(no subject)
New anime season started a while back (and it's almost over oops). Here's what I'm watching:
Diabolik Lovers is this season's massive train wreck, but just try to look away. There's been a lot of discussion about the fact that the show is basically watching a cute girl be abused (in every possible way) by a gang of six vampire brothers who are beautiful and disturbingly cruel and sadistic. And no, these guys aren't sweet underneath it all or good guys deep down. They're monsters who genuinely enjoy making her cry. The show is very strange and sometimes hard to watch. In any other show of this nature (based on an otome game), the heroine eventually gets some relief. The guys may tease her or even strongly come onto her, but they always back off when they realize how upset she's getting. Or alternately, someone else shows up to rescue her from unwanted advances. Diabolik Lovers is unique in that no one ever comes to rescue the heroine, because none of these guys give a shit about her beyond feeding on her. And they definitely don't care to keep going even when it's clear that she wants them to stop. In fact, they enjoy her distress. It's just episode after episode of Yui (the heroine) being abused and treated like garbage. But that's the point. It's a rape fantasy pure and simple. But it's gorgeous to look at and has one hell of a voice cast, so I'm still watching (if only to hear the incredibly sexy male voice actors saying such ridiculously dirty things).
Yowamushi Pedal is a very cute and funny sports anime about a bicycle racing club. The strength of this show hinges completely on how adorably nerdy and sweet the protagonist is, and how strongly the series makes you want to root for him. So far it's been a fun ride, with some hot guys in biker shorts and a pretty cool female character who's like an expert on bicycles (nice to see a chick in a shounen sports anime who actually, you know, does stuff).
Coppelion might as well be called "Scenery Porn: The Series". The show would be worth watching for the drop dead gorgeous scenery alone, but it had to throw in three awesome female leads (with a focus on their friendship and camaraderie), a fascinating premise that leads into all sorts of different stories, and great opening/ending themes (in a season that is sorely lacking in great opening/ending themes). This show is very likely going to be my favorite of the season and I would recommend it to literally everyone. It's another great example of what anime is capable of in terms of art and storytelling.
Kyoukai no Kanata (Beyond the Boundary) is the new series from KyoAni, the studio that gave us Free! (also a studio that tends to focus on slice of life shows, so there's been some buzz over the fact that this is a supernatural/action series). As expected of KyoAni, the production values are sky high for a tv anime but the character designs are definitely moe (a little too moe for me, to be honest, but I can forgive that). So far it's doing well. There are some interesting ideas and the characters are cute and fun. The fights are very well choreographed. Unless it screws up pretty badly in the end game, I think it's going to be one of my favorites this season.
Nagi no Asukara has an intriguing setting, mostly taking place in an undersea village populated by humans who can breathe underwater. The series is beautiful to look at, has probably the best ending theme of the season, and has some compelling plot threads that deal with racism, bullying, tradition, and forbidden love. The only problem is that most of the characters are initially bland at best and very annoying at worst, making the first couple of episodes less enjoyable than they should have been. The only two major female characters are both of the gentle, submissive, and innocent variety. Since the personalities of the male characters are quite different from each other, it would have been nice to have at least one girl who doesn't come across as a doormat (Note: there is a female character who is not part of the core group who doesn’t fall into this category, and the two gentle female leads are at least likable). The protagonist, Hikari, is loud, obnoxious, and strangely abusive to one of the girls, Manaka, whom he has a crush on. While he improves somewhat by the third episode, his actions in the first two left a sour taste in my mouth and it's been difficult for me to like him. To be fair, he does improve episode by episode as he grows and matures.
Golden Time is a series I was initially on the fence about, but decided to keep on my watch list after a very entertaining third episode. I'm not crazy about some of the character dynamics, but these dynamics change a lot over the course of the series (namely, one of the major female characters was entirely too dependent on a male character who doesn't even return her affections, saying things like, "I'm nothing without him", though this does change and she grows as a person; I was also annoyed by how a certain couple got together, as it gave strong ”Nice Guy got friendzoned, poor him” vibes and shifted too much blame onto the girl who really didn’t do anything wrong). The protagonist is reasonably likable most of the time and the show is funny at times and touching at others. Recent episodes have been pretty heavy on the kind of drama that rips your heart out, so be prepared.
Samurai Flamenco is basically a much kinder, softer, light hearted version of "Kick-Ass" (Note: there are exceptions to the whole “kinder, softer” thing). The two male leads are adorable and their unlikely friendship is the major draw to the series. The show takes a fairly sudden turn around episode seven, and I’m still not sure if I like the direction it took, but it’s fun regardless (though I do give the show props for having a total “WTF?!” moment at the end of episode seven that had the entire fandom freaking the hell out, and with good reason, as it was one of the best shocks I’ve seen in anime if only because of the sudden tone shift). It’s pretty hard to explain much about the series without giving anything away, but anyone who likes sentai or takusatsu should enjoy it immensely.
Galilei Donna is giving Coppelion a run for it’s money to take the spot as my favorite of the season. This is the kind of show I wish we saw more of. It’s pretty much awesome ladies doing awesome things, as we follow four strong female characters (strong in various ways, which is so refreshing) on an adventure to save the world. And they’re traveling in a giant goldfish mech that one of them built herself. And there’s a charmingly goofy yet handsome (and surprisingly capable) sky pirate who is in love with one of them. And three of them are sisters. And they’re all sassy and independent and talented yet sometimes vulnerable and weak and clumsy. And it takes place in a future where the world is going through another ice age, so there’s tons of snowy scenery (I am obsessed with snowy scenery, guys). It’s basically a perfect show and everyone should drop everything and go watch it.
Strike the Blood is probably my least favorite of the shows I’m following and the closest to falling off my watch list. The exciting fight scenes and catchy ending theme are all that’s saving it at this point. I’m just not crazy about shows where every new female character introduced ends up in love with the male protagonist, and then we end up with scenes of him falling and accidentally grabbing their boobs or accidentally getting water on them resulting in their clothes becoming see-through and it’s just soooo funny (not really, not after a gazillion other shows use the same gags a gazillion other times). To the show’s credit, the protagonist is not the standard boring, bland guy you see in most other stories like this (he actually has a personality, and he’s fairly likable) and there’s enough other stuff going on to distract you from the lame harem hijinks for a while, but when every badass female character that comes along turns into a blushing moe girl around the protagonist, it just gets tiring.
Valvrave season two is, thus far, an improvement over season one. I have a love-hate relationship with Valvrave and it’s pretty much the cheating, lying, potentially abusive boyfriend you just can’t bring yourself to break up with because he’s really hot and every now and then he does something really sweet for you. Valvrave is an overly melodramatic space opera mecha series that combines supernatural elements (vampire-like creatures, grim religious imagery, body-switching) with a Gundam Seed/Seed Destiny-like plot and mecha battles. To be honest, this shit is right up my alley. It’s ridiculous but it’s fun, and as long as you don’t take the series half as seriously as it takes itself, you’ll get a lot of entertainment out of it. It has glorious opening and ending themes (go listen to them, like right now) and one of the most absurdly badass characters you’ll ever see in any form of fiction, the hilariously named L-Elf, a silver-haired pretty boy who can take out a room full of heavily armed, highly trained guards while he’s completely unarmed and tied to a freaking chair. In fact, I was about to call this series “perfect according to my ridiculous tastes” until it introduced an insulting, offensive, just outright terrible subplot that practically ruined the first season for me (mostly because of how damned unnecessary it turned out to be). So far season two seems to have come up with a fabulous solution to the issue this subplot presented, so I’m willing to give it another chance. I mean, the series is still basically “space vampires having mecha battles”, and that’s what really matters.
Tokyo Ravens is what I wish Strike the Blood had been: a modern supernatural action series with an interesting mythology, focusing on high schoolers, but (unlike with Strike the Blood), there’s been pretty much no harem elements at all (not even a love triangle so far, which is surprising). The characters are all pretty fun, with a nice mix of personalities and nice character designs. It has my favorite opening theme of the season too. This is another type of anime I wish we saw more of: exciting action series with no harem elements and characters you’d actually like to hang out with.
Diamond no Ace is another sports anime I’m following this season, this time about baseball. The protagonist is kind of annoying but he’s relatable and easy to root for. The show has more drama than it has any right to, with a couple of scenes actually making me tear up. It also has my favorite male character of the season, Miyuki, who is just the most perfect dude ever omg. So far the series does a great job of juggling a lot of characters and even though some of them are hard to tell apart visually (pretty much all the male characters have the same face, so when they have similar hair or their hair is covered by a helmet or something, I get confused), they’re all very distinct in terms of personality.
Kuroko’s Basketball season 2 is a joy to watch. I enjoyed the first season a lot and this is just more of that. The new opening and ending themes are great, the new characters are interesting, and a couple of pre-existing characters have been given some much-needed character development. And of course it’s always fun to hear Japanese voice actors speaking in English (two characters spent time in America). The basketball games are ridiculous but exciting, and the series has a knack for effective humor. If you have any tolerance for sports anime whatsoever, you should be watching this.
Log Horizon has consistently surprised me by how awesome it is. I was a little wary of it at first, since it’s based on a series of light novels that were written by the same author as Maoyu, a series I dropped several episodes in a few seasons back. I dropped Maoyu because the “love triangle” became so moronic and so insulting to the female characters involved that I literally could not bear to watch any more. It amounted to two independent, intelligent women being reduced to screeching girls cat-fighting over a bland, non-committal dude who seemed to be enjoying keeping them both available and waiting for him. It culminated (for me, anyway, since it was the last episode I watched) in a scene where the ladies fight over who gets to climb into his bed with him while wearing sheer nightgowns, and they end up both getting in bed with him and... yeah. I stopped right there. However, I had enjoyed other parts of Maoyu very much (which made it so frustrating to have to drop it). The plot was great, and the world building was especially amazing, with a unique focus on politics and economics. It just so happens that Log Horizon has the same amazing world building (with the same focus on politics and economics) and a great plot, but none of the insulting love triangle garbage (yet; crossing my fingers that it stays that way). The male protagonist is tons more interesting than Maoyu’s, and so far there’s only one love interest and their relationship is very subtle. And oh yeah, people have called it “another Sword Art Online” because it’s about people trapped in a game-like world but that’s about as accurate as calling Sword Art Online “another Tron”.
Gingitsune is a cute, easy-going slice of life series that features some light supernatural elements. The show is like a pleasant nap on a sunny afternoon, not terribly exciting but enjoyable regardless. It’s funny but not hilarious, and has light drama rather than angst or melodrama. Some reviewers have called it boring, but I don’t think that fits (at least not for me). It is interesting, and most episodes are fairly self-contained, so you’ll want to finish the episode to find out how this week’s story ends. The characters are all likable and the series has some nice, pretty scenery.
Meganebu isn’t what I thought it would be, considering people were calling it “Free! with glasses” before it began airing. That description doesn’t fit, since Meganebu is a straight-up comedy while Free! was a sports anime with 100% more fanservice for the ladies. The only real similarity is that Meganebu also features a cast of attractive male characters who were clearly designed to appeal to a female audience. Oh, and both series had some BL undertones as well. To be honest, I was disappointed with Meganebu at first, because I’m not a huge fan of comedies (I like comedy in my other genres, but I’m not so crazy about comedy as a primary genre). But since I’m such a fan of glasses, it was hard for me to resist smiling while watching this silly little show about cute boys in glasses who are obsessed with their own glasses. And that’s pretty much the gist of the whole show: Cute boys in glasses having glasses-related adventures. Another reason to keep watching is the show’s eye-popping use of color, which has to be seen to be believed.
Magi season two is doing well, seeming to recover from the stupid season one finale that was so heavily altered from the manga that it might as well have been an anime original storyline (I don’t even read the manga myself, but the Tumblr tag was pissed off about it and the quality of the storytelling plummeted in the last three episodes). The story seems to be back in good shape, highlighting the things that made most of the first season so good: amazing fight sequences, incredibly badass female characters, humor that has me actually laughing out loud (mostly coming from protagonist Alibaba who has the best facial expressions in the history of anime), and surprisingly serious moments that can catch you off guard. There’s some fanservice (of the equal opportunity variety, as the girls sometimes have revealing outfits but the guys occasionally get naked), but it all comes across more as funny than skeevy (maybe because the mangaka is a woman).
Diabolik Lovers is this season's massive train wreck, but just try to look away. There's been a lot of discussion about the fact that the show is basically watching a cute girl be abused (in every possible way) by a gang of six vampire brothers who are beautiful and disturbingly cruel and sadistic. And no, these guys aren't sweet underneath it all or good guys deep down. They're monsters who genuinely enjoy making her cry. The show is very strange and sometimes hard to watch. In any other show of this nature (based on an otome game), the heroine eventually gets some relief. The guys may tease her or even strongly come onto her, but they always back off when they realize how upset she's getting. Or alternately, someone else shows up to rescue her from unwanted advances. Diabolik Lovers is unique in that no one ever comes to rescue the heroine, because none of these guys give a shit about her beyond feeding on her. And they definitely don't care to keep going even when it's clear that she wants them to stop. In fact, they enjoy her distress. It's just episode after episode of Yui (the heroine) being abused and treated like garbage. But that's the point. It's a rape fantasy pure and simple. But it's gorgeous to look at and has one hell of a voice cast, so I'm still watching (if only to hear the incredibly sexy male voice actors saying such ridiculously dirty things).
Yowamushi Pedal is a very cute and funny sports anime about a bicycle racing club. The strength of this show hinges completely on how adorably nerdy and sweet the protagonist is, and how strongly the series makes you want to root for him. So far it's been a fun ride, with some hot guys in biker shorts and a pretty cool female character who's like an expert on bicycles (nice to see a chick in a shounen sports anime who actually, you know, does stuff).
Coppelion might as well be called "Scenery Porn: The Series". The show would be worth watching for the drop dead gorgeous scenery alone, but it had to throw in three awesome female leads (with a focus on their friendship and camaraderie), a fascinating premise that leads into all sorts of different stories, and great opening/ending themes (in a season that is sorely lacking in great opening/ending themes). This show is very likely going to be my favorite of the season and I would recommend it to literally everyone. It's another great example of what anime is capable of in terms of art and storytelling.
Kyoukai no Kanata (Beyond the Boundary) is the new series from KyoAni, the studio that gave us Free! (also a studio that tends to focus on slice of life shows, so there's been some buzz over the fact that this is a supernatural/action series). As expected of KyoAni, the production values are sky high for a tv anime but the character designs are definitely moe (a little too moe for me, to be honest, but I can forgive that). So far it's doing well. There are some interesting ideas and the characters are cute and fun. The fights are very well choreographed. Unless it screws up pretty badly in the end game, I think it's going to be one of my favorites this season.
Nagi no Asukara has an intriguing setting, mostly taking place in an undersea village populated by humans who can breathe underwater. The series is beautiful to look at, has probably the best ending theme of the season, and has some compelling plot threads that deal with racism, bullying, tradition, and forbidden love. The only problem is that most of the characters are initially bland at best and very annoying at worst, making the first couple of episodes less enjoyable than they should have been. The only two major female characters are both of the gentle, submissive, and innocent variety. Since the personalities of the male characters are quite different from each other, it would have been nice to have at least one girl who doesn't come across as a doormat (Note: there is a female character who is not part of the core group who doesn’t fall into this category, and the two gentle female leads are at least likable). The protagonist, Hikari, is loud, obnoxious, and strangely abusive to one of the girls, Manaka, whom he has a crush on. While he improves somewhat by the third episode, his actions in the first two left a sour taste in my mouth and it's been difficult for me to like him. To be fair, he does improve episode by episode as he grows and matures.
Golden Time is a series I was initially on the fence about, but decided to keep on my watch list after a very entertaining third episode. I'm not crazy about some of the character dynamics, but these dynamics change a lot over the course of the series (namely, one of the major female characters was entirely too dependent on a male character who doesn't even return her affections, saying things like, "I'm nothing without him", though this does change and she grows as a person; I was also annoyed by how a certain couple got together, as it gave strong ”Nice Guy got friendzoned, poor him” vibes and shifted too much blame onto the girl who really didn’t do anything wrong). The protagonist is reasonably likable most of the time and the show is funny at times and touching at others. Recent episodes have been pretty heavy on the kind of drama that rips your heart out, so be prepared.
Samurai Flamenco is basically a much kinder, softer, light hearted version of "Kick-Ass" (Note: there are exceptions to the whole “kinder, softer” thing). The two male leads are adorable and their unlikely friendship is the major draw to the series. The show takes a fairly sudden turn around episode seven, and I’m still not sure if I like the direction it took, but it’s fun regardless (though I do give the show props for having a total “WTF?!” moment at the end of episode seven that had the entire fandom freaking the hell out, and with good reason, as it was one of the best shocks I’ve seen in anime if only because of the sudden tone shift). It’s pretty hard to explain much about the series without giving anything away, but anyone who likes sentai or takusatsu should enjoy it immensely.
Galilei Donna is giving Coppelion a run for it’s money to take the spot as my favorite of the season. This is the kind of show I wish we saw more of. It’s pretty much awesome ladies doing awesome things, as we follow four strong female characters (strong in various ways, which is so refreshing) on an adventure to save the world. And they’re traveling in a giant goldfish mech that one of them built herself. And there’s a charmingly goofy yet handsome (and surprisingly capable) sky pirate who is in love with one of them. And three of them are sisters. And they’re all sassy and independent and talented yet sometimes vulnerable and weak and clumsy. And it takes place in a future where the world is going through another ice age, so there’s tons of snowy scenery (I am obsessed with snowy scenery, guys). It’s basically a perfect show and everyone should drop everything and go watch it.
Strike the Blood is probably my least favorite of the shows I’m following and the closest to falling off my watch list. The exciting fight scenes and catchy ending theme are all that’s saving it at this point. I’m just not crazy about shows where every new female character introduced ends up in love with the male protagonist, and then we end up with scenes of him falling and accidentally grabbing their boobs or accidentally getting water on them resulting in their clothes becoming see-through and it’s just soooo funny (not really, not after a gazillion other shows use the same gags a gazillion other times). To the show’s credit, the protagonist is not the standard boring, bland guy you see in most other stories like this (he actually has a personality, and he’s fairly likable) and there’s enough other stuff going on to distract you from the lame harem hijinks for a while, but when every badass female character that comes along turns into a blushing moe girl around the protagonist, it just gets tiring.
Valvrave season two is, thus far, an improvement over season one. I have a love-hate relationship with Valvrave and it’s pretty much the cheating, lying, potentially abusive boyfriend you just can’t bring yourself to break up with because he’s really hot and every now and then he does something really sweet for you. Valvrave is an overly melodramatic space opera mecha series that combines supernatural elements (vampire-like creatures, grim religious imagery, body-switching) with a Gundam Seed/Seed Destiny-like plot and mecha battles. To be honest, this shit is right up my alley. It’s ridiculous but it’s fun, and as long as you don’t take the series half as seriously as it takes itself, you’ll get a lot of entertainment out of it. It has glorious opening and ending themes (go listen to them, like right now) and one of the most absurdly badass characters you’ll ever see in any form of fiction, the hilariously named L-Elf, a silver-haired pretty boy who can take out a room full of heavily armed, highly trained guards while he’s completely unarmed and tied to a freaking chair. In fact, I was about to call this series “perfect according to my ridiculous tastes” until it introduced an insulting, offensive, just outright terrible subplot that practically ruined the first season for me (mostly because of how damned unnecessary it turned out to be). So far season two seems to have come up with a fabulous solution to the issue this subplot presented, so I’m willing to give it another chance. I mean, the series is still basically “space vampires having mecha battles”, and that’s what really matters.
Tokyo Ravens is what I wish Strike the Blood had been: a modern supernatural action series with an interesting mythology, focusing on high schoolers, but (unlike with Strike the Blood), there’s been pretty much no harem elements at all (not even a love triangle so far, which is surprising). The characters are all pretty fun, with a nice mix of personalities and nice character designs. It has my favorite opening theme of the season too. This is another type of anime I wish we saw more of: exciting action series with no harem elements and characters you’d actually like to hang out with.
Diamond no Ace is another sports anime I’m following this season, this time about baseball. The protagonist is kind of annoying but he’s relatable and easy to root for. The show has more drama than it has any right to, with a couple of scenes actually making me tear up. It also has my favorite male character of the season, Miyuki, who is just the most perfect dude ever omg. So far the series does a great job of juggling a lot of characters and even though some of them are hard to tell apart visually (pretty much all the male characters have the same face, so when they have similar hair or their hair is covered by a helmet or something, I get confused), they’re all very distinct in terms of personality.
Kuroko’s Basketball season 2 is a joy to watch. I enjoyed the first season a lot and this is just more of that. The new opening and ending themes are great, the new characters are interesting, and a couple of pre-existing characters have been given some much-needed character development. And of course it’s always fun to hear Japanese voice actors speaking in English (two characters spent time in America). The basketball games are ridiculous but exciting, and the series has a knack for effective humor. If you have any tolerance for sports anime whatsoever, you should be watching this.
Log Horizon has consistently surprised me by how awesome it is. I was a little wary of it at first, since it’s based on a series of light novels that were written by the same author as Maoyu, a series I dropped several episodes in a few seasons back. I dropped Maoyu because the “love triangle” became so moronic and so insulting to the female characters involved that I literally could not bear to watch any more. It amounted to two independent, intelligent women being reduced to screeching girls cat-fighting over a bland, non-committal dude who seemed to be enjoying keeping them both available and waiting for him. It culminated (for me, anyway, since it was the last episode I watched) in a scene where the ladies fight over who gets to climb into his bed with him while wearing sheer nightgowns, and they end up both getting in bed with him and... yeah. I stopped right there. However, I had enjoyed other parts of Maoyu very much (which made it so frustrating to have to drop it). The plot was great, and the world building was especially amazing, with a unique focus on politics and economics. It just so happens that Log Horizon has the same amazing world building (with the same focus on politics and economics) and a great plot, but none of the insulting love triangle garbage (yet; crossing my fingers that it stays that way). The male protagonist is tons more interesting than Maoyu’s, and so far there’s only one love interest and their relationship is very subtle. And oh yeah, people have called it “another Sword Art Online” because it’s about people trapped in a game-like world but that’s about as accurate as calling Sword Art Online “another Tron”.
Gingitsune is a cute, easy-going slice of life series that features some light supernatural elements. The show is like a pleasant nap on a sunny afternoon, not terribly exciting but enjoyable regardless. It’s funny but not hilarious, and has light drama rather than angst or melodrama. Some reviewers have called it boring, but I don’t think that fits (at least not for me). It is interesting, and most episodes are fairly self-contained, so you’ll want to finish the episode to find out how this week’s story ends. The characters are all likable and the series has some nice, pretty scenery.
Meganebu isn’t what I thought it would be, considering people were calling it “Free! with glasses” before it began airing. That description doesn’t fit, since Meganebu is a straight-up comedy while Free! was a sports anime with 100% more fanservice for the ladies. The only real similarity is that Meganebu also features a cast of attractive male characters who were clearly designed to appeal to a female audience. Oh, and both series had some BL undertones as well. To be honest, I was disappointed with Meganebu at first, because I’m not a huge fan of comedies (I like comedy in my other genres, but I’m not so crazy about comedy as a primary genre). But since I’m such a fan of glasses, it was hard for me to resist smiling while watching this silly little show about cute boys in glasses who are obsessed with their own glasses. And that’s pretty much the gist of the whole show: Cute boys in glasses having glasses-related adventures. Another reason to keep watching is the show’s eye-popping use of color, which has to be seen to be believed.
Magi season two is doing well, seeming to recover from the stupid season one finale that was so heavily altered from the manga that it might as well have been an anime original storyline (I don’t even read the manga myself, but the Tumblr tag was pissed off about it and the quality of the storytelling plummeted in the last three episodes). The story seems to be back in good shape, highlighting the things that made most of the first season so good: amazing fight sequences, incredibly badass female characters, humor that has me actually laughing out loud (mostly coming from protagonist Alibaba who has the best facial expressions in the history of anime), and surprisingly serious moments that can catch you off guard. There’s some fanservice (of the equal opportunity variety, as the girls sometimes have revealing outfits but the guys occasionally get naked), but it all comes across more as funny than skeevy (maybe because the mangaka is a woman).