Autumn 2017 Week 2

Posted on by Karandi

The second week and I think most shows have now premiered which means I really need to get serious about actually deciding on my final watch list. There’s a lot of shows this season that I am interested in the genre or premise but I may not be yet sold on the show and there’s a few other shows that could go either way. Still, I’m a little more interested in even the not so great shows this season compared to Summer so things are looking up.

I’d love to know your thoughts on the season so far so be sure to leave a comment below.

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Must Watch

(For shows I am counting the minutes down until the next episode. They may not be perfect shows, but I’m hooked at the moment and I want more.)

March Comes in Like a Lion Season 2 (Episode 23)

This one is definitely riding on my feelings from season 1 given this first episode on its own isn’t particularly strong. However, it does tap right into all those feelings I have for the main character and reminded me just how much I’ve missed seeing these characters in the six months since the first season ended. Really great to have this show back and it is definitely a must watch for me. The review will be out Tuesday.

Kino’s Journey (Episode 2)

I liked the first episode of this but was worried it would be a bit slow, however episode 2 kind of laid that fear to rest. I loved how they gave the audience enough information without spelling every little thing out and I loved how the characters and their choices were presented throughout the episode. While this may not last here is we get a run of slower episodes, this second episode really impressed. The link is for episode 1, episode 2 review will be out later today.

The Ancient Magus’ Bride (Episode 2)

I’m sold. This is beautiful and sweet with just enough bitter and potential for darkness to keep you paying attention and waiting for the next thing to happen. It is gorgeous to look at, has an amazing soundtrack and so far the characters have all been really interesting even though we’ve  only got a tiny glimpse of them so far. Really looking forward to where this goes. Weekend Otaku and I reviewed the first episode of this already and the second episode review should be up soonish.

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Usually Entertaining

(For those shows that are enjoyable enough but have some flaws, or I just personally love them even though I know they aren’t particularly good.)

King’s Game (Episode 2)

This is getting one more episode before I decide it probably doesn’t belong in this category. Giving most of the second episode to a flash back of the first King’s Game really didn’t help – if they’d wanted to tell us that story they probably should have.

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Okay, I Guess

(For those shows that aren’t technically broken and I’m watching them – and may even enjoy some aspects of them –  but they aren’t exactly going to get a glowing recommendation.)

Anime-Gataris (Episode 1)

Absolutely not my usual genre so I don’t know if this will last the season, but this first episode had me laughing along and generally involved in what was happening. We’ll see if the pink-haired protagonist can stay out of the critically annoying zone for a whole season and see whether they actually have enough material to make each episode feel fresh or whether we are in for a rehash of the same joke over and over again.

Sengoku Night Blood (Episode 2)

Objectively I would have to say this is pretty bad. From an entertainment point of view though, I’d had to say that I’m being entertained. Switch the brain off and watch the pretty vampire boys all fall in love with pretty ordinary girl. At least they aren’t all attacking her every three seconds and mostly they actually seem to want to help her. All and all, not something I’d recommend but I’m having fun here.

Black Clover (Episode 2)

The choice of spending most of this episode on flashback was not the best. After the fairly generic opening, this show really need to step up in episode 2 and I know a number of reviewers have already called it a day on this title. I’m still hopeful of an improvement once things are set up and it gets going, but so far there’s a lot of work still to do.

Recovery of an MMO Junkie (Episode 2)

Definitely cute romance going on here though I’m feeling the MMO part is actually the weakest part of the show so far. I kind of look forward to seeing how these characters progress.

Juni Taisen: Zodiac War (Episode 2)

The second episode hasn’t much helped my opinion of this as I still haven’t really been given any reason to care about the events going on (nor do I even know why they are going on). This is well animated, there’s certainly potential given a death match premise is kind of hard to completely derail, but at the moment I’m not exactly loving this and found myself a bit bored at times.

Code: Realize ~Guardian of Rebirth~ (Episode 2)

Another episode, another pretty boy, and another round of really cheesy dialogue. In honesty it wasn’t that bad, but other than looking pretty there’s not really a lot to recommend this or to help it stand out from the trillion other shows that have blank slate female protagonist surrounded by harem of pretty boys. At least not yet. Episode 2 review will be out tomorrow sometime.

UQ Holder (Episode 2)

I’m probably not going to ever be raving over this one, but despite being cliché and not exactly having an amazing narrative, I kind of had fun with this second episode. I’m hoping at this point the show maintains a sense of fun even while it hits us with way too much fan service and violence because that’s really all its got going for it. But, that might be enough.

Evil or Live (Episode 1)

This actually could end up interesting, or it could end up in the ‘They Made This’ category, or if it goes in one particular direction it will end up dropped. There’s little to recommend it at this stage but there is potential and I’m kind of interested. Definitely trying hard to shock though not really succeeding given they haven’t done enough yet to establish the characters as people we should care about.

My Girlfriend is Shobitch (Episode 1)

Hmm, I’m kind of hoping they forget the ecchi and keep the sweet but I’m suspecting this won’t take many episodes before it crosses a line I’m not willing to and I’ll end up dropping this show. Still, I’m going to give it another episode.

Dies Irae (Episode 1)

This kind of got better in its first episode but I would be lying if I said I had any clue what this show was actually going to end up being about yet. There’s plenty of intrigue in amongst fairly generic high school set up and it could be good but it could also end up a total disaster. Wait and see. Episode 1 review will be up tomorrow.

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They Made This?

(For those shows that for whatever reason, usually curiosity, I did not drop but I should have. Usually the narrative is a mess or the characters are hopeless or visually they are painful to watch. Or maybe all three of those. Sometimes these shows recover and move up later in the season. Usually they don’t.)

Nothing yet.

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Tried and Dropped

(This one is tricky because not all these shows are bad. Sometimes I don’t have space in my line up and drop a show that I may later end up picking back up or watching and enjoying. Othertimes I drop a show that I know is very good but it just isn’t a genre I enjoy and it isn’t working for me. However, these are shows I did start and I indicate how much I watched before dropping.)

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)

Thanks for reading.

If you enjoyed this post and like the blog, consider becoming a patron to support further growth and future content.

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Thanks,

Karandi James.

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Autumn 2017 Week 1

Posted on by Karandi

I don’t know about everyone else but I am super excited to start a new anime season. While there were some shows that grabbed my interest last season, they were kind of few and far between and so I ended up watching shows that I might have otherwise passed on. Not the most satisfying viewing experience but Autumn is a new season and we have a new line up of shows to start watching and then we’ll see what happens.

Obviously I don’t have anything resembling a watch-list just yet and so I’m still in the making snap judgements and trying to work out what I’ll keep and what I’ll pass on (and then in two weeks time I’ll probably change my mind on a few of those choices) but by week three I should more or less know my line up for the season. As such, don’t take the categories particularly seriously just yet as there is always a lot of movement in the early weeks before shows settle more or less into the appropriate grouping.

As always, I am definitely looking forward to checking out what everyone else has decided to keep on their watch list and their thoughts on these shows as they develop. Please feel free to leave a comment below and hopefully I will get to everyone’s blogs and see what they are up to.

However, you will notice I’ve decided it was time for my overviews to get a facelift (read: I got bored looking at the same images every week so changed them again). I also added in a brief description of each category title that will disappear later in the season but I’ve picked up some new followers and I must admit they aren’t the clearest titles ever.

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Must Watch

(For shows I am counting the minutes down until the next episode. They may not be perfect shows, but I’m hooked at the moment and I want more.)

Nothing yet.

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Usually Entertaining

(For those shows that are enjoyable enough but have some flaws, or I just personally love them even though I know they aren’t particularly good.)

The Ancient Magus’ Bride (Episode 1)

Every bit as beautiful as its prequel episodes indicated it would be, the story isn’t really in a rush to get anywhere. I’m thinking this will be a must watch but I’d like to see what the next couple of episodes do first. Still, this was a great first episode even if it was a little over-reliant on emotions rather than plot. (Review for this episode will be up on Weekend Otaku’s site later as part of our collaboration this season. )

King’s Game (Episode 1)

Alright, it is one episode, so ‘usually’ might be a stretch. Still, I really enjoyed this first episode. Supernatural horror is kind of my favourite genre outside of fantasy and I really liked how this set up the story. Okay, there’s the usual issues that horror shows suffer from and so far the characters haven’t been amazing (not to mention you’ll be pretty wary of getting close to any of the designated victims so might be hard to get attached to the characters) but I really enjoyed this first episode and I’m hopeful of getting a decent horror out of this. It might not last in this category but fingers crossed.

Kino’s Journey (Episode 1)

Again, one episode isn’t really usually but this first episode was pretty good. The story seems like it will be episodic and fairly slow so I may end up dropping this one for personal taste reasons, but it actually gave us a pretty decent opening act and has a lot of potential. Watching this space and seeing what happens. (Review out later today.)

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Okay, I Guess

(For those shows that aren’t technically broken and I’m watching them – and may even enjoy some aspects of them –  but they aren’t exactly going to get a glowing recommendation.)

Sengoku Night Blood (Episode 1)

This one is either going to become usually entertaining or it will end up being the series I wonder why on earth it was made. This first episode was pretty entertaining even if it wasn’t particularly good (though it is really pretty). Still, time will tell whether they can deliver a story from this or whether we’re just going to be dragged along with self-insert female protagonist through the warring states conflict without much else of interest happening. I’m hoping for entertaining because this certainly has potential to entertain even if it isn’t a masterpiece of storytelling.

Black Clover (Episode 1)

Okay we have a shouty protagonist type who is also a bit of a moron who by the end of episode one gains some weird power. Also has a quiet and seemingly smart best friend. Where have I seen this set-up before..? This first episode wasn’t bad, but it hasn’t done anything yet to really distinguish the show. I will say that the episode got better as it went so I’m kind of hopeful that this may find its feet in a few episodes.

Juni Taisen: Zodiac War (Episode 1)

I was a little disappointed with this opening episode (though that is kind of my fault for going in with expectations). Still, this story seems like it would be right for me given my love of Future Diary, Btooom, and a whole slew of other contrived reasons to kill the cast anime. Yet, this episode didn’t do much for me. Hoping for an improvement but not really sold on this yet.

Recovery of an MMO Junkie (Episode 1)

I don’t think this is going to ever amaze me, but the first episode was pleasant enough and overall this could be kind of fun. It could also be generic, repetitive and silly so I guess I’ll watch a few more episodes and see. Still, not a terrible starting point.

Code: Realize ~Guardian of Rebirth~ (Episode 1)

Great, this show has two tildes in the title for no discernible reason other than punctuation in anime titles is apparently meaningless. Okay, thoughts on the show… meh? I’m going to give it another episode or two but I’m not overly optimistic here. (Review will be out on Tuesday.)

UQ Holder (Episode 1)

No idea how I actually feel about this one yet. The basic story seems pretty generic and the characters haven’t really done anything to make me like or dislike them yet. This one is going to need a couple more episodes for me to make a decision on. Still, when the show opens with a magic sneeze blowing various girls’ clothing off that isn’t the best way to impress.

Dies Irae (Episode 0)

This looks like a great candidate for the ‘They Made This’ category but in its defense this is an episode 0 so maybe once things get started for real it won’t be that bad. Maybe I am being unnecessarily optimistic and maybe I’m just going to drop this after another episode, but here it is for now. (Review will be out on Monday.)

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They Made This?

(For those shows that for whatever reason, usually curiosity, I did not drop but I should have. Usually the narrative is a mess or the characters are hopeless or visually they are painful to watch. Or maybe all three of those. Sometimes these shows recover and move up later in the season. Usually they don’t.)

Nothing yet.

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Tried and Dropped

(This one is tricky because not all these shows are bad. Sometimes I don’t have space in my line up and drop a show that I may later end up picking back up or watching and enjoying. Othertimes I drop a show that I know is very good but it just isn’t a genre I enjoy and it isn’t working for me. However, these are shows I did start and I indicate how much I watched before dropping.)

TWOCAR (Episode 1 – actually not bad just not for me, review for this episode out Tuesday)

Taisho Mebiusline Chicchaisan (Episode 1 – probably going to watch but not review)

Love is Like A Cocktail (Episode 1)

Konohana Kitan (Episode 1 – no review)

Urahara (Episode 1 – no review)

Thanks for reading.

If you enjoyed this post and like the blog, consider becoming a patron to support further growth and future content.

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Thanks,

Karandi James.

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Summer 2017 Final Thoughts

Posted on by Karandi

This is my final week on Summer anime and I’ll be getting around to series reviews very soon with Sagrada Reset coming out next week (it was the first one finished so only fair really). I still have my best and worst of the season posts to come out and on that note remember that the poll will close tomorrow so if you haven’t voted hop on over and have your say. Links for the best and worst anime of the Summer 2017 season. Write in votes are allowed so if I missed your show, please feel free to add it (the write in votes are almost winning for worst anime of the season so your vote will count).

As always, I’d love to know your thoughts on the shows of the season so please leave me a comment below.

yuri10d

Must Watch

My Hero Academia (Finished)

A great way to keep us all waiting for the next season. The thing is, this would be a terrible way to end a season except that we already got an announcement for the follow up so not too concerned that they left us hanging. This was great fun this season and I’m looking forward to more of it.

Princess Principal (Finished)

Alright, with an inconclusive ending this might not be a must watch for everyone, but comparatively for this season, this has been such a fun show to watch. Ange and Princess remain the highlight of the series right to the end and they do at least end the current mission/plot so while there are plenty of loose ends we aren’t left completely in the dark.

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Usually Entertaining

Sagrada Reset (Finished)

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Okay, I Guess

Gamers (Finished)

This final episode was actually highly amusing just to listen to. Visually it was pretty dull. I guess those who enjoy the game DLC debate will have fun listening to some of the arguments whereas anyone else will just wonder why they even made this final episode.

In Another World With My Smartphone (Finished)

Okay, this show actually fully embraced the harem cliché and somehow it just works. There were definitely some questionable episodes along the way but all and all, I’m kind of hoping that was actually sequel bait and the end because I wouldn’t mind some more of this. It is stupid, and incredibly lame at times, and every character is a trope pulled from many other anime, but this show is still fun and manages to do something with all those clichés.

Fastest Finger First (Finished)

This finished the tournament nicely but left us with a lot of questions about the characters and the team and where they will go next. As we are unlikely to get any more of this series, that’s kind of a shame. This was a fun watch but has almost no rewatch value.

18if (Finished)

My final impression of this was always going to depend on how they wrapped up the plot and to be honest the close was pretty lacking. Admittedly, we do talk Eve into not destroying the world, but there’s so much still unexplained and Haruto just kind of goes with Eve/Lily and that’s kind of it. Really wanted more from the end of this.

Vatican Miracle Examiner (Finished)

For a show that has quite a few low points and bits of silliness in what should be a fairly serious story, it actually became one of those rare anime that finished on a significantly higher note than the earlier episodes would have you believe. Thoroughly enjoyed episode 12 and now I just need to write my overall review.

Hell Girl: Fourth Twilight (Not finished – But I Am)

Since it was pointed out that the show was rerunning old material, and that then made me think I should just go rewatch the former seasons given I don’t really remember them, I’m out from this show. I’m still going to review though because I watched the new material.

Clean Freak Aoyama Kun (Finished)

Well, this show ended more or less how it started which was okay but nothing particularly exceptional. I am pleasantly surprised I made it through a whole season of this, but there were some funny moments along the way. Okay, there was also a lot of stupidity and one or two groan inducing episodes, but overall, still better than anticipated.

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They Made This

Katsugeki Touken Ranbu (Finished)

Well, at least they realised the only good thing in this show was how visually interesting the fights were, because you are going to be watching half an episode of fights once the show gets over its token attempt to give the characters some resolution. It is pretty and all, but given there’s no real purpose it all just becomes an exercise in seeing how many slow motion shots of good looking guys wielding swords they can throw at us in a ten minute period.

Knight’s & Magic (Finished)

Can I say thank-you now that this is over. This is my single greatest disappointment this season as I really wanted to like this show. It just never did manage to get itself together.

Chronos Ruler (Finished)

After a not-my-true-form second last episode we get a trust-your-friends plan as well as a that-should-have-killed-him-but-it-doesn’t-because-reasons moment for a final episode. As I get to the end of this show I think I was well justified in asking why was this even made.

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Tried and Dropped

Elegant Yokai Apartment Life (Episode 13)

Restaurant to Another World (Episode 1)

Centaur’s Life (Episode 1)

Convenience Store Boyfriends (Episode 1)

Saiyuki Reload Blast (Episode 1)

Battle Girl High School (Episode 1)

Hina Logic (Episode 1)

Tsuredure Children (Episode 1)

Fox Spirit Matchmaker (Episode 1)

Aho Girl (Episode 1)

The Irresponsible Galaxy Tylor (Episode 1)

Thanks for reading.

If you enjoyed this post and like the blog, consider becoming a patron to support further growth and future content.

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Thanks,

Karandi James.

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Summer 2017 Week 12

Posted on by Karandi

Okay, some shows are done and others are close to drawing to a close and I’m now having to seriously think about my plans for the Autumn season. Here’s my list but there will be one more to draw the season to a close. Remember polling for the best and worst anime of the Summer 2017 season is on so if you’d like to vote, jump on over. The polls will close on the 2 of October with results announced soon after. Write in votes are allowed so if I missed your show, please feel free to add it.

As always, I’d love to know your thoughts on the shows of the season so please leave me a comment below.

yuri10d

Must Watch

My Hero Academia (Episode 36)

While this second last episode was a little bit on the flat side, nothing is really going to squish my enjoyment of this second season overall. Still very much looking forward to the last episode of the season and really I just have to wonder whether they are going for the ridiculous kids take down All Might finish or whether All Might will gently crush them in order for them to learn some valuable lesson. Guess I’ll find out next week. Or hey, maybe the test will get called off for some contrived reason. Whichever way they go, I’m almost certain I’ll have fun with it.

Princess Principal (Episode 11)

The story of Ange and the Princess remains fantastic. The rest of the story, probably belongs in the next category down. It is usually entertaining but not unmissable. So, a little bit torn as we seem to head toward the end.

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Usually Entertaining

Sagrada Reset (Finished)

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Okay, I Guess

18if (Episode 11)

Way too much recap even as the story tries to steer us toward the conclusion. Seriously tiresome episode even as it gave us information we needed so you can’t even skip it.

Gamers (Episode 10)

This show is definitely going to finish the season in the just okay zone. There have been some highly entertaining moments within the show, but overall, it just isn’t the kind of thing I intend to rewatch or recommend to others. But hey, if you are into love pentagons, this one is really working hard to put as many miscommunications in as possible.

In Another World With My Smartphone (Episode 11)

Honestly, this episode was entertaining but if you are over jokes about breasts or panties, this is not going to work for you at all because the majority of the content this week is definitely focused in that direction. There are enough other things going on that I didn’t do an extremely late season drop on this, but it is hardly the cleverest of developments.

Fastest Finger First (Episode 11)

Back to the annoying character, but somehow this episode wasn’t as annoying as their last appearance. Possibly because the quiz seemed to remain the main focus and most of the other characters have kind of stopped over-reacting to that character. It makes their intrusions less intruding.

Hell Girl: Fourth Twilight (Episode 10)

Another pretty ordinary episode. And now I know that these episodes are in fact repeats so I’m ending my viewing of the series and just going to review the first half of the series that was new material. Apparently Hell Girl is more forgettable than even I believed.

Clean Freak Aoyama Kun (Finished)

Well, this show ended more or less how it started which was okay but nothing particularly exceptional. I am pleasantly surprised I made it through a whole season of this, but there were some funny moments along the way. Okay, there was also a lot of stupidity and one or two groan inducing episodes, but overall, still better than anticipated.

Elegant Yokai Apartment Life (Episode 12)

They managed a slightly more serious tone for most of this episode, but it really is too late to make me care. The issue with the teacher came back to the usual theme of humans being pretty terrible without the help of monster possession, and other anime may pull this story line off beautifully, but here, due to a lack of general care for the characters, it just comes off as preachy and pointless.

Vatican Miracle Examiner (Episode 11)

Not sure where to next given they kind of wrapped up their mystery last week, but I guess we’ll see where it goes.

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They Made This

Knight’s & Magic (Episode 12)

I’m going to be honest, so many things in this show have annoyed me that now I’m actively annoyed by more or less anything it does. This week even the sound effects were bugging me and they are pretty harmless. Some of the fight sequence were interesting, but they were pretty repetitive, and nothing is going to fix the story or the characters at this point.

Chronos Ruler (Episode 11)

Fight, fight, fight. Admittedly, this show has been worse than this, so I’m still not actually disliking the last couple of episodes. But, it all would have been so much more dramatic if earlier episodes had given me a reason to care about this current confrontation.

Katsugeki Touken Ranbu (Episode 12)

Certainly this show is having a good go at trying to up the ante in the final two episodes but just throwing more of the enemy at us while not fixing any of the plot or character issues really isn’t the way to make a grand ending. Basically I’m just glad that there’s only one more episode.

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Tried and Dropped

Restaurant to Another World (Episode 1)

Centaur’s Life (Episode 1)

Convenience Store Boyfriends (Episode 1)

Saiyuki Reload Blast (Episode 1)

Battle Girl High School (Episode 1)

Hina Logic (Episode 1)

Tsuredure Children (Episode 1)

Fox Spirit Matchmaker (Episode 1)

Aho Girl (Episode 1)

The Irresponsible Galaxy Tylor (Episode 1)

Thanks for reading.

If you enjoyed this post and like the blog, consider becoming a patron to support further growth and future content.

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Thanks,

Karandi James.

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Summer 2017 Week 11

Posted on by Karandi

Another week of anime watching and as we approach the end of the season for most shows I start thinking about all the shows out this season I didn’t watch. Not the ones that I dropped or the ones I can’t access, but the ones I just never got around to trying or tried an episode and put on hold but never got back to. I’m kind of hoping that when I get some time in the near future that I can check some of these out before the new season kicks into gear. But for now I have my current list for Summer 2017 and there hasn’t been a lot of movement. Things are pretty well settled into their spots at the moment and I have to wonder if any of the endings will be dramatic enough or bad enough to shift things. Gamers is of course the exception having dropped back out of usually entertaining due to a fairly lackluster episode and plot development.

On that note, I have opened polling for the best and worst anime of the Summer 2017 season so if you’d like to vote, jump on over. The polls will close on the 2 of October with results announced soon after. Write in votes are allowed so if I missed your show, please feel free to add it.

As always, I’d love to know your thoughts on the shows of the season so please leave me a comment below.

yuri10d

Must Watch

My Hero Academia (Episode 35)

The exam is in full swing and the students are facing their weaknesses. It is amazing how cliché that sounds when writing it and yet how fun it was to watch because it is the characters we’ve learned to love over 35 episodes and because this show continues to remember that primarily it is meant to be entertaining us so even the emotional moments are high energy and full steam ahead.

Princess Principal (Episode 10)

Here we go. After two episodes of a fairly nice character episodes we return to a legitimate mission and they really step up the drama this episode. Truly a great watch and hopefully a sign that we can expect good things as this season draws to an end.

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Usually Entertaining

Sagrada Reset (Finished)

Okay, the final episode of this show wasn’t great when thought about objectively, but it did provide some closure on the characters finally and very much gave us the sense that we’d come full circle with the three characters coming back together only each one has changed so much by going through the events of the past two years. I’ll get around to a full review of this show soonish, but I know I can’t easily recommend it given some of its more interesting choices. Still, it has ended up in the usually entertaining because I found it oddly satisfying.

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Okay, I Guess

18if (Episode 10)

After the incredibly disappointing episode last week (ep 9), episode 10 pulls out all the stops to remind us what this show actually does well and gives us some hope that this show might even resolve before it ends. So let us count ep 9 as an anomaly and hope for a good end.

In Another World With My Smartphone (Episode 10)

Beach episode. After episode 9 which I didn’t much like, a follow up beach episode was just a little bit painful. Hoping this show can turn it around given up until the last few episodes this was actually surprisingly fun.

Gamers (Episode 9)

While I still quite like this show, recent episodes have taken a noticeable drop in quality in writing and appearance. It is like now that the audience is hooked into all this teen drama they aren’t even really trying and are just keeping the balls up in the air long enough to get to the end of the season.

Fastest Finger First (Episode 10)

This week’s quiz was really fun, though they kind of disappeared the annoying character or at least sent them to the sidelines for a bit. It kind of looks like they’ll come back next episode so we’ll see how this goes then. Still, some fun questions and another quiz format to play with this week.

Hell Girl: Fourth Twilight (Episode 9)

Well, we hit a slow episode and one that was kind of lacking in satisfaction. Still, Fourth Twilight has so far been mostly positive given I’m only luke warm on the series in the first place, so an episode or two like this isn’t really a problem.

Clean Freak Aoyama Kun (Episode 11)

Oh wow, I hated this show this week. Amazingly that wasn’t enough to drop it below any of the shows currently under it, which says a lot about their quality, but I really didn’t like watching this episode. I’m really hoping to not have to endure a similar episode next week.

Elegant Yokai Apartment Life (Episode 11)

We end on a cliff hanger which is probably the only reason I’ll start the next episode. This show has been consistently disappointing in everything it has done and this final story was actually shaping up well and then mid-episode it was like the writers got bored trying to actually build up tension and just threw ideas around until they’d filled up the requisite time. Then they attempted to get back into the more serious mystery but by then any tension was gone.

Vatican Miracle Examiner (Episode 9)

Another mystery begins and we’ll see how this one plays out. This show seems to have settled after that initial mystery where it just went a little bit crazy and hopefully this new mystery resolves well.

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They Made This

Knight’s & Magic (Episode 11)

Yep, I was right to drop this one down here. The narrative issues continue as does the absence of characterisation. This one is strictly for people who like watching robots go boom while a cute looking boy cackles gleefully.

Chronos Ruler (Episode 10)

This could potentially get interesting, or it could just be another in a long line of ideas that should be interesting but just gets lost in the mess of writing that this show has delivered so far. Still, I definitely started to think that maybe, just maybe, this show might pull off a reasonable end of season.

Katsugeki Touken Ranbu (Episode 11)

This was at least a good attempt at building some drama. So there is the possibility that this could at least end on a high note even if the overall narrative is still pretty nebulous as they haven’t bothered to deal with it, instead focussing on the personified swords working out their issues.

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Tried and Dropped

Restaurant to Another World (Episode 1)

Centaur’s Life (Episode 1)

Convenience Store Boyfriends (Episode 1)

Saiyuki Reload Blast (Episode 1)

Battle Girl High School (Episode 1)

Hina Logic (Episode 1)

Tsuredure Children (Episode 1)

Fox Spirit Matchmaker (Episode 1)

Aho Girl (Episode 1)

The Irresponsible Galaxy Tylor (Episode 1)

Thanks for reading.

If you enjoyed this post and like the blog, consider becoming a patron to support further growth and future content.

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Thanks,

Karandi James.

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Summer 2017 Week 10

Posted on by Karandi

At this point I’m really feeling like I’m chasing my own tail around in circles for all that I’m very busy but don’t seem to be accomplishing much. Hopefully that changes soon but in the meantime, this anime season is drawing to a close and with a few exceptions, I’m not even upset by that. As much as I have found some ‘okay’ shows to fill my down time if these had disappeared I probably wouldn’t have been all that upset. Still, the Autumn season is coming and I know there’s a couple of titles that I am particularly hoping come out on something I can watch.

As always, I’d love to know your thoughts on the shows of the season so please leave me a comment below.

yuri10d

Must Watch

My Hero Academia (Episode 34)

Not the best episode this week but clearly setting up where we are going for the end of this season so a workable episode. Overall, season 2 of this show has exceeded all of my expectations and been a thoroughly fun ride. Hopefully it ends on a high note and also hopefully season 3 isn’t too far away.

Princess Principal (Episode 9)

After last week being a strong character story with a weak case, episode 9 kind of follows suit but for different reason. Chise narrates this episode and as an outside (we’ve gone back in time a bit again) she isn’t really in the loop for the case, but in this episode it doesn’t matter because she’s given her own role and story that works well with the team’s case. I continue to really enjoy this show and find the characters quite delightful.

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Usually Entertaining

Sagrada Reset (Episode 23)

Episode 23 was pretty satisfying and now they just have to not totally stuff up the ending and this series will be pretty good. Odd though that pacing and characterisation are pretty terrible and the narrative takes twenty something episodes to come together and yet somehow this show has nearly made me feel that all of that wait was worth it.

Gamers (Episode 8)

This continues to be an amusing enough mess of teen drama that kind of appeals to me. If nothing else, this show has kept me highly entertained this season if for no other reason than wondering what about it is actually appealing.

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Okay, I Guess

In Another World With My Smartphone (Episode 9)

Pretty sure this was the worst episode of the show yet, even including the slime episode. Another couple like this will see this show tumble a little in its standing, and that would be a shame. Cliche driven though it is, it has been amusing up until now. I think they just need to figure out what to do now that they’ve made Touya completely untouchable.

18if (Episode 9)

If we get another episode like this one, 18if might even get dropped and it will certainly fall lower on this list. I really didn’t like episode 9. The subject matter aside (though that is certainly questionable), the story itself was incredibly lackluster.

Fastest Finger First (Episode 9)

Not so sure about the last episode. The introduction of a truly annoying character definitely hurt my enjoyment of a show that has otherwise been consistently entertaining. Will have to see how this develops and hopefully the show can maintain its fairly even enjoyment until the end.

Hell Girl: Fourth Twilight (Episode 8)

The formula continues and once again a very satisfying conclusion as yet another horrible person goes to hell. It is hard to even worry about the fact that the one pulling the string is also going to go to hell in most cases as you genuinely cannot think of what they should do by the time they get to the point of pulling the string. Certainly, there are points earlier on where they might have made different choices, but eventually they all end up cornered.

Clean Freak Aoyama Kun (Episode 10)

Another fairly average episode. Then again, this show continues to feel better than it is simply because there are so many other shows doing worse this season. This one is at least pretty consistent in its delivery of content even if that content isn’t particularly great.

Elegant Yokai Apartment Life (Episode 10)

And the mess of tones and ideas continues while the writing remains pretty poor. This show’s biggest flaw is that it is boring but that just makes you notice that the narrative hasn’t been going anywhere and that the tone is inconsistent. At least if the show were interesting I wouldn’t be so focussed on its flaws.

Vatican Miracle Examiner (Episode 9)

Another mystery begins and we’ll see how this one plays out. This show seems to have settled after that initial mystery where it just went a little bit crazy and hopefully this new mystery resolves well.

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They Made This

Knight’s & Magic (Episode 10)

I’m not making anymore excuses for this. Ernesti’s enthusiasm aside, the story in this is utterly broken and poorly delivered. Not one of the characters has more than a one note personality and as of episode 10 I still have no idea what the actual conflict in the story is. They keep finding various things to fight against but the initial set up seemed to be about beasts that needed to be kept at bay and now we’re in some random fight with a Kingdom we didn’t even know about until episode 9.

Chronos Ruler (Episode 9)

Absolutely no story this week, just Victo dealing with family issues while everyone else played with a snake in the forest (true story). Anyway, this didn’t get any better or worse, but my tolerance of cute sword guys with no plot kind of gave out which is why this one is no longer on the bottom of the watch list.

Katsugeki Touken Ranbu (Episode 10)

And Katsugeki is not dropped but only because I’m kind of in the habit of watching it. There really isn’t any other reason why I’m still holding this one on my watch list.

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Tried and Dropped

Restaurant to Another World (Episode 1)

Centaur’s Life (Episode 1)

Convenience Store Boyfriends (Episode 1)

Saiyuki Reload Blast (Episode 1)

Battle Girl High School (Episode 1)

Hina Logic (Episode 1)

Tsuredure Children (Episode 1)

Fox Spirit Matchmaker (Episode 1)

Aho Girl (Episode 1)

The Irresponsible Galaxy Tylor (Episode 1)

Thanks for reading.

If you enjoyed this post and like the blog, consider becoming a patron to support further growth and future content.

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Thanks,

Karandi James.

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Summer 2017 Week 9

Posted on by Karandi

A slightly less intense week which was definitely needed. Thanks to everyone who has sent me good wishes or positive thoughts via twitter, things really have been a bit full on in the real world at the moment but there’s light at the end of the tunnel in that I know in about a month’s time I will be through most of the stuff I’m currently dealing with from a work point of view and things should resume some sort of normality. Just have to get through the next month or so.

As always, I’d love to know your thoughts on the shows of the season so please leave me a comment below.

yuri10d

Must Watch

My Hero Academia (Episode 33)

No episode last week.

Princess Principal (Episode 8)

Episode 8 feels better than it actually is. I really enjoyed watching it and felt the characters really carried the episode, and then I thought back and realised that in terms of the story, pretty much nothing happens in episode 8. It is filling in backstory (probably fairly crucial backstory), it is helping us understand the characters better, but it isn’t being a good story on its own which given this series has been pretty episodic is a little bit of a problem. Still, this show has been my surprise love for the season, so still having a lot of fun with it.

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Usually Entertaining

Sagrada Reset (Episode 22)

This continues to build on all of those bread crumbs that were so irritatingly scattered around in the first half to deliver something that could potentially be a great ending (there’s a lot of ‘could’ and ‘potential’ in there though and I won’t count my chickens before they are hatched). Really keeping my fingers crossed that Kei’s plan delivers the ending this build up deserves.

Gamers (Episode 7)

Right, I’m still not going to argue this show is amazing and it is never going into the Must Watch category, but I’ve decided that I would love to own this show on DVD and be able to binge episodes at will.  I’m really just having fun watching these incredibly awkward characters fumble their way through first love with enough gaming references thrown in to give it a little more appeal than the usual rom-com. Still, from a narrative point of view it is all over the place and the characters are all incredibly over the top so it isn’t going to appeal to everyone.

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Okay, I Guess

In Another World With My Smartphone (Episode 8)

Still amused by this and still seeing very little point to anything going on. I guess not everything has to be deep and meaningful but I find it odd that this hasn’t managed to annoy me yet with how little purpose most events in the show seem to have. One minor gripe is that Touya didn’t make anyone slip this week but he did shoot two pickpockets with rubber bullets so that was probably much the same really.

18if (Episode 8)

Episode 8 of this is truly beautiful to look at. Okay, the story is every bit as dream like as previous ones, but it feels like we’re getting a little bit closer to something. Overall, this series remains confusing when thinking about the whole narrative, but individual episodes continue to be interesting in their own way.

Fastest Finger First (Episode 8)

This one is definitely consistent. It delivers low key entertainment week after week never getting any better but not doing anything to derail the basic premise or tone of the show. That makes it fairly fun to watch as you know more or less what you are going to get each week but also pretty unremarkable at the end of the day.

Hell Girl: Fourth Twilight (Episode 7)

Well, we’re pretty much back to formula this week. That isn’t actually a bad thing because the formula works pretty well. It just isn’t as interesting as what the last two week’s delivered so there’s a minor disappointment there. Still, I did enjoy seeing the guy get taken to hell this week. It just felt very satsifying.

Clean Freak Aoyama Kun (Episode 9)

This is starting to take a downward turn, or maybe I’m just over it. Basically, same old jokes, same old characters, and maybe I’m ready to let this go. It was never particularly good and its biggest strength was it wasn’t terrible and occasionally even managed to be kind of funny.

Knight’s & Magic (Episode 9)

Look at that, last week I complained there was nothing for the characters to fight against and this week drops us head first into a war we know nothing about and have no reason to care about but the narrator will work hard to make you feel there is some sense of urgency here. This show makes me roll my eyes way too often.

Elegant Yokai Apartment Life (Episode 9)

There’s some set up this week for something that may turn out to be some sort of plot point of interest but really this continues to be plagued by poor writing, poor pacing, and a really boring protagonist. It isn’t actually bad, but it never quite becomes good either.

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They Made This

Vatican Miracle Examiner (Episode 8)

This was a surprisingly good conclusion to the mystery. They didn’t wrap everything up and there’s still loose ends, but the answers we got were actually kind of satisfying. That’s a step forward for this show and if it keeps going I may need to move it back to being ‘Okay’.

Katsugeki Touken Ranbu (Episode 9)

Another mission, another fight, zero explanations. Looks and sounds pretty still but I’m really checking out while watching now because they’ve given me nothing to care about.

Chronos Ruler (Episode 8)

There was an attempt this week to humanize Victo’s character (and sort out his name with the subs switching to Victor). It was an attempt and probably the best effort at making him feel like a person rather than a character template, but it is just a little bit late after 7 episodes of him being pretty much a painful brat.

gangsta6

Tried and Dropped

Restaurant to Another World (Episode 1)

Centaur’s Life (Episode 1)

Convenience Store Boyfriends (Episode 1)

Saiyuki Reload Blast (Episode 1)

Battle Girl High School (Episode 1)

Hina Logic (Episode 1)

Tsuredure Children (Episode 1)

Fox Spirit Matchmaker (Episode 1)

Aho Girl (Episode 1)

The Irresponsible Galaxy Tylor (Episode 1)

Does anyone have a favourite villain this season? I’m really struggling to think of anyone who fits the title (other than Stain from My Hero Academia of course).

Thanks for reading.

If you enjoyed this post and like the blog, consider becoming a patron to support further growth and future content.

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Thanks,

Karandi James.

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Summer 2017 Week 8

Posted on by Karandi

This has been one exhausting week and I have really felt relieved most evenings when I have finally been able to watch an episode or two of anything. A few shows moved down the list this week, though it seems almost a race for the bottom of each level and some shows that should have dropped found their position saved simply because they didn’t bug me as much as other shows. That said, I’m really glad that this list I do each week is just a guide because I know that week’s when I’m tired I get far more critical and impatient with shows that probably didn’t go as far wrong as it felt while watching them.

As always, I’d love to know your thoughts on the shows of the season so please leave me a comment below.

yuri10d

Must Watch

My Hero Academia (Episode 33)

Episode 33 gets us right back on track with the students returning to school all fired up after their internships and about to go into final exams before Summer training camp. There’s some good reveals in this episode and continues the story very well.

Princess Principal (Episode 7)

While not an amazing episode, episode 7 delivered an interesting enough story with the girls hunting down a soldier’s uniform in a laundry. I’m kind of hoping that this show still has a few surprises in store for the viewer but even if it continues in this episodic fashion, it is still fairly quality viewing.

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Usually Entertaining

Sagrada Reset (Episode 21)

I know, that’s quite a jump from ‘They Made This’ to ‘Usually Entertaining’ but my thoughts on this show are fairly confused. Individually, each episode is pretty terrible in terms of pacing and the way the characters are portrayed. But, it has remained consistent in the way the characters have been constructed and more importantly, as a narrative the ending is proving the worth of all of that set up. While it still has time to fall apart or into the trap of pulling a win from nowhere, it really feels like everything prior has had some sort of purpose now and that is making my overall impression of the series far more favourable than it was at the mid-season mark where mostly I just wondered what the point of all of this was.

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Okay, I Guess

Gamers (Episode 6)

Pointing out I am still personally amused by how cliché ridden and filled with teen drama (exaggerated enormously) this has become but to be honest I just don’t think I can actually call this show better than okay. Realistically, it just isn’t very good and the need to repeat the same one second interval four times just to get every character’s internal monologue into the mix kind of proved how poorly this show is constructing its characters that they have to narrate their current feelings for it to make any sense at critical moments.

In Another World With My Smartphone (Episode 7)

Thank-goodness we moved on from slimes. I’m not sure what we moved on to other than continuing to establish the harem, but the sense of fun and entertainment was back and we even got a dragon fight (even if it did seem to be thrown in for the sake of having a cool fight sequence with Touya’s magic). We then had a fight with a beastman, some poorly undercover spies, a random 600 year old fairy, and a few new magical applications. This show remains totally cliché in every sense of the word, but I’m still highly amused.

18if (Episode 7)

Another random witch and her dream, but this time Haruto doesn’t really do much of anything in the narrative. The story just kind of unfolds while he watches on. As he’s the only character that has consistently appeared (other than cat guy) this seems like an interesting choice and I’m not sure what it means.

Fastest Finger First (Episode 7)

All hands on deck as they prepare for the regular meet and learn more about quizzes and each other. This show isn’t trying to be much more than watchable but it is succeeding at that and those into random trivia are still going to have a lot of fun each and every episode.

Hell Girl: Fourth Twilight (Episode 6)

With this episode, I think the fourth season of this show is actually going to end up being my favourite. I’ve really enjoyed these mid-season episodes and hopefully the show can continue to build on this.

Clean Freak Aoyama Kun (Episode 7)

Nothing changing here. Still pleasantly watchable but not good. Occasionally funny and at other times I am pretty sure I’m missing something that maybe was supposed to be a joke. Overall, watch if bored, otherwise you are not really missing much by avoiding.

Knight’s & Magic (Episode 8)

Last week I said the story here was kind of average. I’m going to retract that statement. The story is starting to appear to be missing in action. That doesn’t mean this isn’t fun to watch but at eight episodes in there’s no clear enemy/villain/antagonist/problem and there’s no actual focus other than Ernesti can build robots. While that works well enough for twenty minutes, it isn’t exactly leaving a lasting impression.

Elegant Yokai Apartment Life (Episode 8)

“I really wish this was better, but it isn’t.” – This continues to be my main thought about this series. There is a lot of potential in the idea of the show and it remains watchable, but basically isn’t doing much.

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They Made This

Katsugeki Touken Ranbu (Episode 8)

At episode 8, this show is boring. That’s the only way to put it. It’s pretty, the character designs are nice, there’s some good music and when they fight it gets exciting, but the story and the characters have been painfully dull. It is nothing wrapped up in shiny packaging and getting worse in terms of emptiness as the season progresses.

Vatican Miracle Examiner (Episode 7)

This week shows that once again the writers of Vatican Miracle Examiner just like clutter in their narrative. A simple mystery is being overloaded with references and ideas and the problem is to resolve the mystery is going to need an ending at least as crazy as the one we got for the first mystery and to be honest I’d prefer they didn’t repeat that.

Chronos Ruler (Episode 7)

When a show starts its episode with the main characters standing on top of an aeroplane in mid-flight and then they proceed to have melee there, you just know the show has officially run out of ways to keep you interested and is now just throwing whatever scenario it can at you to make sure you don’t realise the plot is going nowhere.

gangsta6

Tried and Dropped

Restaurant to Another World (Episode 1)

Centaur’s Life (Episode 1)

Convenience Store Boyfriends (Episode 1)

Saiyuki Reload Blast (Episode 1)

Battle Girl High School (Episode 1)

Hina Logic (Episode 1)

Tsuredure Children (Episode 1)

Fox Spirit Matchmaker (Episode 1)

Aho Girl (Episode 1)

The Irresponsible Galaxy Tylor (Episode 1)

This week I’m wondering who you think the best female character of the season is. Let me know below.

Thanks for reading.

If you enjoyed this post and like the blog, consider becoming a patron to support further growth and future content.

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Thanks,

Karandi James.

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Summer 2017 Week 7

Posted on by Karandi

Most shows have kind of settled in now and while some are better than expected (Gamers and In Another World With My Smartphone) others are not going so great (Chronos Ruler and Vatican Miracle Examiner). Though even the ones going better than expected aren’t exactly blowing me away. Overall though, I’m not watching anything truly dreadful this season and there’s been some interesting characters and scenes so far. As always, I’d love to know your thoughts on the shows of the season so please leave me a comment below.

yuri10d

Must Watch

My Hero Academia (Episode 32)

Alright, episode 32 was a bit of filler and fluff to be honest, but at this point the show has been going so strongly and even though episode 32 didn’t really progress the main narrative it was still a pretty good episode, I’m going to forgive a little bit of filler. Hopefully though the show doesn’t lose its momentum at this point because it has really been driving forward this whole second season.

Princess Principal (Episode 6)

Finally we’ve finished the introductions and these episodes have been great. Now to stay a must watch, they now need to do something with these characters and the set up. Hopefully they succeed at kicking the story into gear next episode.

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Usually Entertaining

Gamers (Episode 5)

I’m still entertained by this, but I will point out that if we get another episode like this I’m going to have to move it back down into the just okay pile because there’s really no way to say that this show is actually better than okay. The fact that I’m personally amused by it doesn’t actually make it any better. I’m still hopeful that this show will do something with its premise but it seems it is pretty happy to move into cliché teen-romantic-drama territory and while that might make for amusement it doesn’t make for a show that I’d easily recommend.

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Okay, I Guess

In Another World With My Smartphone (Episode 5)

Okay, when you have a whole episode mostly dedicated to slimes dissolving girls clothes in an openly stolen trope like scene and otherwise there is almost nothing of note in the episode, I kind of can’t justify leaving this in the usually entertaining category. I’m hoping the story picks up again next episode but episode five was strictly fan servicey filler.

18if (Episode 6)

This was my favourite episode so far. Still absolutely not answers or any idea what the overall narrative might be, assuming there is one and this isn’t going to remain strictly episodic (though the presence of Lily kind of indicates there is supposed to be a bigger story going on). But this episode really nailed feeling like a dream sequence and was a lot of fun in the process. More like this would be appreciated in this series.

Knight’s & Magic (Episode 6)

And the okay but not amazing continues with this show. It is definitely watchable and also kind of fun, but realistically the story, characters and setting are all just kind of average. There’s a few minor points of interest where it is trying something new, but it isn’t really distinguishing itself from the many other similar stories we’ve seen before.

Fastest Finger First (Episode 6)

With a bit of a break from anything resembling serious quizzes or quiz practice, the show took a little bit of a dive this week. It wasn’t enough to really move it on the list, but I definitely enjoyed this episode less. I’m kind of hoping its a mid-season slump and next week I’m back to having fun with it.

Hell Girl: Fourth Twilight (Episode 5)

Episode 5 packs a bit of an emotional punch so if you’ve dropped off watching this it may be an episode to pick up. Of course it really is working the tragedy angle but it is doing it well. Nothing particularly mind blowing here but a strong episode in the series.

Clean Freak Aoyama Kun (Episode 6)

This continues to be watchable, mildly amusing, and occasionally slightly clever (also occasionally too stupid for words but that was to be expected from the premise). Anyway, it seems I’ll be sticking out the season of this show which I didn’t think would be the case when I started it.

Elegant Yokai Apartment Life (Episode 7)

I feel bad that Clean Freak Aoyama-Kun is now above this on the list because just reading what these shows are about, that should not happen. Yet Elegant Yokai Apartment Life spent most of episode 6 making me sleepy before giving me maybe five minutes of entertainment. Then episode 7 delayed actually dealing with that situation and ended on another cliff hanger to find out what happens next. I really wish this was better, but it isn’t.

Katsugeki Touken Ranbu (Episode 6)

Take the fight sequences out of this and what you have are semi-attractive male anime characters walking around talking a lot about things they’ve given you no reason to care about. Admittedly, some of the dialogue in episode 6 kind of makes it seem like we are heading towards an actual point but it is all a matter of wait and see.

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They Made This

Sagrada Reset (Episode 19)

Sagrada really does need its own category. It isn’t good, and the first half was barely even okay when viewed as a half season, but the story remained full of possibilities. This second half is drawing on all those possibilities and weaving something that is actually a really fascinating narrative and yet the question of whether that offsets the robotic characters and pacing issues remains to be seen.

Vatican Miracle Examiner (Episode 6)

Okay, we are starting a new mystery so here is Vatican Miracle Examiner’s chance to not be crazy and actually bring together a nice story. It has everything it needs, now it just needs to deliver.

Chronos Ruler (Episode 6)

This show is owning this category this season. The writing remains dreadful and the characters remain completely erratic and nonsensical. While the premise is really interesting, everything about the execution is kind of failing hard, except its appearance which is actually kind of nice.

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Tried and Dropped

Restaurant to Another World (Episode 1)

Centaur’s Life (Episode 1)

Convenience Store Boyfriends (Episode 1)

Saiyuki Reload Blast (Episode 1)

Battle Girl High School (Episode 1)

Hina Logic (Episode 1)

Tsuredure Children (Episode 1)

Fox Spirit Matchmaker (Episode 1)

Aho Girl (Episode 1)

The Irresponsible Galaxy Tylor (Episode 1)

I’m struggling this week with deciding who the best villain is. I’m thinking it is going to go to Hero Killer Stain but what are your thoughts?

Thanks for reading.

If you enjoyed this post and like the blog, consider becoming a patron to support further growth and future content.

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Thanks,

Karandi James.

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Summer 2017 Week 6

Posted on by Karandi

Technically this would be halfway through the season and I really feel like I’m scrambling to keep up. There’s a number of shows that I was watching to not review but I’m so far behind at this point there’s almost no chance I’ll finish them with the end of the season. Anyway, while there’s not a lot making me dance with joy this season, there’s some fairly reasonable shows just to relax and watch without a lot of stress. I may end up with quite a few titles on my buy list at the end of the season for when they get a DVD release because there’s a lot of the kinds of shows that I just kind of enjoy binge watching on the weekend.

As always, I’d love to know your thoughts on the shows of the season so please leave me a comment below.

yuri10d

Must Watch

My Hero Academia (Episode 30)

Loving this. No other way to put it. This show continues to demonstrate control over pacing and characters and knows when to kick the action into high gear. It just works. While it may not be the most inventive story ever, I’m really caught up with Midoriya and his classmates as they work toward becoming heroes.

Princess Principal (Episode 4)

I’m not sure if Princess Principal is going to stay a must watch, but the first four episodes have impressed. Sure, there’s a bit playing on the cute girls as spies, but there’s also some really interesting writing and some unexpected character depth. Plus the whole steampunk, alternative history thing is actually working quite well for it. All and all, I’m just really enjoying the story so far.

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Usually Entertaining

Gamers (Episode 4)

I can’t help it, this show is just a bundle of fun to watch. It plays on clichés and stereotypes but so far hasn’t managed to just be insulting and lazy in its delivery. The music has remained top-notch and the characters are definitely pulling their weight. While not a must watch show (at least not yet) there’s a great deal to like about this show so far.

In Another World With My Smartphone (Episode 4)

This is actually becoming genuine fun to watch. I’m not watching it and tolerating the comedy, I’m actually enjoying the jokes even if they are a little tired and overused in places. The characters are strictly filling their assigned tropes, the story has almost zero depth, and while it looks good enough there’s nothing exceptional about the visuals here. Yet, this show is good fun. It isn’t asking you to take it seriously and it knows very well that it shouldn’t be taken seriously.

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Okay, I Guess

18if (Episode 5)

I was a little optimistic on this one. It isn’t bad but it is becoming repetitive and without further revelations, the story is pretty pointless as Haruto saves the witch of the week. There’s certainly potential for this show to pick up toward the end, but at the moment, okay is the best descriptor for it and what it is delivering. It is interesting in its own way but without any kind of clear direction or any kind of answer, there isn’t much more to say about it. Visually it remains one of the more interesting anime of the season.

Knight’s & Magic (Episode 5)

This show continues to remain entertaining in places, fairly relaxing to watch, but it isn’t really asking me to care too much about what is going on or really seeming to build on its foundations. It’s still fun enough and I’m interested enough, but it isn’t particularly amazing.

Fastest Finger First (Episode 5)

This seems to finally be trying to push the characters rather than the quizzes, and it worked fairly well. Admittedly, the characters still aren’t the most interesting thing in the show, but at least they seem to have something resembling a personality. Hopefully this show can maintain some consistency over the season. The quizzes however remain the highlight for me.

Katsugeki Touken Ranbu (Episode 5)

Right, so the story and characters are going nowhere, but the fight sequences remain impressive. Watch for cool sword play and some awesome music, ignore everything else and this is pretty tolerable so far. It is attempting to elicit some kind of emotional response from its audience, but so far it is missing the mark.

Hell Girl: Fourth Twilight (Episode 4)

And this continues its episodic trudge along so if you’ve watched so far, there’s nothing either particularly good or bad about this week (unless watching old people be mistreated upsets you in which case, pass).

Elegant Yokai Apartment Life (Episode 5)

This show would be better if you kept the set up the same but changed the protagonist out for someone with a personality and then switched the writers out for ones that had some sense of how to build drama or any kind of emotion. It remains a very pretty show and one full of characters I want to like, but is pretty bland all around.

Clean Freak Aoyama Kun (Episode 5)

I’m still sticking with this one, which for me and a comedy show is pretty unusual. I must admit, I’m still actually having some fun with it. Though, at 5 episodes in its beginning to tire me as jokes that were kind of tolerable are being reused just that little bit too often and I still don’t really have any concern for any of the characters.

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They Made This

Sagrada Reset (Episode 18)

Sagrada Reset is definitely attempting a late in the season come back. Nothing is going to make this an anime I would recommend to someone given it is incredibly awkward to watch at times with some very stilted characters, and yet, it would be fantastic if those of us who did watch it got to feel some sense of satisfaction as we close in on the end.

Vatican Miracle Examiner (Episode 5)

I wonder if the whole mystery was written out before they started making this. I guess it would have to be. So that means, someone read that script and that resolution and thought it seemed like a good idea and still decided to make this into an anime. It isn’t a total train wreck, but neither is it particularly good or worth watching. Episode 5 fills in some details about Lauren and is a little bit better to watch, but that’s probably because they aren’t on a case.

Chronos Ruler (Episode 5)

Looks like I was right in moving this one down into this category. The writing of this show is appalling as is the characterisation and pacing. Basically it has a kind of decent concept underneath all that and it might get to a point but I’m pretty much expecting this to just meander about and squander any potential it has before sputtering to a fairly flat conclusion.

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Tried and Dropped

Restaurant to Another World (Episode 1)

Centaur’s Life (Episode 1)

Convenience Store Boyfriends (Episode 1)

Saiyuki Reload Blast (Episode 1)

Battle Girl High School (Episode 1)

Hina Logic (Episode 1)

Tsuredure Children (Episode 1)

Fox Spirit Matchmaker (Episode 1)

Aho Girl (Episode 1)

The Irresponsible Galaxy Tylor (Episode 1)

Halfway point of the season: which shows do you think are going to be the stand out of the season?

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Thanks,

Karandi James.

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