Subject: Looking back on fall anime season Tue Jan 07, 2014 1:56 am
I sat, I watched, I reviewed. Sort of. Since the season is now over though, let's go over some anime that happened. Conveniently the ones I watched. The season was certainly mediocre but rich in my opinion, as was speculated in the beginning, but with a couple of moments of goodness here and there. Most of all though, I'll focus on the bad, because that's what Christmas is all about.
Aoki Hagane no Arpeggio:
Best loli, fall 2013 Adaptation of the Aoki Hagane no Arpeggio. Haven't read it, cba to check now to find differences but I'm interested enough to check it when I have more time, as this was quite a surprise in this season. Let's address the elephant in the room first, that's not standard animation, that's 3D animation. They do a good job of trying to approach standard anime as much as possible, so at first if you are not aware it will just feel like it's unnatural and once you pay attention you'll start noticing that those are 3D models. I'd guess that's a budget issue and it kinda hurts quality. To get the other bad thing out of the way, characters are not the deepest ever. Not fairy tail shallow, but pretty damn shallow nonetheless. Part of the reason for that is because many of the details of the manga are apparently skipped in the anime. They do a fast single cur run trying to tell a complete story (so not a faithful adaptation, manga is ongoing), while also taking it easy at times, and when all is said and done they do a fine job with it. It's a pretty fun anime to watch once you get used to the whole 3D thing, and exactly because of the 3D thing they are able to pull things like battle things constantly which would not be able to be done with certain budget limitations, while so long as you are ok with characters not being too deep, you'll find a likable cast and plot. All in all, I did not expect to like it as much as I did, it was a big surprise when you consider the characters and animation. Also, catchy OP.
BlazBlue:
Best fighting game adaptation, fall 2013 Adaptation of the Calamity Trigger and Continuum Shift, apparently, haven't actually played too much of the games, since I and standard fighting games don't really mix. Another surprise here actually. There's something you need to consider when talking about this anime and other anime like this, there's very real constraints when trying to transfer a fighting game to a different medium. Story usually goes from encounter & fight to another encounter & fight with a lighter than usual story to go with it, which of course is not really interesting outside of a fighting game. It should be noted that I am not a big blazblue fan, because fighting games and PC (meaning I only have so many available anyways), but from my perspective they did a very good job with what they had. I feel that the story was delivered nicely and the characters were not bastardized for the sake of it. Of course it could not deliver the entire story as it was an adaptation of only 2 of the games, there was some of what felt like needless character exposition in there, and shallowness here and there was inevitable considering the source material, but while it has been called terrible, I felt it was an anime that was very aware of what it is and thus it managed to be truly fun without putting you off, unless you were expecting something a bit too grand. Yes it could be overly silly, yes it could be shallow to the point of nonsense, but I feel there was enough blazblue goodness in there. Because of it, I got into the story and I feel like playing Chronophantasma if it ever gets an english PC port. Which it won't. Baby steps.
Galilei Donna:
Best loli sideboob, fall 2013 Let's not go through the ways at which this is stupid yet, because it is fucking stupid, but let's not. Let's highlight this. This one was a season that was terrible for male leads, to the point of deconstructing the very concept. On the flipside, usually anime with female only leads that are not standard shoujo, are usually stupidly done, especially in terms of characters. Personally, I blame the K-on moe craze. K-on was good, the shit that tried to capitalize on it was not. Not only do the characters usually feel especially brain dead, there is also this empty space in the plot, reserved for the viewer to fantasize about them being his waifus, which tends to make the overall plot bad. Galilei Donna though did not have this issues, at least not to a great extend. Instead it was a story with female only leads that I could bear watching and have fun doing so as long as I could ignore the pretentious yet simplistic reasonings, abundant with fallacies, that passed as logic in that world. It was trying to be intelligent and deep, you could feel it, but in the end it was just storytelling for dummies, and not in a good way. It should be noted that the jokes made about this anime and Galileo Galilei having the significance of a superhuman from Sirius that discovered the internet are not too far fetched. In fact, within the anime Galileo Galilei is revealed to have discovered flight, an extremely efficient energy production method (centuries before it could be used for anything worthwhile of course) and last but not least, time travel. The story does not neglect to stress in every episode that Galileo Galilei is indeed a god among men (surely he must have discovered the secret to immortality, so "is", not "was"), and that is an indicator of the ways in which the anime fails to show-off as intelligent or deep to anyone with a mental age of over 11. Regardless of all that, if you take away the high amount in pretentious-smart-turning-stupid in this, it is an enjoyable show with female leads that you can watch. Though the sideboobs are a lie, they are only there in the OP and ED, but never in the actual anime.
Golden Time:
Whiniest little pussy ghost, fall 2013 Light novel adaptation for the riaju anime of the season (meaning first-first world problems). Didn't think I'd end up watching it in the beginning, but I watched about the 5 first episodes at once and started following it. Its strength is its light and straightforward theme I'd say, makes it easy to digest regardless of its shortcomings. The biggest of those shortcomings would have to be that the average intelligence of any given character in this series is somewhere between George W. Bush and a pile of bricks. Yes, that means the average IQ is lower than that of a pile of bricks (not to mention exceptional emotional immaturity for their age). And that of course can easily carry into the plot. Biggest example: guy loses memories -therefore-> soul leaves body (guy is fine, funny person and all, likable, but soul left body, you know, it's like an accessory, you wouldn't really need it even if you had it) -therefore-> ghost is created out of guy's lost memories. I should note that before losing his memories, said guy was the whiniest brat of whiniest brats, a grand pussy that puts Ikari Shinji to shame and may be the only case of a man that became more intelligent after losing his memories (and soul, apparently). Unfortunately, the digestability of this show is easy to be offset by the accumulated stupid in it. They should all be adults, but would you really trust any of them with voting? Except from nana-senpai, she is cool, she would win best bro 2013 if not for WA2's Kazusa. Another thing I have to mention here after noticing the pacing of the series when I was done watching the first few episodes in bulk, is that to fill out 2 seasons out of the light novel source material, the pacing is kinda slow, which isn't helping. Regardless, if you are not put off by stupidity in anime easily, it's an enjoyable romance anime to watch and a fun one to go through in bulk.
Kyoukai no Kanata:
Best glasses, fall 2013 Overall good kyoani animation while the actual anime was decent this time since it was a proper light novel adaptation. Characters were interesting (some, a bit), story was interesting and its world was big, bigger than the anime actually. One of the good anime this season, and I did not expect it when I found out there's only 2 volumes of the light novel. But since this is a whining topic by now, let's get to my issues. My main issue with it is the main character. That guy is well animated, blond, immortal, has a crazy cosplayer mother, lives alone, has a fetish and has the strongest monster in that world in his body, and despite all these hooks, he amazingly manages to have a character depth that is glasses thin. If you take every word he ever says and replace it with "glasses" there will be absolutely no difference in that anime, no impact at all, seriously, try it, go watch an episode and imagine all of his words becoming "glasses". There is no difference. That is where his character begins and that is where it ends. The female lead is interesting but not interesting enough when considering that due to the absence of the male lead she has to carry that anime and she can't pull that off. Other than that there are interesting characters and an interesting world, both of which are held back by a character with a head full of glasses and all other depth to him being the circumstances he is in instead of his own character.
Freezing Vibration:
Best NTR, fall 2013 And that award says something, considering the unusually high amount of NTR in this season. But anyways. This is the show funnimation took the fun out of with excessive censorship, with that annoying "let's obstruct half the screen with light, defeating the point of anime" idea. In this season freezing had moved away from a romance anime, far far away, and into a more story driven one. Let me explain how far away. Similar to the word -> glasses analogy above, if you took Aoi Kazuya in this anime (main character, female lead's romantic interest) and replaced his entire existence with air, there would be no difference in the anime, no impact at all. The main character faded in the background, in some episodes he does not even appear, in the rest he is an utterly useless prop with just a couple of exceptions, making me think at times whether he was a filler character in the series and Satella never had a partner or something (btw, looked it up, he actually exists). Supposedly he is the strongest limiter and stuff, but that never comes into play, at all. Only near the end, where he is trying to stop Satella from going berserk, he is actually shouting at her to stop before being reminded by a fellow limiter that he has a friggin superpower, which is kinda the whole reason he is there, is actually the title of the show (Freezing) and it just so happens, that's what you use it for, restricting Pandoras, but no, he is a strong independent limiter, he needs no freezing, instead he will watch from the sidelines Satella getting the shit beaten out of her by other Pandoras while looking very concerned. He is not actually doing anything while looking concerned, but dammit you can see he is invested in it. Really, unless in the last episode he became super sayan and grew wings out of his eyes that shoot naked women that explode into rainbows of destruction, there is no way kazuya was going to redeem himself as a male lead. Spoiler: That's not what happens. The male lead this season is probably Andre. "Who is Andre"? Andre is the limiter of Elizabeth Mably, Andre is a bro, Andre is a Man and Andre actually does his job, both the freezing stuff and being a partner for his Pandora. Heck, Andre probably gets more screentime than Aoi Kazuya. Go Andre. But you know what, there's a whole anime to review here, so let's get to the rest. Let's remove Aoi Kazuya from the equation of this anime and review what is left. Which is the entirety of Freezing: Vibration. Intact.
As I said, it breaks away from the romance and more into a deeper story. If you exclude the loss of the previous season's mc, I'd say this is actually for the best as it makes for a very interesting anime, the e-pandora arc will probably manage to keep you engaged. Normally Freezing would be described as a tits anime, but I'd say there is no real ecchi to be found here. While there are naked bodies, it is not sensual and it actually manages to desensitize you from the concept of naked anime boobs, at least in the limits of this anime, which is an amazing feat, for better or for worse. It could be because of how romance is lost as a focus, it could be because they are somehow portrayed naturally, but naked female bodies are less of a turn on here and more of an aesthetic choice. Battles weren't that interesting in the beginning because of the difference in strength, but there were some good ones to be found towards the end. A thing worthy of note here is that in the middle we get a storyline shoved in that feels out of place and seems like it is heavily influenced by NTR doujin the author may have read as it is exactly that, an NTR storyline, and despite ending well, it really serves to deconstruct the character of Satella, which seems like a terrible idea while Kazuya fades in the background, leaving the story with no main characters, other than ANDRE! Thankfully, Satella is back to her blunt self after the storyline somehow, making it seem like it didn't really happen (was there in the manga btw).
Overall, even though there is a case of a disappearance of a main character in the switch from season 1 to season 2, Freezing manages to remain relevant and interesting with this switch, a recommended anime from this season. I'll say again, that before writing it off as ecchi, having seen it I'd say it is more of an aesthetic choice and does not feel erotic (outside of the NTR storyline, but that's a complete wtf anyways).
Infinite Stratos 2:
Best Drama, fall 2013 This story is a tragedy of a young man, thrown in a female only military academy. At any given moment half the students try to form vague forms of contact with him (and I mean vague, completely random) while the other half is actively trying to actually murder him with mecha parts including giant claws and laser beams as well as swords, knives and guns because the first half attempted to establish said vague forms of contact. His only family left, his big sister, is cold, distant and cruel to him. Even though they are in an academy, and despite having to go through the hardships of military training at such a young age, they are constantly assaulted by terrorists forces, which more often than not aim for his life. Finally it is hinted he might not even be who he thinks he is, while being able to trust only his imaginary friend, a girl who is in his mind the form of his mecha. And despite all that, despite constant bullying by the unloving and malicious women around him, despite the constant attempts at his life from foe and friend alike, this young man, this hero always has a dumb smile on his face, always acts as he is oblivious to the truths of the world. For this young man, suicide would be the coward's way out. That's infinite stratos 2 in a nutshell. Ichika is the same annoying, full on vanilla, ungodly dumb and constantly useless guy he always was. His harem picks up the characters they had in the first season and they faithfully stay there (completely, from beginning to end, no change), while we get some nice russian additions of girls that actually don't try to get his attention by shooting lasers at him and assaulting him with knives and other sharp murder weapons, which the rest of his harem seriously does, they really are trying to kill him, some dodges off and he is a dead man for the slightest of reasons. I should also note censorship in this, which is implemented by showing a still picture for an extended period of time while in the background there is a slow and spread discussion that does not qualify as anything, meaning that while censorship is going on, you are fully wasting your time. Lastly, I have to praise the attention span of those people, goldfish don't compare. They could be standing on the rails, a speeding train heading towards them at 300 km/h, 100 meters away from collision, and if as much as a branch snaps in the distance they will freeze in place, 100% of their attention turning towards the branch. This is basically how a standard battle goes in IS2: -Character fights with enemy -Character's friend gets hurt -Character stands in place, turns head towards friend and calls out their name while completely ignoring enemy -2 minutes of ignoring later, enemy knocks them out
I can't help but compare this to freezing, they both started their first seasons close by, are harem (IS has more girls, Freezing has more boobs) and are both in their second season. Freezing lost their MC and changed direction, IS continued to do more of the same. I'd say it is that which makes IS2 less interesting this season, doing more of the same since it was not that mindblowingly exciting to begin with. Freezing on the other hand manages to remain relevant by doing something different, and manages to continue being interesting because of it. Besides, maybe IS2 would have benefited from losing its main character, but then again the average character there is brain dead, so that wouldn't really work, his pen1s is the greatest contribution to that show and its greatest pillar of support now, pun intended. It would have benefited by at least moving faster, but that can't be helped either as it is using a light novel as its source material. As it is, it seemed like a tiny bit of story that created many more questions that gave answers (like what drugs is everyone taking in that academy), shoved between filler like harem stories and innocent murder attempts. It's basically like school days with mecha.
Kakumeiki Valvrave 2:
Best Lost, fall 2013 I'll say kakumeiki valvrave was a good anime. It was a fine mecha, it did its drama/soap opera stuff ok, had some decent characters somewhere in there if you used your imagination or something and had this whole flashy colour mecha animations going "weeeee" really bright in the distance, something that I appreciate in the anime, I really do. If you'd ask me whether I recommend it or not, I recommend it, it's a good show. But since I am whining anyways, it is also the most unorganized writing I've seen. There are so many events set up only for half of them to be left unresolved in the end in a Lost fashion, which mainly happens through people dying. Btw, big spoilers ahead. Marie's character is starting to set up, close friend of female lead that we know nothing about, apparently she has amnesia and was the first kamitsuki and stuff, well I wonder what happened back in- who cares?! fuck it, she's dead. Oh, that girl, Liselotte that L-Elf had appear in a couple of flashbacks and that's his goal appears, we learn she is an alien and all, seems like an interesting- who cares?! fuck it, she's dead. Oh, remember that love triangle with shoko and saki and haruto? Was never really addressed in season 2 and all despite being half of season 1. He fights with shoko too and stuff and it makes you wonder how that will turn- who cares?! fuck it, he's dead. And akira was always afraid of people and stuff, and then the only friend she ever trusted betrays her, she is visibly upset but doesn't say anything yet because stuff are busy, but you can't help but wonder what will happen with- who cares? fuck it, they are all undead for some reason now so timeskip. Problem solved. Remember back in episode 7 when Saki was fighting in the future and the guy mentions a golden seven? It's weird in the end considering only 2 Valvrave pilots are still alive, so what happened there? Makes you wonder what- who cares?! fuck it, it's skipped. It seems events are put there at random with no plan for what to do later at all, so if you actually try to follow the series it seems so sloppy, while often deaths seem like are just for checking boxes rather than actual impact. I'll still say it's a good anime like I say that Lost was a good series, but its story was so damn sloppy, while the way character developments were handled there was akin to arbitrarily cutting someone off mid-sentence instead of a planned growth. Except from Q-Vier. He had no growth to begin with. He's basically Kanbara Akihito from KnK, you just replace "glasses" with "murder" and he makes just as much sense.
Kuroko no Basuke 2:
Best engrish, fall 2013 On the plus side, animation was better, I like kuroko no basuke anyways and didn't mind going through it again. It's certainly something I recommend. But unlike what I said at the beginning of the season, it doesn't get to be top of the season for me, even if I hadn't read the manga. Reason isn't that it's not as good, but the good game comes up right after this season, which makes this season instead seem a bit lackluster by comparison. Other than that, the games in this were good, and kuroko's new skill which allows him to disappear even from the sight of the referee so that he doesn't notice he is travelling, is pretty cool. Especially when you learn of the conditions of it afterwards and find out they are almost never met when looking back at these episodes. Seriously though, fun anime. Also, great OP.
Log Horizon:
Best damage calcs, fall 2013 Novel series adaptation. My opinion on it is mostly what it was at the beginning of the season, fun VR anime that knows what it is instead of trying to be epic without much to back it up, so enjoyable to watch, including the economy stuff, since, slow as it may be, they are doing rpg stuff at least. That would be an issue with it though, pacing is meh currently, but I'll take it I guess.
Machine-Doll wa Kizutsukanai:
Best Yaya, fall 2013 Light novel adaptation. Overall was enjoyable, and perhaps one of the best of the season, I liked the main character and other characters and brain dead characters, all alike. Nothing too amazing, but likable nonetheless. The unfortunate part here is that since it is the first adaptation of a light novel, you are really just getting a small slice of it, 3-4 independent stories and that's it, while being at what seems to be less than 10% of the story. Source material runs out fast and there's not much you can do about it, so quantity, or rather completion percentage, is its biggest issue. So yeah, if you are fine with dealing with the initial character exposition chapters instead of a fuller story, it's great. Otherwise, you might find it too short to care.
Monogatari Series:
Best MAN, fall 2013 Up until mid-season, it was kinda mediocre. It started last season with the very bad main character that was Hanekawa. I like Hanekawa and all, but terrible as a main character. In this season it started decently, got a bit mediocre afterwards, but after the middle of the season, it got awesome. In this season that destroyed the idea of the male lead, this man was not the male lead we deserved but he was the male lead we needed. Kaiki fucking Deishu. He would be best man 2013 instead of fall 2013 if this year didn't get a Gintoki season and a Hikigaya season, which are 2 of my 3 favourite characters ever. Tough competition. He is certainly my favourite monogatari character though. Araragi on the other hand was swept by this trend of male lead destruction a bit, getting the Zenkichi treatment from Nisio Isin apparently, but that's just Nisio being Nisio, nothing too weird, and he was alright in general, only lacked in comparison to his own self previously. His stories were still good when compared to the average anime as well, again just not the expectations that monogatari has set. And even if you have high expectations that may get you disappointed mid season, it is still all worth it about the last story. It's a story about a man that tries to deceive a middle school girl he hurt by scamming other middle schoolers in the past, for the sake of a girl that was his love interest when she was in grade school and he was doing her mother or something along those lines, a true man, certainly that is a man, he is a man, for if he were not a man, he would be a woman. Watch it. If I had to name a problem though, it's how hard it will be to be hyped for regular monogatari after I've tasted the Kaiki goodness. How do you go back to regular episodes and still have fun with them? It would have to be pretty exciting to make it work from now on. Certainly no more of the regular "oh, OH! Something was going to happen! But life is meh, so resolution is meh, that's deep, it's a life lesson" crap that Nisio Isin just loves to pull. One and a half season of that was enough. It's an anime, not a documentary.
Outbreak Company:
Best otaku, fall 2013 Light novel adaptation that was a favourite in this season for many people, and for good reasons. It's good comedy, doesn't overreach in trying to be more intelligent than it can, so it always seems at least adequate, unlike many other things in this season. Has a good story to it, a bunch of references (some of which hurt it though, why reference crime edge twice when it sucked so much...) and an overall nice feel good theme to it, that additionally feels right at home for anime watchers. Also, it didn't get touched by the male lead destruction this season, which is a plus.
Strike the Blood:
Best nosebleed, fall 2013 Light novel adaptation and the godmode anime of the season. You may like them, you may not, I know dlk chat is crazy over them though. It's about a guy who is a vampire which is one of the 4 strongest dudes in the world, about girls who totally dig guys who are vampires which happen to be one of the 4 strongest dudes in the world and about a bunch of people who think it's a good idea to challenge a vampire which is one of the 4 strongest dudes in the world. It's more or less what you'd expect from OP power fantasy anime, although male lead is not as alpha as in some other godmode anime. I'd say it's more around bleachigo level. Also, I think there's 3D effects for some reason. Not as in 3D animation, as in 3D glasses. Either that or a very weird animation technique is used. Anyways, if I have to give additional critique, it's the first season of a light novel adaptation, so it's slow and has a bunch of character introductions. You know, the usual: you get 5% of the story in an entire season.
Tokyo Ravens:
Best BL bait, fall 2013 Light novel adaptation and the unisex anime of the season. I feel that to achieve that status though, the male lead had to be sacrificed into being useless. At the beginning he becomes a shikigami, which supposedly should mean at least something, but there's pretty much no difference all the way until now other than having a pentagram on his cheek. Good animation, interesting-ish characters and story, tsunderes everywhere and a furry loli. Story may be a bit slow considering that the main character is kinda useless for this entire season, but I think this one continues into the winter season, so it remains to be seen what happens with this one. It's one of the better anime this season though, that I'll say.
Walkure Romanze:
Best bestiality, fall 2013 Eroge adaptation, I've been through this, this is a story about a guy who likes horses more than he should, a girl that likes said guy and a horse that likes said girl more than it should. The love triangle of the season really. It's the below average thing you'd expect, but hopefully we'll be getting an OVA like in princess lover, if you know what I mean. Also, the VN is actually being translated now. There is a major complaint I have though. All season, we had this tournament being hyped and the female lead's progress being mentioned constantly and how important it all is and all, only to have the final match be a montage with a pointless result, despite several matches before it being made properly, which was kinda a fack you to those who actually took the time to watch it. Just saying... Oh well, there's still the OVA hope.
Yusibu:
Best maou boobs, fall 2013 Light novel adaptation. I've been through how demon king plot twist plots have been typical lately, but I'll stay on the animation being really well jiggly, looking forward to those blu rays. Overall, I'll say that despite being expected or simplistic or just silly, it's still good enough to be worth a watch unless you are allergic to ecchi. Won't make more maou plot jokes. Just that.
White Album 2:
Best of fall 2013 nanana nana na-na-na-naa nanana nana na-na-na-naaa nanana nana na-na-na-naa nananana-nananana-nananana-na Monogatari was close to taking that one because of Kaiki fucking Deishu, but in the end we only got half season of that, while instead we got a full season of White Album 2, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I won't spoil the end, but whatever you have to say about that, I'll say it's good since it makes me want to play the VN which is being translated now to see it all, something that VN anime usually don't make me do (or at least the Closing Chapter, considering Introductory Chapter is linear anyways). I've read that Haruki may have been sort of a coward or has done not that well, but I think it was all justifiable by his age and emotional maturity at the time, overall he was pretty good, and at least he didn't hit the other extreme, Toya (first WA mc) who in the anime would be on a crusade to get into anything with a hole, including but not limited to: bottles, locks and the moon. Overall, great romance anime, loved both heroines, really looking forward to the sequel, be it the VN being translated eventually or it being animated before that.
Subject: Re: Looking back on fall anime season Tue Jan 07, 2014 3:47 am
White Album 2 was a really enjoyable ride, and it definitely is one of my higher favorites of the season, was a Toumafag but I'd be fine with either heroines winning at the end, hoping for S2 or VN to be translated soon. Same with MonoS2 because dat Kaiki badassness and best monogatari OP. Valvrave was enjoyable, but season 2 doesn't have the jingle bells magic, and doesn't answer that many questions, yeah. Walkure, I dropped and am now earnestly waiting for an OVA like princess lover(yes i know what you mean). Everything else I didn't follow or I agree with without any comments to make.
Personally though, AOTS would be...Non Non Biyori. I don't get it. /a/ was hyping the hell out of it. Many places were hyping the hell out of it. Yet, when I watched it...I can actually agree with them. There are many aspects in which other shows this season did better, but overall Non Non Biyori is just that fun and all. Still lolibait and moe though I guess so take it as you will.
Subject: Re: Looking back on fall anime season Tue Jan 07, 2014 12:01 pm
Lets talk about Kill la Kill, please. I talked with Al about Golden Time for a bit, fun stuff. I hear that its actually like somewhere around 20-26 episodes if that's right?
