Starting a new season is always great fun. There’s a sense of anticipation and joy and every time you press the play button on a stream something inside waits expectantly wanting to fall in love (or at least be entertained).
Incidentally, none of the images in this post come from actually dropped shows. I didn’t really feel the need to collect any screen caps from the ones that right from the start just didn’t seem like I was going to get into them.
Okay, so what have I dropped by the end of the first episode so far this season and can I give it a one line summary as to why?
Bakumatsu: Various cute guys in period dress run around in pursuit of fancy time piece.
You know, there might be a half-decent story in here somewhere but I spent a lot of the first ten minutes fairly confused and indifferent to what was going on. It doesn’t help that the guys are all clearly the standard types for shows that are big on showcasing good looking male characters but light on plot or character development. This one was a drop from me pretty quickly.
Between the Sky and Sea: Poorly executed battle of the sexes theme shoved over the top of laughable premise about space fishing.
Um… Yeah. No. So absolutely no. This was just… Well, I didn’t burst out laughing at their solution to no more fish on earth but in retrospect I should have. And then, assuming this did happen and we somehow built space fish tanks I’m then expected to believe that in an age when they could do all that no females were ever allowed into a job. And then (oh it gets better), then I am expected to believe that the first time they send female to do the job they don’t bother to give them training but want to sneer when they stuff up. Don’t even get me started on the whole phone app aspect. Just definitely no.
Hinomaru Sumo: Probably a good show but zero interest in sumo.
That about sums it up. I started this just to see and the opening narration was enough. Maybe after reading some other reviews I might be tempted to give this more of a go, but right now I’m passing.
Radiant: Kind of a Fairy Tail style narration leading into generic magic shounen introduction that might get interesting but right now just made me roll my eyes.
That about sums up my reason for dropping Radiant. It wasn’t actually bad, the part of it I watched but it was just ticking through all the cliches and honestly I’ve seen to many of these styles of shows that have just been a chore to watch in the last twelve months so I’m passing on this for now. That said, I’ll be curious to hear whether it actually manages to be an entertaining entry into the genre or not in which case I might go back and check it out later.
The other two shows I’ve dropped are UzaMaid and Ms Vampire Who Lives in My Neighbourhood. I don’t really have anything to say about them because I didn’t make it five minutes into either. They just weren’t for me.
That said, these won’t be the last shows I drop as there’s plenty still to come out and I will need to narrow down a watch list in a couple of weeks. But, given none of these got first impression posts it fell like a good time to do a wrap up of the shows I decided not to watch.
Thanks for reading.
Karandi James
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Glad I haven’t watched any of these. They don’t seem like my cup of tea 😂
I added a whole bunch more to the drop list yesterday but didn’t really watch enough of them to comment on other than, didn’t look like my kind of thing. It is interesting that during the first few days of the season I’ll watch everything that comes out but as my watch list fills, I get more critical and pass on shows unless it looks like they will be better than what I’ve already got as a maybe on my watch list. I may end up missing out on some good shows that way. Still, I don’t think I’m going to be all that upset over passing on the cheer leader anime this season. It is probably going to work for quite a few people but just watching the opening sequence I made it a hard pass.
Fair enough. I guess it becomes difficult to know which shows are going to be good and to create a watch list. That’s why I prefer binge watching more times than not because people have already reviewed it and I can get a better idea of a show. Still, that way you do it is interesting. I guess the shows that come out in the first couple of days that are good have a higher chance of making that watch list than those that air later.
Agreed. That cheer leader one doesn’t look like one that’s for me at all. From what I’ve seen, it isn’t my cup of tea really.
I think it is that early releases just have to be watchable, whereas ones that come out later need to be watchable and convince me that they are offering something better. It may not be a fair system but given the number of anime that take a nose dive in the second act it is probably as good a system as any.
Makes sense. I think it is a pretty good system to be fair. At least it gives you a way to narrow down what you’re watching. 🙂
The temptation of Bakumatsu is I wonder if they will pull out any type of interesting story. I don’t think I have the energy to find out either but they may make for fun ranting reviews…
Bakumatsu might pull out an interesting story, but having been burned so many times by anime that started with a similar feeling there just wasn’t enough going on for me to give it the benefit of the doubt. Besides, my watch list is already pretty big so I’ll leave this one and may revisit it if I start hearing it is worth the time.
You haven’t finished Yorimoi? Ack! You should, ASAP, sooner even!
I didn’t get past the first episode. As nice as it was, it just didn’t appeal to me. And all the positive reviews of it made it seem really lovely and I wrote it down to get back to sometimes and everytime I think about it I kind of shrug and find something else to watch. Just one of those shows that is a good quality show but I’m not the audience for it.
I haven’t watched all of them to say what I am going to drop. But I am actually looking for a good slice of life titles this season….
Don’t think I can help with slice of life. Actually, are there any genuine slice of life shows out this season? I hadn’t noticed before but going back through the titles I’ve looked at there really aren’t.
I agree there certainly aren’t any…. going back in time there used to be solid slice of life series with an occasional blend of fantasy element to them….they should release them more often. Then again there aren’t many slice of life fans as far as I know….
There’s a few as a number of the blogs I follow tend to focus on slice of life, but it isn’t really my thing. It is odd when a slice of life does manage to catch my interest. Hopefully something does come out for you, and if not this season, maybe next one.
Haha….let us see if there are any, that could catch our eye….
Huh, interesting. I hadn’t noticed it, but you’re right about the lack of SOL. Anime Planet and MAL both have Ms. Vampire , Pingu in the City, and Hora, Mimi ga Mieteru yo! tagged as slice of life, and Anime Planet also tagged Himote House, but that’s pretty much it, and all of those except Ms. Vampire are shorts.
Good SOL is hard to find. Especially these days….
Which is the most recent SOL that you’ve really loved?
I guess Kobayashi-san chi no maid dragon and shoujo shuumatsu ryokou…. There are a few others but not up to the mark….
Winter 2018 was pretty good for slice of life:
Hakumei to Mikochi looks like a cutesy kids show and many people passed it up, but it’s actually slice-of-life centred around two working women who like to drink sake to finish off their days. The main characters are “little folk” (I think inspired by the Ainu Koropokkuru, but I’m far from an expert), and there are anthropomorph animals. The show’s quite charming with little drama but a good sense of mood and good worldbuilding (the ED credits will have the same soothing tune every week, but will give you information about the world and characters as relates to the plot of the episode, illustrated storybook style – which you can read or ignore – it’s not vital to the show, but gives texture).
Yuru Camp is a cute show about camping, that gives space to both group camping and solo-camping as something that’s not exclusive: among the two main girls each prefer one or the other (as evidenced by personality), but both engage in the other type, too. The atmosphere was great, soothing, and encouraging.
How to Keep a Mummy was an adorable show about little critters being cute, and little else. I have little to say about show, but it’s definitely going to make my top 10 of the year.
Gakuen Babysitters is bordering on drama, but I find the slice-of-life elements dominate. The toddlers act age-appropriately, and it’s a really cute show, marred only by a creepy pedophile character (who luckily doesn’t show up too much).
Mitsuboshi Colours is about a group of three girls (children, not teens) being a nuisance in a town, and is pretty fun. Backgrounds and characters don’t mash well, but I liked the voice acting and the rascally mood of the show.
I don’t consider A Place Further than the Universe slice-of-life. Too much plot. It’s great, though.
I consider all those shows good.
Spring 2018 was nowhere near that good:
Rokuhoudou Yostsuiro Biyori is a show about 4 guys running a traditional Japanese café, and though it’s mode of narration is customer episodicals the overall emphasis is on mood. A lot of it is community building, so that by the end of the show you know more and more of the background guests, which is an interesting effect. The show is also notable for having an instrumental ending credits theme. Certainly in my year’s top 10, this one.
And Amanchu had a second season.
There are some other shows with slice-of-life elements (Hinamatsuri was great, but the comedy aspects are far foregrounded – depends on how much of a purist you are; Comic Girls was definitely slice of life, and better than expected, but not that great either, and that’s pretty much it)
Summer 2018:
A complete dud. I haven’t watched a single good slice-of-life show.
There are shows with slice-of-life elements: Asobi Asobase and Jashin chan Dropkick have slice-of-life elements strictly as structural background support. Hataraku Saibou is, IMO, the closest thing to a slice-of-life show, but it’s edutaiment elements dominate too much.
This season doesn’t look so promising either. Ms Vampire is the best candidate so far, but its 4-koma structure is obvious.
I’d argue this year’s best slice-of-life shows are (in order of personal preference):
Hakumei to Mikochi
Rokuhoudo Yotsuiro Biyori
Miira no Kaikata (How to Keep a Mummy)
Yuru Camp
I rely on slice-of-life a lot to relax before/after work, so I feel its absence keenly. (Comedy, romance, and good-natured adventure shows can fill the void, but not quite as well. Which is why I treasure this season’s Slime show.) I hope you like one or the other of these shows. There should be a good range.
Haha, always nice to see Asta again: Ah the nostalgic memories of his very loud voice 😂😂😂 Doesn’t sound like shows I would be interested in picking up either 😊😊
I’ve already got 15 shows on my potential list (some will drop after their second episodes), so I really don’t need to waste time on shows that I’m just not interested in this season. It is nice to have so many options. Last season I might have stuck out a couple of these shows just to see if they grew on me.
Well, I just finished the first episode of Goblin Slayer, add to that Gridman and I’m now at six shows. (Which is honestly more than I had planned to watch 😅😅). I will probably have trouble keeping up with all of them but…I will try anyway as so far all of these have been a blast. Some really good shows so far this season. Lets hope that they stay that way 😊😊
Gridman and I are having a disagreement. It was an interesting first episode, but Trigger’s track record is making me very nervous about having it on my watch list.
I want to give Radient a shot because it is made by a French mangaka.
It could end up being quite good, I just really wasn’t in the mood for it.