The Worst of Summer 2017

Posted on by Karandi

And now we’ve reached the Worst of Summer for 2017. Earlier today the post for Best of Summer 2017 came out so be sure to check it out if you missed it. In the meantime, below are my least favourite shows and moments followed by the results of the reader’s poll. Be sure to leave a comment below about your least favourite show of the season.

My Least Favourite Show

This one is actually nearly a tie. Katsugeki Touken Ranbu, Chronos Ruler and Knight’s & Magic have all very clearly managed to annoy me this season but which is the least of these three?

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Yep, Chronos Ruler managed to be my least favourite show for the season. The charactes are shallow and basically pointless, the plot goes nowhere in the entire season as not one thing the characters set out to achieve is actually achieved, we know nothing about the villains, and they essentially gain nothing and learn nothing. Oh, we do get a power of friendship kind of ending but even then a minute later the character who kind of learned that lesson is his usual obnoxious self, so no progress.

My Least Favourite Character

So many choices this season. I think I’m settling on Ernesti though. Early in the season, Ernesti was actually kind of okay in Knight’s & Magic with infectious enthusiasm. That was because he was starting his journey and was a young kid with big dreams.

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Then we skip over time, a lot of it. Ernesti is getting older, more experienced, and he’s still a giggling maniac. Amazingly a trait charming in a novice isn’t as charming in someone after they’ve already made good progress. More importantly, the more power Ernesti got, the more obnoxious he became. In the end, I really did want someone to shoot him out of the sky.

My Least Favourite Story

Elegant Yokai Apartment Life without question. I’ll never get to review it because I’ve now done a mid-season drop, but it was the worst of all the stories I watched this season and that’s in a season where I sat through Chronos Ruler and Knight’s & Magic.

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The issue isn’t that there are some heavy slice of life elements. Natsume Yuujinchou has heavy slice of life elements and still manages a satisfying overall narrative. The issue is that the characters are too stupid for words and do stupid things. One minute the character is worried about people finding out about the supernatural, the next minute he openly uses magic at school. One minute he’s trying to defend his teacher, the next he’s just writing him off. A friend randomly picks a fight with a group of bikers while taking a walk because, reasons? None of the conflicts make sense because they are usually just randomly dropped in when the writers got too bored with having characters react to food. It was painful to watch and I’m happier and happier about my decision to drop.

My Least Favourite Opening Theme

This one has to go to Knight’s & Magic. The song is actually not that bad and the visuals are okay, but neither are particularly good. What makes this the choice for worst of the season is the break in the music for the characters to shout dialogue from the upcoming episode. That is jarring.

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While other shows have done this before to some effect, in this show that I was already sruggling with, seeing upcoming dialogue and scenes from the episode was just one more irritation that the show did not need to throw my way.

My Least Favourite Visuals

So many choices this season and yet I think for most consistently ugly to look I’d have to go with Vatican Miracle Examiner. It is just so dull to look at most of the time. The colour scheme could be forgiven if there were something else interesting, but really, it is just black and gray dullness for most of the viewing time.

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I get they were going for mysterious and the like but mostly this just ended up being unbelievably hard to distinguish anything in a lot of the scenes as characters blended into backgrounds.

Reader’s Choice – Worst Anime of Summer 2017

This vote was very strange this time around with write in votes for Netsuzou Trap very nearly catching up with the lead choices. In the end Knight’s & Magic and Gamers came neck and neck for worst of the season. Still hardly conclusive and the vote here is so scattered I think the main conclusion we can draw is that there was a lot of ho-hum shows this season.

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Thanks to everyone who participated in the vote this time round.

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Summer 2017 is done and we are officially into the Autumn season. If you missed it, be sure to check out the best of post that came out earlier today and please leave your choices for worst of the season in the comments below.

Thanks for reading.

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Karandi James.

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The Best of Summer 2017

Posted on by Karandi

Okay, we have made it to the announcement for the best of Summer 2017. Starting with my favourites of the season and then the reader’s poll results. With over 100 votes again, and a few more than Spring, I am hoping that the poll is becoming more reflective of the feelings of the community, however nearly 50% of the votes were split between three titles. Read on and all will be revealed.

My Favourite Show

My Hero Academia has sat at the top of my list each and every week and looking back over the season, I don’t see any reason to change it. If Princess Principal had wrapped up its story, it may have pushed past My Hero Academia, but without a full conclusion, it just couldn’t beat the ongoing story of the high school wannabe super heroes.

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I’ve really enjoyed this show over the last two seasons and I’m glad there’s been an announcement of a season 3. It isn’t the most amazing anime ever, but it is good fun and I could certainly stand more shows that I just enjoy watching because they are fun.

My Favourite Character

Uraraka from My Hero Academia. She’s adorable but really got to shine at times during the second season of My Hero Academia.

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Admittedly though, she did not have a lot of competition this season as a number of shows saw me struggling to even remember character names because I was that disinterested in remembering them.

My Favourite Story

This is actually really tricky because honestly the stories this season were… bland (well, quite a few were broken but I was trying not to be too critical). Princess Principal left itself wide open for a sequel as did My Hero Academia. Gamers and Fastest Finger First weren’t overly concerned with telling a story. A lot of the other shows the story was just complete rubbish when you broke it down (at least the ones I was watching). So… Okay, I’m going to give this one to Sagrada Reset.

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I absolutely loved the way this story brought everything together in the end. The presentation of the story might be questionable, but the narrative itself is pretty amazing once you get to the end of it and realise how cohesive they manage to make it.

My Favourite Opening Theme

Very easy choice. Princess Principal was by far the best theme of the season for me (though I kind of liked 18if as well but for a very different reason).

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The opening of Princess Principal just captured the feeling of the show beautifully and I loved the visuals that went with it. I really enjoyed listening to and watching the opening theme each week.

My Favourite Visuals

Relatively easy choice this season. As fun and colourful as My Hero Academia is, it is pretty standard from a visual point of view. Most of the shows I watched this season were a bit hit and miss. Knight’s & Magic had pretty fights and not a lot else, same as Katsugeki/Touken Ranbu. Ultimately, my favourite overall visuals had to be from 18if.

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That was also hit and miss from a quality point of view but each week was interesting to see what style we were going to get.

Favourite Screen Capture

I haven’t had this category before but I just had to share this one. It is going to be my favourite for awhile.

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I quite like it visually but the quote is kind of priceless and I really want that on a book mark.

Reader’s Choice – Best Anime of Summer 2017

Here it is:

Best of Summer

For the second season in a row, My Hero Academia snuck in a win. It was losing to Made in Abyss for a lot of the voting period and Princess Principal was a close third for most of the vote. However, in the home stretch, My Hero Academia bounced into the lead position. I’m glad it won this time given the season is now finished. I really had a lot of fun with this one and from some of the posts I’ve read on other blogs it is pretty clear that a lot of people have enjoyed following Midoriya’s journey.

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That is officially the end of the Summer 2017 anime season for me though most of the full series reviews are still to be posted. As always I’d love to know your favourites so please leave a comment below. Also, later today the worst of Summer post will come out so be sure to check it out.

Thanks for reading.

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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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Reminder to Vote for the Best and Worst of Summer 2017

Posted on by Karandi

This is just a reminder post for those who may have missed it last week. The poll is open and I’d love to know your choices for the best and worst of the season.  Also, please share as the more the merrier. The poll will remain open until October 2 and results will be released soon after.

For the best of Summer 2017: as always, by best I am merely asking for the show you found the most entertaining. It does not actually need to be technically proficient or a masterpiece, just fun to watch and something that you eagerly looked forward to each week. If you want to give your reasons, please leave a comment.

Secondly, we have the worst of the Summer Season. While it might be fun to slam shows just for existing, I’d like to ask that we keep to shows you actually watched the majority of and they just didn’t get any better or do anything recommendable. So while the result may not actually be the worst show out there, it should reflect the worst show that people actually watched.

Thanks for your votes and again, if you ‘d like to tell us what you voted for an why, leave a comment and we can get the conversation going.

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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The Best and Worst Anime of Summer 2017 Poll

Posted on by Karandi

We’re at that time of the season again and while I know a lot of shows are still ongoing I am calling for votes to start for the best and worst of the season. Like last season you are allowed to vote for more than one show and you can write in a title if I left it off the list (totally by mistake, of course).

Voting will close on the 2 of October so please share and I can’t wait to find out what people have loved and hated this season.

First up, the best of the Summer Season. As always, by best I am merely asking for the show you found the most entertaining. It does not actually need to be technically proficient or a masterpiece, just fun to watch and something that you eagerly looked forward to each week. If you want to give your reasons, please leave a comment.

Secondly, we have the worst of the Summer Season. While it might be fun to slam shows just for existing, I’d like to ask that we keep to shows you actually watched the majority of and they just didn’t get any better or do anything recommendable. So while the result may not actually be the worst show out there, it should reflect the worst show that people actually watched.

Thanks for your votes and again, if you ‘d like to tell us what you voted for an why, leave a comment and we can get the conversation going.

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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Tuesday’s Top 5: Shows of Summer 2017 That Weren’t As Bad As Their Synopsis Made Them Sound

Posted on by Karandi

This might seem like an odd choice for a list but I’m going to be honest, going into Summer 2017 there were only a few shows that on reading the synopsis made me want to try them and then most of those were unavailable to me. I did get to watch Elegant Yokai Apartment Life and it had the opposite problem of the write up makes it sound more fun that it is. So instead I got to just randomly sample shows that I went into expecting not to really like them very much and in some cases the results have been pleasantly surprising. That’s not to say these are the best shows I’m watching or the best on offer, only that they are actually more fun than I initially thought they would be.

Anyway, I’d love to know if there’s a show that has surprised you this Summer season by not being dreadful.

Please note: Probably only limited spoilers below.

Honourable mention this week to Princess Principal. Not only is it one of my favourite shows of the season, it is one that from the short synopsis I read and the character designs I was pretty positive I was going to drop, not because it sounded bad, but because it just didn’t sound or look like something I would enjoy. So glad I watched the first episode because it was great fun.

Number 5: 18if

After going to sleep like normal, Haruto Tsukishiro wakes up to discover something unbelievable—he’s stuck in dream world! Here, witches plague the dreamscape and are more than dreamy figments—they’re the trapped souls of young women who’ve rejected reality and are afflicted by the “Sleeping Beauty Syndrome.”

The above is the Crunchyroll synopsis and reading that it just screams that this is something to be avoided. Stuck in a dream world? Okay, here’s another chance for a writer to just be totally random for no reason. Oh, there are witches who are actually the trapped souls of young women? Suffering from a syndrome named after a fairy tale character. It all just seemed far too much like a desperate cry for attention and to be honest with each episode featuring a unique art style and tone you could be forgiven for thinking this entire story is just a project being made by an over-zealous art class full of students that all just want their turn at creating someone for Haruto to rescue. Despite that, it actually hasn’t been a bad watch. There’s been quite a bit of heart in some of the stories and there’s been enough cohesion with Haruto to carry us from story to story without too much confusion. Admittedly, this could still end very badly or not at all if they don’t bother to get to some sort of more definitive point before the season draws to a close.

Number 4: Gamers

“Would you like to be with me… in the Gamers Club?” Amano Keita is a perfectly mediocre loner with no particular distinguishing features other than his love for games. One day, his school’s prettiest girl and Gamer Club President Tendo Karen suddenly calls out to him. That moment changes Keita’s life forever, as he now finds himself in the midst of a romcom with beautiful girl gamers… or, well, that’s how it usually goes. Not with him, however.

As much as I like games and gaming, this anime didn’t exactly scream that it was something I wanted to watch. Everything about the synopsis is cliché and high school, club anime about loner boy getting targeted by the school’s ‘prettiest girl’ to join a club just didn’t seem like something I was going to get into. And the first episode more or less confirmed those fears and then it didn’t. Gamers managed to turn the trite and overused scenario on its head and admittedly it has marched us through a lot of tropes and clichés the way it manages to continue to defy audience expectations while remaining watchable is pretty amazing. The narrative is completely shot at this point because of all the twists they keep building in but it doesn’t really matter because I’m just caught up with these odd characters and their odd but charming interactions.

Number 3: Fastest Finger First

Bunzou High School is welcoming its new first-year students. One of them, Koshiyama Shiki, is chosen to participate against his will in an impromptu fast-buzzing quiz meet by the president of the Quiz Bowl Circle. As a quiet boy who loves reading and doesn’t want to stand out, Shiki is overwhelmed, but his classmate, Fukami Mari, is able to hit the buzzer and answer questions before the full question is given.

Once again, high school club with quiet boy getting dragged into things. What actually drew me to this one is that it was about quizzes and I really enjoy them so I ignored all my trepidations and took on the first episode. While I can’t say that this has truly defied any of my expectations, it is really quite watchable and mostly that is because of Koshiyama as the protagonist. He might be a quiet kid who doesn’t like standing out but there’s more to him than just that and he’s actually proving to be a reasonably well rounded protagonist. Does that make the show particularly good? Not really. Unless you like quizzes there really isn’t a lot to get into with the story. However, given what my initial thoughts were when reading that synopsis I’ve ended up finding this fairly okay.

Number 2: Clean Freak Aoyama-Kun

Aoyama kun is a hot, young soccer prodigy who plays midfielder for the National U-16 Soccer Team. But he’s also an extreme germaphobe! The TV anime adaptation of “Keppeki Danshi! Aoyama kun!” (Clean Freak!! Aoyama kun) portrays the friendships he forms and the challenges he overcomes in a “spotless” coming-of-age story!

Seriously? It is a story about a ‘hot’ soccer player who is a germaphobe and in case that isn’t enough to make your eyes roll right out your head at the sheer gimmicky nature of that match up we then get an incredibly tacky pun dropped into the synopsis just for fun. There was absolutely nothing about that write up that made this seem like it would appeal and to be honest, there’s nothing about the show that really should given its basically an episodic comedy that has a cast of overly zany characters that each seem to get one episode in the spotlight where their extreme dysfunction takes centre stage as we circle around Aoyama and then we move on. Despite that, I’ve been finding this anime oddly charming. Not every joke is a winner and some episodes are more tiresome than others, but overall, Aoyama has been kind of interesting and part of that is probably because despite the cheap jokes and gimmicks, for the most part it seems to respect people with conditions. There are a lot of tacky jokes in the series but Aoyama’s need to clean has for the most part been treated as a setting rather than the target of the humour.

Number 1: In Another World With My Smartphone

After dying as a result of God’s mistake, the main character finds himself in a parallel world, where he begins his second life. His only possessions are the body that God gave back to him and a smartphone that works even in this new world. As he meets all kinds of new people and forges new friendships, he ends up learning the secret to this world. He inherits the legacy of an ancient civilization and works together with the kings of some very laid-back countries on his carefree travels through this new world.

Right from the title you know what this show is giving you. It is another self-aware isekai story about an overpowered protagonist trapped in another world. Gimmick to throw in is he gets to take his phone with him and somehow it works. There’s really no reason at all this anime should have appealed to me and yet there’s just something about how it delivers its tropes that manages to entertain. It seldom crosses into overly cringe worthy territory and even though the last couple of episodes have started to become a little repetitive, due to Touya being all but an unstoppable force of nature at this point, there’s still plenty to make me smile about this show. Nope, it has no depth and it isn’t trying to actually make itself distinct or a satire on the genre or anything else. What it does is simply remember why these clichés became cliches and what makes them fun. It delivers lines that in most shows would all but be followed with a nudge to the audience to let us know that they are aware it is an overused line in an absolutely serious manner. Just as it delivers cloth dissolving slimes without a hint of shame. All and all, of all the shows I tried without really expecting anything from them, this one is the one I’ve ended up having the most fun with. Again, not exactly the best anime of the season but nowhere near as terrible as it could have been from that synopsis.

Over to you, which show this Summer did you find to be oddly not terrible after reading a synopsis that kind of made you wonder why you were even pressing play?

Thanks for reading.

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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.

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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.

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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)

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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