Arthifis)

Both episodes 6 and 7 were really good in their own ways. I really enjoyed seeing the conclusion to the Takato/Ayagi situation even if it was melodrama for the sake of it in episode 6. And then episode 7 gave us Junta’s perspective of their meeting so his obsession makes a little more sense, though he’s still kind of just in love because he is.

Goblin Slayer (Episode 5 – To Be Reviewed With Arthifis)

No matter how you slice it, the events this week are definitely the calm filler in between missions and while I enjoy watching these characters interact, and I certainly enjoyed seeing the newbie adventurers taking on the rats, there isn’t a lot to say about this week other than it sets up the next adventure. Still, fun.

Jingai-San no Yome (Episode 7 – Not Reviewed)

A super fast montage of summer vacation with and then we are back to school and meet the last characters from the theme. And that’s about it. I mean, there’s some blushing, some declaration about wives and the suspension bridge effect, a test of courage, and some other stuff but none of it is really doing much other than existing. This anime continues to make me wonder, ‘why?’

Rascal Does Not Dream Of Bunny Girl Senpai (Episode 7)

Another solid couple of episodes from Bunny Girl Senpai and while the formula is pretty much established the quality of the writing and the interesting characters more than carries this one. As a new arc begins for this anime I can’t help but be excited and interested and wanting to know where it will go this time.

Release the Spyce (Episode 5 – Not watched this week)

The spy stuff here remains pretty pedestrian, though we do get to see the girls use the invisibility cream and infiltrate a lab so I guess that’s kind of spy like. And the club girl aspect of this is working well enough but isn’t really developed enough to be satisfying. There’s definitely some good points to this show but the balance isn’t quite there.

Run With The Wind (Episode 7)

This week the boys took on their first track meet. Yep, that went about as well as expected. Still, it is yet another important step if they are going to become a track team let alone if they are actually intending to compete in Hakone (which seems even more ridiculous right now than it did). Still, some good moments this week.

Skull-face Bookseller Honda-San (Episode 5 – Not watched this week)

This show is almost worth watching just for Honda-San’s expressions. He’s the most expressive skull I’ve seen in a while at least and his over-reactions are pretty golden. That said, the repetitive nature of this one, plus the short form meaning we’re not getting much in the way of plot development, mean this one is strictly an amusing curiosity rather than a must see.

Sword Art Online Alicization (Episode 6)

After a fairly strong episode featuring Asuna, Sword Art Online Alicization decides to put anything resembling interesting narrative on hold while it expositions the audience to death. I appreciate that set up is needed and exposition is fairly standard in this series, but wow this episode really stretched the friendship.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime (Episode 7)

And I’ll finally admit that part of me is really is into this now. I think I’m still very casual about watching it and I’m not expecting a lot, but I do enjoy each week and it has slowly built up a world and a cast that are interesting enough. Shizu definitely helped this week as she’s fairly interesting though I’m hoping she gets fleshed out more than just angsty back story.

Tsurune (Episode 4)

Episode 4 hits a bit of a slow patch as we get into the usual sports anime shenanigans of forming a team and of course this story is playing very strongly off of Onogi’s fairly oppositional attitude. Problem is, it isn’t very compelling and it is fairly obvious that these boys will get over it sooner rather than later so this is perhaps the weakest episode so far.

Voice of Fox (Episode 5)

Voice of Fox continues to walk that fine line between being dramatic and being overly dramatic. This week the tension comes almost entirely from Sky as he really steps up his harassment of Hu Li challenging him to find him in three days or he’s going to ‘out him’. For Hu Li, this is definitely no laughing matter and it makes for some fairly interesting viewing.

Xuan Yuan Sword Luminary (Episode 5 – Not watched this week)

The award for most off-model characters this season is definitely going to Xuan Yuan Sword Luminary (at least of the shows I am watching). The first episode definitely revealed issues with the presentation of this show but episode 5 brings so many of those issues into the forefront. Pity, because underneath the disaster prone visuals and animation there’s a fairly solid story unfolding.

Episode of the Week

Banana Fish Episode 19 Eiji and Sing — It is a amazing when a narrative can be so full of plot holes and yet the story just delivers it with enough conviction that at least while watching you just kind of let yourself get swept along. Banana Fish really doesn’t make a lot of sense, and yet it continues to deliver compelling viewing week after week.

Character of the Week

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Episode 7 — Okay, Shizu is more my pick because I’m curious about her. So far she hasn’t done anything really amazing, though there’s certainly a lot of potential in this character and I’m hopeful. That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime has everything it needs to be fantastic, I just hope it does something with it all before the end.

Dropped or On Hold

These titles aren’t necessarily bad and some I might even pick up again later but for whatever reason I’m not watching them right now (and yes, some of them are bad and will never be finished).