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lia-nikiforov · 7 years ago

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Summer Anime Watchlist

We’re a couple of weeks into the summer and it’s time to decide which shows I’m gonna be keeping up with for the next three months. Because there was so much terribleness, I’m going back to my worst-to-best format for this list, so let’s get right into it

Dropped

Netsuzou Trap: Fetish lesbians are predictably terrible and gross, moving on…

18if: What was that first episode even about. It was so confusing and nonsensical and it also looked butt ugly. I’m guessing it’s trying to be Alice in Wonderland-esque but it’s just boring and weird. Heck, I’m not even sure if I was awake through the whole episode. Can’t be bothered with more

Keppeki Danshi Aoyama-kun: I was willing to give this a 3-episode chance but then ep 2 came along with the mandatory waifu character and I HAAAATE her. She’s literally my most detested heroine trope and I want to delete her from existence. Also the rest of the episode wasn’t particularly funny, but mostly I couldn’t stand the heroine girl and wanted her to die and can’t imagine myself suffering more of her insufferable existence one more minute. It’s a shame, I had good expectations for this show.

Saiyuki Reload Blast: Nothing particularly wrong with this one, but I wasn’t particularly hooked by it, and although it’s not very prohibitive for newcomers, I definitely feel I’d be more excited about these cool dudes being cool if I had any rapport with them.

Inertia watching or let’s see how long until I can’t be arsed to keep watching

DIVE!! Oh wow, they actually made diving boring. A running theme this season is taking something interesting and making it boring. Just wow. The main character is borderline insufferable, his girlfriend is awful (and he is awful with his girlfriend) and his friends are milquetoasty forgettable at best. And the animation and visuals are so bad you’ll be hard-pressed to find an on-model shot of any of the guys and the diving itself looks so inconsequential. I’ll give it one more episode, but I’m honestly more than ready to drop it.

The Reflection: So this is a collaboration project with Stan Lee and on that alone it’s a bizarre and interesting thing that somehow was willed into existence. It’s a shame it’s a boring thing. The visual style is unique which isn’t necessarily a good thing, but I didn’t find it as terrible as others did, ymmv on that one. The story though, god was it boring. Also the plot doesn’t make any sense as of now, to the point that I’ve no idea what the story’s even supposed to be about. The animation is chunky and almost non-existent and the fight scene was just so dull. Idk, idk, idek what it is about, if next episode doesn’t give me something I’ll drop it.

(couldn’t even find a gif for this one lmao)

Re: Creators: Ah yes, just what this show needed, a sleazy eroge author to glorify plus giving “totally-not-the-protagonist” Sota an excuse to participate in the self-masturbatory megacrossover that’s apparently gonna take up the finale of this show. Did you know light novel writers are awesome? Light novel writers are awesome and this show won’t let you think otherwise.

Hitorijime my Hero: You know, going in I wasn’t aware there would be two focal pairs, but as soon as I found out I thought for sure the teacher-student one would be the problematic one… then along came the other couple that has its big moment when Dude A tells Dude B that he has to choose between fucking him or never talking again. Run for the hills Dude B!! Of course that’s not what happens and why must BL always be this gross ugh. I should also say the direction and storyboarding is a mixture of incomprehensible and terribly bland. Honestly hoping at least the teacher-student pair gets something interesting going soon or I might drop it

Katsugeki! Touken Ranbu: I think people doing Tourabu anime are missing out on a huge opportunity to appeal to bigger audiences by restricting their stories to the tomfoolery that is the game’s original plot. For a series that has a serious look like this one, I certainly expected some variation on the story, but so far it looks like I’m just watching Hanamaru without the village parts. I’d thought the show was going to be more about the actual Bakumatsu period –hence choosing Hijikata Toshizo and Sakamoto Ryoma’s swords as the main focus-. I think one of the show’s biggest shortcomings is that the villains are just loads of faceless minions so they don’t feel particularly threatening and although visually the fights are fairly cool, there’s just no tension or excitement. Will I end up dropping this one too?

Centaur no Nayami: it’s just okay? Mostly harmless? I hope demon girl is actually a lesbian and not just fetish lesbian? The merpeople skit was pretty good and it’s interesting how they’re politizing the racial issues of this Monster world, I certainly find those segments much more interesting than the ones where the monster girls are just being cute (the school play, for instance, was so boring I almost quit the episode halfway)

Vatican Kiseki Chousakan: This show is very stupid and also they say they’re going to South America but they actually show Mexico and cacti in the middle of the jungle what are they doiiiing? It’s also kinda unintentionally funny, although I think they piled way too many mysteries for the opening episode and it’s become way too convoluted. But having a notorious interest in Catholic iconography (even though my level of atheism is over 9000), I was very pleased with the accurate depictions of the martyrs, and mostly I’m rooting for the killer to succeed just to see how they execute Catherine’s and Lawrence’s martyrdoms. Please don’t let me down show.

Since there are no gifs for this show either, please appreciate the Road Closed signs in English with the cop car that says Policía Federal in Spanish

Honestly this part of the list is kinda vague, I don’t have a particular order of preference for these shows beyond not being notoriously impressed by any of them but also not bored to tears either

Shokoku no Altair: This one I wouldn’t quite call a disappointment, but it sure has a slow start. Episode 1 was quite confusing, the second one was way better but still feels like it’s lacking something. A problem I have is that the totally not Germanic dude is way too inequivocally evil. Politics and war are never quite that black and white, but this guy is so unsympathetic watching his different plans unfold becomes quite frustrating (I also have like zero tolerance for “cheating”, which is what all his practices can be categorized as). I feel the characters need a little more depth before I can get more invested in it. Also sad to see this one got the C-team from MAPPA ):

Ballroom e Youkoso: This might be my biggest disappointment of the season tbh? It’s fairly standard sports anime fare but it has done nothing particularly interesting to distinguish itself. The animation can be really impressive… when there is any, and that’s the crux of the problem here. We’re two episodes in and we haven’t seen a full dancing sequence. Heck, I timed the dancing in ep 2 and made barely 13 seconds of actual movement. Episode 3 clocked at a full minute in spite of being entirely set in a competition. There are just so many still shots it’s quite grating. I was really expecting to get a Stammi Vicino moment in episode 1, a show-stopping performance that enhanced the beauty and wonder of dance with a mesmerizing choreography and beautiful music, but the show seems too focused on being Haikyuu, emphasizing the power and OOMF of the moves rather than any artistry or fluidity, and don’t even get me started on the music because there isn’t any or it’s of minimum importance. I’m reaaaally hoping this one improves down the line

Fate/Apocrypha: I mean, it’s Fate and it’s dumb but it’s so far mostly (emphasis on mostly) inoffensive and the battle between Karna and Siegfried was pretty cool, A-1’s doing a fairly decent job of recreating that ufotable feel. I also quite like Mordred, she’s cool and fun and her dymanics with Sisigo are very equal, which is great when you compare how main girls were treated in relationship to Shiro in the main Fate series.

Made in Abyss: I wasn’t quite expecting to get into this one but it got really good critiques so I decided to give it a shot. So far so good. The aesthetics are bright and vivid and the concept is unique and exciting. There are some murmurs around the net about the source material that concern me so I’m only cautiously optimistic right now.

Kakegurui: I guess it’s fine? I’ve a feeling it can get really boring really fast (episode 2 featured a memory game and even the cheat was extremely bland, I was almost laughing at how surprised the other students were when the girls got pairs lmao), but so far it’s been more or less interesting, with engaging visuals and great voice acting, even if I’m not a big fan of the over-erotization of the whole thing. Sayokan’s OP is gr10.

The only inequivocally good (new) show this season

Isekai Shokudo: Although this is not an outstanding show in any aspect, it just succeeds at everything it sets itself to be and that’s a surprisingly rare quality this season. It has a pleasant, homelike atmosphere. I find it kinda funny that the characters get blown away by what looks like fairly standard Famires food, but it’s a sweet little show nonetheless. It’s unassuming and unambitious but it makes me feel happy (and hungry) and I enjoy it a lot.

The sequels from Spring that keep me sane

Boku no Hero Academia: We’ve slowed down a little for the internship part except OH NO IIDA WHAT IS YOU DOING SOMEONE SAVE HIM. I love this show

Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul: None of the new shows this season were good enough to overcome the leftover sequels from spring, especially not Bahamut that has once again delved in the complexities of war and also given us Nina’s extremely baddass dragon gandma. I don’t have a lot more to say in the scarce two weeks since my last appraisal, other than the show continues to be utterly excellent in every regard

Damn this season is dead. I guess it’s a good time to catch up on my pile of shame? I’m trying to binge Symphogear to catch up to the new season, it’s a palatable type of garbage entertainment. I’m starting a Masters’ course in two weeks so maybe not having a lot of anime on my plate is a good thing? Let me know which shows you’re watching and which are your favorites of the season!

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