Winter 2015 anime
Anime I just recently finished watching. (Winter or not)
I actually watched quite a few series this season, and the majority of them all aired on Saturday, haha...
Not spoiler free!
Recently finished anime
Ace of Diamond
Boisterous pitcher joins a prestigious high school baseball team and aims to become the ace.
75 episodes~~~. First of all, I'm super happy that Ace of Diamond is getting a continuation and won't be stopping here. There's still a lot to tell, and Eijun is far from the ace of the team yet. It's going to be a long and hard journey. I'm really fond of the three first years, which is a good thing, since they get a lot of the spotlight. Haruichi is super cute and deadly. XDDD I love it whenever he's at bat. Episode 75 stopped at a really good point with the third years graduating, the 2nd and 1st years deciding on how things will go from here. Totally felt like an ending. With Miyuki narrating, he almost felt like the main character, haha. Eijun, how can you keep letting Miyuki steal the spotlight!!
If the anime had ended here, it would've felt right, but I'm happy the anime is still continuing! Eijun's journey is only just beginning (despite 75 episodes having passed).
Akatsuki no Yona
Betrayed, sheltered princess flees the castle and becomes a badass princess while gathering four legendary dragon warriors.
The anime adapted the manga beautifully. I'm always a bit hesitant when my favorite manga are being animated because I'd hate for the manga to be adapted poorly, giving people a lukewarm view of the series. Anime does a lot in boosting a series popularity. I am very happy at the treatment Akayona got! So faithfully adapted! It's also awesome finally seeing more people talk about this series, and seeing merchandise around! I'm really happy for Kusanagi Mizuho.
Her tweets were great fun to read as the anime aired. I've been following her works for years, my favorite being NG Life, and I'm just really happy that one of her series has finally been animated~~. Yona is a great protagonist. She grows so much during the series. Also, she has killer eyes. XD;; The dragon warriors are all super adorable. (I just can't with their teeth). I looked forward to this series every Tuesday. Loved the first opening. No lyrics, only bgm! It gave me a very Suikoden-ish feeling. The second opening made me laugh at first because it didn't match much, but it grew on me. I just wish more of the visuals had been updated. Some of the first opening's visuals were reused, so it felt almost like an amv. The 2nd ending is beautiful. The lyrics match very well. I love the part in the lyrics that sings about each of the dragon's powers.
Minagawa Junko as Yoon! :DDDD Getting to see Kija, Shinha, Jaeha, and Zeno animated, ahhhhh. <333 I'm really happy the anime didn't skip much and even added some scenes that fleshed out the characters even better. The adlibs of the seiyuu were a great touch. (Though it was somewhat surprising when Hak called Jaeha "Jaeha!" during the pirate ship scene. He's never called him by name before in the manga!). The anime ended just as Zeno joined. I really hope there will one day be another season. There's so much of the story left to tell still.
(I am dearly hoping the OVA will cover the love potion chapter. It's a hilarious chapter with Kija x Jaeha teasing)
ALDNOAH.ZERO
Martian princess comes in peace, only to be "assassinated," sparking an all-out war between Earth and Vers.
I wasn't following this series weekly. I pretty much marathoned S1 and most of S2 as well, and then I had to wait for the last few episodes. I enjoyed S1. Earthians seemed to have everything working against them. Just how can they overcome their Vers opponents? But then, as the series went on, I realized that Inaho really would never lose, and his companions can never win without him either. Just how overpowered are you, Inaho!!
Still, it was a fascinating watch, and what beautiful music and animation. I burned through the episodes. |D;; I really liked Slaine. He's like this loyal, cute puppy who... keeps getting kicked and can never get a break. The meeting between him and Inaho was like, yes! Are they going to team up? Their names for each other, ahhhhh. But no, no team up. What. And that was the turning point of Slaine's character arc. In S2, Slaine was definitely the antagonist, but he felt more like the protagonist to me. At least, I was much more interested whenever he was on screen than when Inaho was on screen. Watching Slaine's downward descent was pretty... fascinating. What a trainwreck. (Just what happened, Slaine?? This is such a drastic difference! So sad...) Still, I thought the series would end with a bang. It didn't. I do like happy endings, and I guess most of the characters sort of got happy endings, but things kind of just... ended. It was not an emotional ending at all. After all the twists and turns, this series might have benefited from a more tragic ending because it feels like all the foreshadowing and hints led nowhere.
(But can I hope for Inaho x Slaine? Someone must've written fic of them, right??)
Binan Koukou Chikyuu Boueibu LOVE!
Magical boys fight with the power of love.
This series was pretty hilarious. The characters often talked about really silly things, and their topics of conversations would end up as something the enemy/monster of the week was overly focused on. All the boys are named after onsen. The five main boys transform into girly, color-coded outfits much like what happens in magical girl anime, complete with transformation sequences, poses, and lines they speak after. It's awesome. Their enemies, the student council, also transform, and boy do I like their outfits. XD;;; Kinshiro is a cutie. The magical mascot of the Battle Lovers is a wombat while the enemy student council tries to conquer the world with the help of a green hedgehog. This series is so whacked yet it all makes sense.
Bonjour Sweet Love Patisserie
Prestigious cooking academy where you're not allowed to date the professors. It's strictly against the school rules.
A super short anime where every episode is only like, 5 minutes! I liked Sayuri as the protagonist. She has skills to back her up. It felt like she had something going on with her classmate Ryou, but the ending clearly paired her up with Mizuki instead. I totally didn't see that coming. :'D;; I suppose Mizuki was the only one where there was a love rival... not that Mizuki even cared about her.
Though each episode was really short, they got quite a lot accomplished in those minutes! The cooking was pretty funny... lots of posing. XD;; And then the desserts were done!
Durarara!! x2
Strange things happen in Ikebukuro. To fit in, you have to be just as strange.
I heard that DRRR!! would adapt all the novels. I thought it would continue without a break, but I guess not! In any case, this isn't the end of DRRR, so I don't have much to say here. Just that I was waiting for Mikado to snap, because I kept reading people's comments along the lines of "Just wait for it!" In the end, Mikado was still very Mikado. But it'll be interesting to see what will happen from here on out.
When I last watched DRRR!!, Kida was my favorite, but he was pretty much not involved in this season. This time around, I found Celty and Shinra to be a very cute couple. I wasn't very fond of Shizuo before... I tend not to like characters that are really popular, and he's too tall and violent, hahaha. But somehow (maybe my tastes have changed???), I found him to be pretty cute this time. Yes, cute. Like, I'd like to give him a pat. Thankfully, since I'm a girl, he won't break my arm for doing that.
Good job Shizuo, for being able to keep your temper in check just a bit more than before~~. You're growing up! :'D;
The opening worked pretty well, I felt, but the ending felt off to me. Both the OP and ED use the same format as the previous opening and ending of DRRR! The ending doesn't fit well with the music...
Log Horizon s2
Season 2 of gamers stuck in a game turned real. Flavor texts of weapons are becoming real, the land is expanding, plus a bunch of other problems.
I loved season 1. Season 2 was somehow not as captivating. I don't know if it was because of the pacing, the animation, the studio change, the content involved...? Before, I eagerly waited for each episode, but I didn't this time with S2. My favorite character is Rudy though, so when the newbie arc came along, I was much more invested. (My impression was that people found the newbie arc boring though XDDDD) I loved the part about music and how the People of the Land only have 42 songs, so to them, they know of music as 42. (My heart broke for them, and for Isuzu who kept saying that she has no talent, but what of these people who can't even make any music?) And then, there's the realization that Rudy sucks at music probably because of this.
Anyway, S2 felt a lot less polished than S1. By the end of the series, things finally tied back together, like the point of dying during the first arc (so they could experience being on the moon), meeting Roe2, seeing Kanami's journey, and so forth. It was great seeing Demikas brought back into the series. And finally there was an answer about what happened to Crusty.
Maybe the anime got started a bit too early, since now the anime has already shown events that the novels haven't even gotten around to, so there definitely won't be a season 3 anytime soon. Sadness, but I'd rather they wait than rush things! The ending did leave me wanting more, so I guess I'll be haunting the web novels....
Magic Kaito 1412
Son takes up father's mantle as a phantom thief.
The fact that this series was even greenlit amuses me because Kaito already received several OVAs that showed the exact same material, but hey, I won't say no to more Kaito. While I'm always afraid my favorites won't get adapted well, Kaito is such a well established character that I think a bad anime wouldn't hurt his popularity much at all. In fact, though the anime was only so-so, it seems to have boosted his popularity and the popularity of the Detective Conan anime (if ratings are any indication).
The first episode did its job just fine. I quite liked the opening and ending sequences. Very catchy! I am very confused, however, at the choice of material adapted and the order they were adapted in. We're never shown Hakuba getting suspicious of Kaito, and suddenly it's like Hakuba is already in the know, and he's giving Kaito advice. We're shown Akako growing a bit closer to Kaito, but out of order. We're never shown Kaito's first meeting with Conan. Instead, Conan just suddenly shows up, and we're expected to just roll with it. I get that Conan is very famous so he probably wouldn't need much of any introduction for anyone who has watched Conan, but this is assuming everyone has watched Detective Conan! Magic Kaito 1412 doesn't work very well as a stand alone series for all the Conan threads.
It was cool seeing Conan episodes from Kaito's POV. Conan is seriously one weird and scary kid from others' POVs hahaha. But I'd hoped to see some of the silly chapters adapted too, like Kaito stealing a baseball, and robot Kaito. I don't know how Robot Kaito would get explained, but still. XD;
The newest Magic Kaito chapters hinted at this Kaitou Corbeau guy who looks awfully like Kaito's dead father. The chapters were adapted as the last two episodes of the anime. I dearly hope Kaito's dad isn't actually alive. It would undermine the whole story... After two decades of believing Kaito's dad to be dead, and fandom building around this, it would feel cheap to have him be alive. I would feel cheated! Please be dead, Touichi. I don't know what the animanga is hinting... Corbeau seems very much like Touichi, or it could be Kaito's mom in disguise.
So, I guess new material still does make me wary. XD;;;
Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso
They meet in April, and new worlds open. It all starts with one lie.
I marathoned this. :'D;; Why, lucathia. Ugh, my tears...
Visually, this is a gorgeous anime. The music is amazing too, as is the voice acting. The anime lays it thick with imagery and metaphors, but it is poetic. Kousei drowning, unable to hear the music he plays. Fireflies and brevity. Black cats. Stars in the sky. Parallels.
It's not a series for everyone. The series touches upon depression, abuse, and death, with music as what ties everything together.
Everyone is conscious of Arima Kousei. Whether it's past rivals, his friends, Kaori, random people in the audience. It's heartwarming seeing him able to return to music, and to be able to play on despite all the tragedies in his life. He... becomes an even better piano player because of his losses. I wonder, would he rather be untalented than to lose his loved ones? It was never a choice, and he made the best of what he could, but... I can't help but wonder.
There was also a romance thread that I felt was secondary to the story, but many times during the series, I was thinking, "Gods, someone is dying and all you can think about is whether he/she likes you?" Then again, it's a huge part of human nature, and was probably their entire world at the point.
SHIROBAKO
Five girls dream of working in the anime industry and make a promise over donuts.
Shirobako is a fascinating and stressful watch. XD;;; I learned a lot about the anime industry while watching this! It reveals tons about how an anime is produced. And it can get very stressful to watch because deadlines, deadlines everywhere! Scrambling to meet the deadline, ahhhhhhh, production issues, idiotic coworkers messing things up *tears hairs out*
Miyamori, you are amazing for dealing with all this. XDDDD
It must feel super rewarding finishing production for a series. I felt proud whenever they finished their series in the anime. XDD What a relief! It was also touching seeing the five girls succeed in their careers, bringing them one step closer to their dream of one day producing the anime idea they came up with back in high school.
I cried during the ending of episode 23. :')
Yowamushi Pedal Grande Road
Intense bicycle racing where dropping out of the race is as dramatic as dying.
Yowapeda continues right where S1 left off, covering day 2 and day 3 of the race. A whole season just dedicated to 2 days, it's that intense. XDDD S2 made me like Arakita a lot after his episodes. No wonder he's popular. XD;; After all the yelling and snark, he'll buy you some bepsi. XDDD
S2 also shed light on Midousuji. He was a cutie after all. XDDDD The race was intense, with cliffhangers like, almost every episode. The ending was well deserved, and here's looking forward to S3 someday! There are plenty more manga chapters to adapt, and the series is very popular, so S3 seems a given.
My favorite character is Junta (Perm-senpai) whose only role during S2 was to cheer them on. XDDDD But there will be more of him later on! So I'm looking forward to that.
Older anime
Anime I finished watching that I never talked about, or that I just marathoned but wasn't part of the recent Winter 2015 anime.
Ginga Kikoutai Majestic Prince
A team of five failures battle to save humankind from getting hunted by the Wulgaru.
I was watching this in 2013... but I didn't watch the last few episodes until yesterday! It's a charming series with likeable characters. The mecha battles are quite well done, but mecha battles aren't my thing. I like watching their interactions outside of battle more. XD;;; Still, great battle sequences for people who like watching mecha battles.
The main characters don't have any memories of their pasts, and they were all born especially for piloting. I thought that was pretty intriguing. When we found out that Asagi and Izuru were basically related, the scene was so awkward XDDDD but then Izuru very adorably called Asagi, "Oniichan" ahhhhhhh. XDDD I can't believe he kept on calling him that afterward, ahahahaha. Way to break up the awkwardness, Izuru~~~. And then, Asagi really took his role of being the big brother very seriously. :'D I thought it was a total death flag.
I really enjoyed the interactions among all of Team Rabbits. It seems that this was originally a manga. I wonder if I can see more of their daily antics in the manga...
Shingeki no Bahamut: Genesis
The key to releasing Bahamut is stolen by a woman. Everyone is after the key.
I marathoned this. Amazing that this was based off of a card game?? The visuals were stunning. Really great production values, the story fun, and the characters memorable. It was quite an epic story, with angels and devils descending, a ragtag group making the best of what they could do, bounty hunters, an undead necromancer, and eventually everyone working together to stop Bahamut. It was great fun watching everything happen, with one thing leading to the next. I enjoyed the world we were immersed in~~
Sword Art Online II
Online gaming is serious business.
All I have to say is that GGO was distasteful at times and amusing at others. Oh, and Kirito is overpowered, as usual. Mother Rosario was a tearjerker, but I'm glad Asuna got the focus this time. But I wish Asuna and Kirito could be written into an arc without having to separate them. Visuals were stunning again, and the music was beautiful.
Ookami Shoujo to Kuro Ouji
A lying girl meets a black-hearted "prince."
Erika and Sata are a great couple. Really, they are! They end up together because of Erika's lying and Sata's black heartedness, and at first, people might think, "Wow, they're both terrible people, they deserve each other," but as the story develops, they find ways to make their relationship work. I enjoyed this series for showing us what happens after the couple goes out.
Also, they don't really change for each other, but rather grow more comfortable to show who they really are.
Hitsugi no Chaika S2
A mysterious girl carrying around a coffin is on a journey to collect her father's remains.
S2 speeds up the pacing twofold. 0___0;; Slower pacing would have benefited the series, but overall, the anime did a coherent job telling the story. There were Chaikas everywhere in S2, man, but at least there were also answers. The answers were pretty much as expected, but I consider that good writing for planting all of the logical foreshadowing that led to that point.
The final battle was easier than I thought it would be, but it did tie nicely with what Chaika had mentioned before about using memories to fuel her gundo. A bittersweet ending. :') I wish we had a few minutes more. The last few scenes after the battle were great.
Still watching
Only two series carried over, ahhh. (Amusingly, both Toei) What to watch now...
Sailor Moon Crystal
Magical girls fight with the power of the moon (and planets).
The new Sailor Moon has had terrible animation, and the content itself feels dated, or perhaps too rushed. I'm sure it has disappointed a lot of fans of the old anime. I actually don't remember much of the old anime. It was such a long time ago when I watched it, and I never did finish watching it... Anyway, the new Sailor Moon could have been a lot better, and I'm sad it's not. But I'm still watching it, haha, and getting a refresher of what the Sailor Moon storyline was. It's interesting seeing the origins of what will later go into a lot of magical girl series. Sailor Moon was truly the start of something everlasting~~~
The Sailor senshi really don't do much. Seems like the focus is more on Usagi and Mamoru? I'm amused Tuxedo Mask just goes and punches people. No roses involved here.
World Trigger
Monsters by the name of "neighbors" invade. An organization called Border deals with them. Main character becomes friend with a neighbor.
Naming them "neighbors" is just as bad as naming them "others" XDDD. And then, it's revealed that the neighbors come from the "Neighborhood" XDDDDD. I am very amused. In fact, whenever I say the word "neighbor" now, I think of World Trigger. Okay, World Trigger, you have successfully brainwashed me.
I'm enjoy WT a lot. It's too bad it has such bad production values, and terrible pacing. The anime is being stretched to 50 episodes when there weren't even 90 something chapters available when the anime started airing. This series would have benefited with a shorter anime and faster pacing. Cut out the terrible still shots giving us 5 second reaction shots of people (that make me think my video froze) and flashbacks of the previous episode when we'd just seen it in the previous episode!!
Also, for some reason, the opening song is played at very random times. Sometimes near the start of the episode. But often at like 11 minutes, or 9 minutes. Or some other random time. It's so random! I always check the timestamp now whenever the opening goes on... It's a very catchy opening though. I like it, so I always sit through it when the opening finally shows up. :'D;; It's like playing, anticipate the opening...
Osamu, Yuma, and Chika are all very endearing. I can't wait to see more of them. Osamu is very weak, but that makes him interesting. Yuma is powerful. I'm surprised we learned of his past so early. It does make me like him more though, and makes me understand him more. Chika is cute, and her trion levels are astounding. I like the idea of trion and fighting using trion triggers. The current arc in the anime with the war was very intense in the manga. I hope the anime version will also be intense.
New season, I'm hoping to check out Arslan Senki, Yamada-kun to 7-nin no Majo, Ace of Diamond S2, Ore Monogatari, Yahari Ore no Seishun Rabukome wa Machigatteiru Zoku, Kyoukai no RINNE, and maybe Owari no Seraph and Plastic Memories.
I've read the manga for Yamada-kun. I'd always hoped that Yankee-kun to Megane-chan would get an anime, but the mangaka's other work being adapted is great too. It's like my other favorites all over again... I like Oresama Teacher, the mangaka's newer work, Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun gets adapted. I like NG Life, the mangaka's newer work, Akatsuki no Yona gets adapted. I like Yankee-kun to Megane-chan, the mangaka's newer work, Yamada-kun gets adapted. Well, I'm glad their newer works are popular enough to get the anime treatment! ♥ I watched episode 1 of Yahari Ore... (Oregairu). Hikki's monologues are the best. I chuckled a lot through the episode. I hadn't finished S1 of Baby Steps, so no S2 for me until I do.
(Wow, looking at my previous post, I watched everything I planned on watching, and then some, except for Nanatsu no Taizai)
I actually watched quite a few series this season, and the majority of them all aired on Saturday, haha...
Not spoiler free!
Recently finished anime
Ace of Diamond
Boisterous pitcher joins a prestigious high school baseball team and aims to become the ace.
75 episodes~~~. First of all, I'm super happy that Ace of Diamond is getting a continuation and won't be stopping here. There's still a lot to tell, and Eijun is far from the ace of the team yet. It's going to be a long and hard journey. I'm really fond of the three first years, which is a good thing, since they get a lot of the spotlight. Haruichi is super cute and deadly. XDDD I love it whenever he's at bat. Episode 75 stopped at a really good point with the third years graduating, the 2nd and 1st years deciding on how things will go from here. Totally felt like an ending. With Miyuki narrating, he almost felt like the main character, haha. Eijun, how can you keep letting Miyuki steal the spotlight!!
If the anime had ended here, it would've felt right, but I'm happy the anime is still continuing! Eijun's journey is only just beginning (despite 75 episodes having passed).
Akatsuki no Yona
Betrayed, sheltered princess flees the castle and becomes a badass princess while gathering four legendary dragon warriors.
The anime adapted the manga beautifully. I'm always a bit hesitant when my favorite manga are being animated because I'd hate for the manga to be adapted poorly, giving people a lukewarm view of the series. Anime does a lot in boosting a series popularity. I am very happy at the treatment Akayona got! So faithfully adapted! It's also awesome finally seeing more people talk about this series, and seeing merchandise around! I'm really happy for Kusanagi Mizuho.
Her tweets were great fun to read as the anime aired. I've been following her works for years, my favorite being NG Life, and I'm just really happy that one of her series has finally been animated~~. Yona is a great protagonist. She grows so much during the series. Also, she has killer eyes. XD;; The dragon warriors are all super adorable. (I just can't with their teeth). I looked forward to this series every Tuesday. Loved the first opening. No lyrics, only bgm! It gave me a very Suikoden-ish feeling. The second opening made me laugh at first because it didn't match much, but it grew on me. I just wish more of the visuals had been updated. Some of the first opening's visuals were reused, so it felt almost like an amv. The 2nd ending is beautiful. The lyrics match very well. I love the part in the lyrics that sings about each of the dragon's powers.
Minagawa Junko as Yoon! :DDDD Getting to see Kija, Shinha, Jaeha, and Zeno animated, ahhhhh. <333 I'm really happy the anime didn't skip much and even added some scenes that fleshed out the characters even better. The adlibs of the seiyuu were a great touch. (Though it was somewhat surprising when Hak called Jaeha "Jaeha!" during the pirate ship scene. He's never called him by name before in the manga!). The anime ended just as Zeno joined. I really hope there will one day be another season. There's so much of the story left to tell still.
(I am dearly hoping the OVA will cover the love potion chapter. It's a hilarious chapter with Kija x Jaeha teasing)
ALDNOAH.ZERO
Martian princess comes in peace, only to be "assassinated," sparking an all-out war between Earth and Vers.
I wasn't following this series weekly. I pretty much marathoned S1 and most of S2 as well, and then I had to wait for the last few episodes. I enjoyed S1. Earthians seemed to have everything working against them. Just how can they overcome their Vers opponents? But then, as the series went on, I realized that Inaho really would never lose, and his companions can never win without him either. Just how overpowered are you, Inaho!!
Still, it was a fascinating watch, and what beautiful music and animation. I burned through the episodes. |D;; I really liked Slaine. He's like this loyal, cute puppy who... keeps getting kicked and can never get a break. The meeting between him and Inaho was like, yes! Are they going to team up? Their names for each other, ahhhhh. But no, no team up. What. And that was the turning point of Slaine's character arc. In S2, Slaine was definitely the antagonist, but he felt more like the protagonist to me. At least, I was much more interested whenever he was on screen than when Inaho was on screen. Watching Slaine's downward descent was pretty... fascinating. What a trainwreck. (Just what happened, Slaine?? This is such a drastic difference! So sad...) Still, I thought the series would end with a bang. It didn't. I do like happy endings, and I guess most of the characters sort of got happy endings, but things kind of just... ended. It was not an emotional ending at all. After all the twists and turns, this series might have benefited from a more tragic ending because it feels like all the foreshadowing and hints led nowhere.
(But can I hope for Inaho x Slaine? Someone must've written fic of them, right??)
Binan Koukou Chikyuu Boueibu LOVE!
Magical boys fight with the power of love.
This series was pretty hilarious. The characters often talked about really silly things, and their topics of conversations would end up as something the enemy/monster of the week was overly focused on. All the boys are named after onsen. The five main boys transform into girly, color-coded outfits much like what happens in magical girl anime, complete with transformation sequences, poses, and lines they speak after. It's awesome. Their enemies, the student council, also transform, and boy do I like their outfits. XD;;; Kinshiro is a cutie. The magical mascot of the Battle Lovers is a wombat while the enemy student council tries to conquer the world with the help of a green hedgehog. This series is so whacked yet it all makes sense.
Bonjour Sweet Love Patisserie
Prestigious cooking academy where you're not allowed to date the professors. It's strictly against the school rules.
A super short anime where every episode is only like, 5 minutes! I liked Sayuri as the protagonist. She has skills to back her up. It felt like she had something going on with her classmate Ryou, but the ending clearly paired her up with Mizuki instead. I totally didn't see that coming. :'D;; I suppose Mizuki was the only one where there was a love rival... not that Mizuki even cared about her.
Though each episode was really short, they got quite a lot accomplished in those minutes! The cooking was pretty funny... lots of posing. XD;; And then the desserts were done!
Durarara!! x2
Strange things happen in Ikebukuro. To fit in, you have to be just as strange.
I heard that DRRR!! would adapt all the novels. I thought it would continue without a break, but I guess not! In any case, this isn't the end of DRRR, so I don't have much to say here. Just that I was waiting for Mikado to snap, because I kept reading people's comments along the lines of "Just wait for it!" In the end, Mikado was still very Mikado. But it'll be interesting to see what will happen from here on out.
When I last watched DRRR!!, Kida was my favorite, but he was pretty much not involved in this season. This time around, I found Celty and Shinra to be a very cute couple. I wasn't very fond of Shizuo before... I tend not to like characters that are really popular, and he's too tall and violent, hahaha. But somehow (maybe my tastes have changed???), I found him to be pretty cute this time. Yes, cute. Like, I'd like to give him a pat. Thankfully, since I'm a girl, he won't break my arm for doing that.
Good job Shizuo, for being able to keep your temper in check just a bit more than before~~. You're growing up! :'D;
The opening worked pretty well, I felt, but the ending felt off to me. Both the OP and ED use the same format as the previous opening and ending of DRRR! The ending doesn't fit well with the music...
Log Horizon s2
Season 2 of gamers stuck in a game turned real. Flavor texts of weapons are becoming real, the land is expanding, plus a bunch of other problems.
I loved season 1. Season 2 was somehow not as captivating. I don't know if it was because of the pacing, the animation, the studio change, the content involved...? Before, I eagerly waited for each episode, but I didn't this time with S2. My favorite character is Rudy though, so when the newbie arc came along, I was much more invested. (My impression was that people found the newbie arc boring though XDDDD) I loved the part about music and how the People of the Land only have 42 songs, so to them, they know of music as 42. (My heart broke for them, and for Isuzu who kept saying that she has no talent, but what of these people who can't even make any music?) And then, there's the realization that Rudy sucks at music probably because of this.
Anyway, S2 felt a lot less polished than S1. By the end of the series, things finally tied back together, like the point of dying during the first arc (so they could experience being on the moon), meeting Roe2, seeing Kanami's journey, and so forth. It was great seeing Demikas brought back into the series. And finally there was an answer about what happened to Crusty.
Maybe the anime got started a bit too early, since now the anime has already shown events that the novels haven't even gotten around to, so there definitely won't be a season 3 anytime soon. Sadness, but I'd rather they wait than rush things! The ending did leave me wanting more, so I guess I'll be haunting the web novels....
Magic Kaito 1412
Son takes up father's mantle as a phantom thief.
The fact that this series was even greenlit amuses me because Kaito already received several OVAs that showed the exact same material, but hey, I won't say no to more Kaito. While I'm always afraid my favorites won't get adapted well, Kaito is such a well established character that I think a bad anime wouldn't hurt his popularity much at all. In fact, though the anime was only so-so, it seems to have boosted his popularity and the popularity of the Detective Conan anime (if ratings are any indication).
The first episode did its job just fine. I quite liked the opening and ending sequences. Very catchy! I am very confused, however, at the choice of material adapted and the order they were adapted in. We're never shown Hakuba getting suspicious of Kaito, and suddenly it's like Hakuba is already in the know, and he's giving Kaito advice. We're shown Akako growing a bit closer to Kaito, but out of order. We're never shown Kaito's first meeting with Conan. Instead, Conan just suddenly shows up, and we're expected to just roll with it. I get that Conan is very famous so he probably wouldn't need much of any introduction for anyone who has watched Conan, but this is assuming everyone has watched Detective Conan! Magic Kaito 1412 doesn't work very well as a stand alone series for all the Conan threads.
It was cool seeing Conan episodes from Kaito's POV. Conan is seriously one weird and scary kid from others' POVs hahaha. But I'd hoped to see some of the silly chapters adapted too, like Kaito stealing a baseball, and robot Kaito. I don't know how Robot Kaito would get explained, but still. XD;
The newest Magic Kaito chapters hinted at this Kaitou Corbeau guy who looks awfully like Kaito's dead father. The chapters were adapted as the last two episodes of the anime. I dearly hope Kaito's dad isn't actually alive. It would undermine the whole story... After two decades of believing Kaito's dad to be dead, and fandom building around this, it would feel cheap to have him be alive. I would feel cheated! Please be dead, Touichi. I don't know what the animanga is hinting... Corbeau seems very much like Touichi, or it could be Kaito's mom in disguise.
So, I guess new material still does make me wary. XD;;;
Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso
They meet in April, and new worlds open. It all starts with one lie.
I marathoned this. :'D;; Why, lucathia. Ugh, my tears...
Visually, this is a gorgeous anime. The music is amazing too, as is the voice acting. The anime lays it thick with imagery and metaphors, but it is poetic. Kousei drowning, unable to hear the music he plays. Fireflies and brevity. Black cats. Stars in the sky. Parallels.
It's not a series for everyone. The series touches upon depression, abuse, and death, with music as what ties everything together.
Everyone is conscious of Arima Kousei. Whether it's past rivals, his friends, Kaori, random people in the audience. It's heartwarming seeing him able to return to music, and to be able to play on despite all the tragedies in his life. He... becomes an even better piano player because of his losses. I wonder, would he rather be untalented than to lose his loved ones? It was never a choice, and he made the best of what he could, but... I can't help but wonder.
There was also a romance thread that I felt was secondary to the story, but many times during the series, I was thinking, "Gods, someone is dying and all you can think about is whether he/she likes you?" Then again, it's a huge part of human nature, and was probably their entire world at the point.
SHIROBAKO
Five girls dream of working in the anime industry and make a promise over donuts.
Shirobako is a fascinating and stressful watch. XD;;; I learned a lot about the anime industry while watching this! It reveals tons about how an anime is produced. And it can get very stressful to watch because deadlines, deadlines everywhere! Scrambling to meet the deadline, ahhhhhhh, production issues, idiotic coworkers messing things up *tears hairs out*
Miyamori, you are amazing for dealing with all this. XDDDD
It must feel super rewarding finishing production for a series. I felt proud whenever they finished their series in the anime. XDD What a relief! It was also touching seeing the five girls succeed in their careers, bringing them one step closer to their dream of one day producing the anime idea they came up with back in high school.
I cried during the ending of episode 23. :')
Yowamushi Pedal Grande Road
Intense bicycle racing where dropping out of the race is as dramatic as dying.
Yowapeda continues right where S1 left off, covering day 2 and day 3 of the race. A whole season just dedicated to 2 days, it's that intense. XDDD S2 made me like Arakita a lot after his episodes. No wonder he's popular. XD;; After all the yelling and snark, he'll buy you some bepsi. XDDD
S2 also shed light on Midousuji. He was a cutie after all. XDDDD The race was intense, with cliffhangers like, almost every episode. The ending was well deserved, and here's looking forward to S3 someday! There are plenty more manga chapters to adapt, and the series is very popular, so S3 seems a given.
My favorite character is Junta (Perm-senpai) whose only role during S2 was to cheer them on. XDDDD But there will be more of him later on! So I'm looking forward to that.
Older anime
Anime I finished watching that I never talked about, or that I just marathoned but wasn't part of the recent Winter 2015 anime.
Ginga Kikoutai Majestic Prince
A team of five failures battle to save humankind from getting hunted by the Wulgaru.
I was watching this in 2013... but I didn't watch the last few episodes until yesterday! It's a charming series with likeable characters. The mecha battles are quite well done, but mecha battles aren't my thing. I like watching their interactions outside of battle more. XD;;; Still, great battle sequences for people who like watching mecha battles.
The main characters don't have any memories of their pasts, and they were all born especially for piloting. I thought that was pretty intriguing. When we found out that Asagi and Izuru were basically related, the scene was so awkward XDDDD but then Izuru very adorably called Asagi, "Oniichan" ahhhhhhh. XDDD I can't believe he kept on calling him that afterward, ahahahaha. Way to break up the awkwardness, Izuru~~~. And then, Asagi really took his role of being the big brother very seriously. :'D I thought it was a total death flag.
I really enjoyed the interactions among all of Team Rabbits. It seems that this was originally a manga. I wonder if I can see more of their daily antics in the manga...
Shingeki no Bahamut: Genesis
The key to releasing Bahamut is stolen by a woman. Everyone is after the key.
I marathoned this. Amazing that this was based off of a card game?? The visuals were stunning. Really great production values, the story fun, and the characters memorable. It was quite an epic story, with angels and devils descending, a ragtag group making the best of what they could do, bounty hunters, an undead necromancer, and eventually everyone working together to stop Bahamut. It was great fun watching everything happen, with one thing leading to the next. I enjoyed the world we were immersed in~~
Sword Art Online II
Online gaming is serious business.
All I have to say is that GGO was distasteful at times and amusing at others. Oh, and Kirito is overpowered, as usual. Mother Rosario was a tearjerker, but I'm glad Asuna got the focus this time. But I wish Asuna and Kirito could be written into an arc without having to separate them. Visuals were stunning again, and the music was beautiful.
Ookami Shoujo to Kuro Ouji
A lying girl meets a black-hearted "prince."
Erika and Sata are a great couple. Really, they are! They end up together because of Erika's lying and Sata's black heartedness, and at first, people might think, "Wow, they're both terrible people, they deserve each other," but as the story develops, they find ways to make their relationship work. I enjoyed this series for showing us what happens after the couple goes out.
Also, they don't really change for each other, but rather grow more comfortable to show who they really are.
Hitsugi no Chaika S2
A mysterious girl carrying around a coffin is on a journey to collect her father's remains.
S2 speeds up the pacing twofold. 0___0;; Slower pacing would have benefited the series, but overall, the anime did a coherent job telling the story. There were Chaikas everywhere in S2, man, but at least there were also answers. The answers were pretty much as expected, but I consider that good writing for planting all of the logical foreshadowing that led to that point.
The final battle was easier than I thought it would be, but it did tie nicely with what Chaika had mentioned before about using memories to fuel her gundo. A bittersweet ending. :') I wish we had a few minutes more. The last few scenes after the battle were great.
Still watching
Only two series carried over, ahhh. (Amusingly, both Toei) What to watch now...
Sailor Moon Crystal
Magical girls fight with the power of the moon (and planets).
The new Sailor Moon has had terrible animation, and the content itself feels dated, or perhaps too rushed. I'm sure it has disappointed a lot of fans of the old anime. I actually don't remember much of the old anime. It was such a long time ago when I watched it, and I never did finish watching it... Anyway, the new Sailor Moon could have been a lot better, and I'm sad it's not. But I'm still watching it, haha, and getting a refresher of what the Sailor Moon storyline was. It's interesting seeing the origins of what will later go into a lot of magical girl series. Sailor Moon was truly the start of something everlasting~~~
The Sailor senshi really don't do much. Seems like the focus is more on Usagi and Mamoru? I'm amused Tuxedo Mask just goes and punches people. No roses involved here.
World Trigger
Monsters by the name of "neighbors" invade. An organization called Border deals with them. Main character becomes friend with a neighbor.
Naming them "neighbors" is just as bad as naming them "others" XDDD. And then, it's revealed that the neighbors come from the "Neighborhood" XDDDDD. I am very amused. In fact, whenever I say the word "neighbor" now, I think of World Trigger. Okay, World Trigger, you have successfully brainwashed me.
I'm enjoy WT a lot. It's too bad it has such bad production values, and terrible pacing. The anime is being stretched to 50 episodes when there weren't even 90 something chapters available when the anime started airing. This series would have benefited with a shorter anime and faster pacing. Cut out the terrible still shots giving us 5 second reaction shots of people (that make me think my video froze) and flashbacks of the previous episode when we'd just seen it in the previous episode!!
Also, for some reason, the opening song is played at very random times. Sometimes near the start of the episode. But often at like 11 minutes, or 9 minutes. Or some other random time. It's so random! I always check the timestamp now whenever the opening goes on... It's a very catchy opening though. I like it, so I always sit through it when the opening finally shows up. :'D;; It's like playing, anticipate the opening...
Osamu, Yuma, and Chika are all very endearing. I can't wait to see more of them. Osamu is very weak, but that makes him interesting. Yuma is powerful. I'm surprised we learned of his past so early. It does make me like him more though, and makes me understand him more. Chika is cute, and her trion levels are astounding. I like the idea of trion and fighting using trion triggers. The current arc in the anime with the war was very intense in the manga. I hope the anime version will also be intense.
New season, I'm hoping to check out Arslan Senki, Yamada-kun to 7-nin no Majo, Ace of Diamond S2, Ore Monogatari, Yahari Ore no Seishun Rabukome wa Machigatteiru Zoku, Kyoukai no RINNE, and maybe Owari no Seraph and Plastic Memories.
I've read the manga for Yamada-kun. I'd always hoped that Yankee-kun to Megane-chan would get an anime, but the mangaka's other work being adapted is great too. It's like my other favorites all over again... I like Oresama Teacher, the mangaka's newer work, Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun gets adapted. I like NG Life, the mangaka's newer work, Akatsuki no Yona gets adapted. I like Yankee-kun to Megane-chan, the mangaka's newer work, Yamada-kun gets adapted. Well, I'm glad their newer works are popular enough to get the anime treatment! ♥ I watched episode 1 of Yahari Ore... (Oregairu). Hikki's monologues are the best. I chuckled a lot through the episode. I hadn't finished S1 of Baby Steps, so no S2 for me until I do.
(Wow, looking at my previous post, I watched everything I planned on watching, and then some, except for Nanatsu no Taizai)