#they better not fuck up her animation like they did Akane in season 1 or so God help me

[jeremy-ken-anderson]

Ranma Remake

So far I have just one real gripe with the two episodes of the new Ranma 1/2 show I've seen: Akane's fight scenes were just plain better in the original.

Admittedly, the school fight scene from the original show is a fucking masterclass

It was hard to imagine anything topping it. But I'm sad the new fight choreographers couldn't keep up.

Likewise, the original dojo scene is so good, showing the frustrating inability to hit Ranma from an Akane's-eye view to an outstanding score played on violin. The new one is good in a different way, but I do find Ranma's Ninja Vanish insufficiently telegraphed - It felt like it needed more afterimage? Or less? Something felt off about it, and I preferred when we could kind of see Ranma getting out of the way outrageously fast, rather than having her teleport. I think I'd have been more okay with the "teleport" if it'd been from Akane's perspective - We've seen that kind of thing before, for instance when Ichigo first uses his Bankai in Bleach. If it's from the perspective of the person whose eyes can't keep up with the movement, we're not being told this person can teleport. We're being told the POV character lost track of them because they were so fast, which is what we're going for.

There were little moments I missed - Soun's "tracing an hourglass shape with his hands" moment after hugging Ranma for the first time, the delivery-echo of Ranma each time saying, "I'm Ranma Saotome...Sorry about this," and the dub delivery of, "Dad, you're gonna scare 'em spitless!" The speed with which Akane picks up the whole-ass table to use it as a weapon.

But those I don't consider failures. The new adaptation has artistic differences; It's not just a fresh coat of paint on the older show, but a new attempt to adapt the comic. And it's got some really excellent moments. The animation of Ranma when she's just received Kuno's proposal, as rose petals float around her and she turns to dust and blows away in the wind, is top-notch. The look on Tendo's face when he realizes Ranma's female more than makes up for the missing "hourglass trace." I love the bits of floating sound-effect text. Those were animated with love and care.

Also, both Ranma and Akane are cuter in this one. You can more easily believe that they'd fall for each other, get pissed off and swear off the other...and then kinda fall for them again, because this show does a better job than the original at selling each of them as attractive - in form, and in personality, and in...demeanor? There's more humanity in Akane's reaction to losing to Ranma in the dojo, and in Ranma's silent response to that reaction. They both have this layer of emotional vulnerability that the show (and even the comic, usually) didn't make time for, and I am here for it.

In fact they made Ranma so cute that it feels weirder here than in the original show that Nabiki immediately has no interest in him. Kasumi made it very clear that she was out of the running because of her disinterest in anyone younger than herself. But Nabiki was merely hoping this unknown guy would be cute, and then he was pretty fuckin' cute. Maybe she didn't want to mess with the curse business, or he didn't fit her vibe, or maybe she genuinely thought he'd be a good fit for Akane (though that ruins the joke of the two older sisters foisting Ranma off on her).

Honestly what I really want is for the new series to have four seasons. That should give about enough time for all 48 original graphic novels, with no dumb filler. Maybe drop it to three seasons and have a "just the good bits" like the Princess Bride film. Against the first two episodes of the original show, the new series barely treads water in spite of its dramatically improved budget and animation techniques. But that was a really high bar, and on the whole I think the new series did successfully tread water and not drown. I want to see the remake tackle things the old show did horribly, and get to see those scenes made competently.

Show me a well-animated cat fist vs shark fist, and I'll be a happy camper.

[yurisorcerer]

Finally fuckin' finished my favorite show of last season. I got lucky, most of the episodes I had yet to watch formed a contiguous arc.

And what an arc. It's been a while since I've been simultaneously really excited about where a show *could* go and a little trepidatious about where it might fail to go.

So! Ruby knows that the doctor she bonded with in a past life was murdered some sixteen years ago. She doesn't YET know that said doctor is now her brother, but I imagine that's coming down the pipe in pretty short order. She handles the former....in what is I guess the Hoshino family way, by which I mean she develops a single-minded obsession with catching her beloved's killer. This will have knock-on effects, I am quite positive. It's already *having* knock-on effects. I mean even just for me alone, I've long fluttered between Akane and Kana as my two favorite characters, but I think dark-star-eyes Ruby might give them a run for their money. Predictably---because this is how this series works---her psyche being stained with trauma and obsession gives Ruby a palpable dark charisma, something that's a million miles away from where the character was up to this point. It's an interesting direction, and and it's incredibly entertaining, but part of me does wonder if Oshi no Ko has the chops for all this.

Put super bluntly, I love this series, and I love a lot of things about it. I love its endless bag of visual tricks, I love its sheer sense of style and panache, I love its characters, almost all of whom are a joy to watch. Its THEMES, though, those are a thing where I've never been totally clear on where exactly Oshi no Ko stands. I think up to a point (around the end of season 1, maybe?) you can make the case that ONK is a pretty straightforward "fame fucks you up" kind of thing, and it definitely is at least partly that, but the series takes waaaaaaaaay too much voyeuristic pleasure in showing us just how magnetic people whose personalities are cracked in a certain way can be. It's downright lurid, in spots. And that's not to say that there isn't a real joy to be had in the talents that the cast have, because there is---Melt's episode is almost entirely about that---but now that we're heading once again into the darker, seedier aspects of this series' story, I do wonder what it's all going to add up to by the end. Again being honest, I wonder if it's writing checks it can't cash with imagery like this.

(Yes I know that first one is from their music video, but the music video is also part of the anime. Oshi no Ko *loves* to mix textual layers like this.)

I have always kind of suspected that Akasaka Aka is fundamentally a somewhat morally conservative writer, so I don't know what him attempting to steer Ruby in this new direction is going to look like. I'm not sure he really has it in him to let her go apeshit the way a couple scenes in this episode seem to promise. Certainly, I am vaguely aware that at least some fans of the manga think it's all downhill from here, but the guy's surprised me before and I wouldn't be too shocked if he did so again.

Even if the series completely fucks up its landing, I have to say I've REALLY enjoyed the ride. Season 2 is probably even better than Season 1, and Season 1 was no fucking slouch. These are my soap operas, and I do sometimes wonder if it reflects badly on me as a person that I get as much of a kick as I do out of seeing The Hoshino Family's Fun Time Misery Hour when it's airing.

I may cave and read the manga at some point, but even if I do I will definitely be there for Season 3 next year. The anime has been end to end gorgeous so far and I am really interested to see what they pull off in the episodes to come.

[pimientos-especiales]

Also this is dumb but I started wondering how I would've reacted to Miraculous Ladybug when I was a kid, at various ages? I 100% would've watched it and loved it, and I KNOW I would've come up with my own original characters

What I wonder about is how I would've reacted to Adrien and Marinette. Like, for some shows, I root for what is obviously the main, intended love interest of the show but gravitate towards a lonely side character. In this case, who? Would it have been Luka that I made an OC girlfriend for? Probably would've made her a holder of the mouse miraculous to go with him getting the snake.

For some shows, I totally hate what is obviously the main, intended love interest, and in most cases the female lead has to stay on the show so I just sort of let her do her thing but create a much better original character do not steal for the male lead. So I wonder if I would've done THAT instead of gravitating towards the lonely side characters. I mean Luka wasn't even in season 1 and we don't really get enough screen time for the guys who ARE in it except for Nino, and he sucks. So if that was the path that younger me went on, what would I have done? Would there have been some "white cat" miraculous that pairs up with the black cat miraculous? She probably would've been like Adrien - a young, rich model who's lonely because she's been sheltered her whole life, and he falls for her because who else can understand him? She's also of course kind, talented, beautiful, everybody likes her because every OC I made when I was like 11 was like that if they weren't outrageously quirky but too quirky for anyone to be like "hey you're really annoying, leave us alone."

It's just a weird thing I was thinking about the other day - if this show had been on when I was a kid, what would my reaction to the love stuff have been? For Sailor Moon I left Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask completely alone, and ignored the very rarely present love interests for the other girls in the anime and just made my own. For Ranma 1/2, I left Ranma and Akane alone but did introduce another fiancee just for kicks, while creating an OC for Ryoga (this was before his canonical love interest showed up). And then for Inuyasha I basically went "nah, fuck you" to every single love interest and made up my own for all the dudes, leaving Sango and Kagome forever alone and Kikyo dead.

So I couldn't say for certain which path I'd choose if Miraculous had been on when I was a kid. And I'll never know, but it's fun to think about. But I mean I LOVED black cats as a kid so I know I would've loved Adrien/Cat Noir. And although in the real timeline I was initially hesitant about Luka, he turned into one of my favorite characters so I probably would've liked him enough to make a love interest for him.

...Which then brings us to the question, if I chose the path of "Adrien falls for someone else" would I have decided to pair Marinette up with Luka, or still made another love interest for him? Probably.

I also just had a horrifying realization that if this show was on when I was 10 I would definitely have made kwamis based on Pokemon. All the jewels would just be Pokeball keychains and like if you had the Pikachu kwami you would have the power of Thunderbolt, the Squirtle kwami would give you the power to shoot water guns or something. I made Pokemon-themed Sailor Scouts, I know I would've made Pokemon-themed miraculousessesesesses.

[medea10]

My Review of Eromanga Sensei

Huh? Darker Than Black?! Wait, isn't that a FUNimation title? FUNIMATION DUMPED THIS IN 2016. Aniplex has rights now. Of course they would. Okay. Darker Than Black it is.

[rieshon]

Best of 2018

Holy shit was this a hard year to write this. There were a few standouts that were always going to be at the top of this list, but that second tier of "really good" shows was really dense this year, and some series I absolutely loved weren't able to make the cut. Here are the ones that did.

10: Mitsuboshi Colors ∥ Silver Link. ∥ Dir. Kawamura Tomoyuki: Even as someone who watches children's anime, I have to say Mitsuboshi Colors was the purest celebration of childhood this year. Not only does this series let you see some of the most adorable girls this side of Ichigo Mashimaro, it really invites you to see their world through their eyes, creating a nostalgic and genuinely wholesome experience not common for anime series featuring little girls. Of course, there is still plenty on offer for the lolicons in the audience: Yui is too pure angel, and Sacchan is one of the best bokes of the year. Just remember: in the end, we're all poop.

9: Zombie Land Saga ∥ MAPPA ∥ Dir. Sakai Munehisa: If you told me a year ago one of the best shows of the year would be about moe zombies, even an anime veteran like myself would have been surprised. Yet here we are, where a show about moe zombie idols is not only one of the best shows of the year, but one of the best idol anime I can remember seeing. For what seems like it is going to be a one trick pony of a gag anime, the character development in Zombie Land Saga is shockingly good, from Junko's discovery of her own aidoru-do to Lily's whole thing with being transgender... This show really throws its weight behind its characters and that's what makes the completely-in-earnest idol anime aspects of it work so well. Moe zombies made me cry real tears, and I love anime.

8: Darling in the Franxx ∥ A-1 Pictures & Trigger ∥ Dir. Nishigori Atsushi: This is probably the biggest 'event anime' of the year on this list and it certainly was an adventure. Darling in the Franxx is an epic robot anime very much in the vein of its great predecessors: genuine sci-fi, attempts to be deep, and of course the always relevant themes of "parents just don't understand" and "puberty is hard." The heroines are wonderful, of course, and the characters' rather significant growth over the course of the series is compelling. It's the kind of show you'd expect from someone who had their hands deep in Gurren Lagann. It also features some great hand-drawn(!) robot action--visually, it's overall one of the best shows of the year. But sorry 57th prime minister of Japan Shinzo Abe, this will not increase Japan's birth rate.

7: SSSS.GRIDMAN ∥ Trigger ∥ Dir. Amemiya Akira: I'm honestly not sure which of the Trigger robot shows I enjoyed more; Gridman might just be higher because it's more recent, but it's probably fair to say it's the more "fun" show, what with it being an Ultra series spinoff and everything. Even though it gets pretty dark and deep towards the end, the series is definitely imbued with the playful spirit of tokusatsu. Hiding behind that, though, is a thematically solid series boasting a couple of fantastic female leads in Akane and Rikka. You're never going to be able to get me to stop shipping it.

6: Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight ∥ Kinema Citrus ∥ Dir. Furukawa Tomohiro: If I was rating series on style alone, Revue Starlight would probably be my anime of the year on the basis of the digital stage lighting effects alone. This show is both a sharp-edged satire of the cut-throat world of Japanese womens' theater and a love letter to the spectacle of the stage. It seems fitting that it would be a protege of Ikuhara Kunihiko's who would take on this project; the show's style is certainly evocative of Ikuhara, and that sort of ostentatious presentation is also perfectly evocative of theater, which is itself an inherently larger-than-life endeavor. Yeah, it's pretentious as hell, but that just makes me like it more. Style aside, there is also a good yuri anime lurking in the background (Japanese womens' theater is gay as fuck so there had to be) and Hikari definitely earns the right to be called "this show's Homura." Lots of good lesbians in this show.

5: Hanebado! ∥ Lidenfilms ∥ Dir. Ezaki Shinpei: Sports anime are not really my thing--I have no interest in watching Slam Dunk, Tennis no Oujisama, or 'the basketball which Kuroko plays,' but even so, is Hanebado! one of the best sports anime ever made? It's hard for me to imagine a better-executed tale of self-discovery through athletic competition. This is certainly the only sports anime I've seen where the audience is made to root against the protagonist in the sport because we're rooting for her outside of it. It also features stellar animation for the badminton parts that really sells the idea of badminton being 'the world's fastest racquet sport." Erena was the best girl though, and she doesn't even play badminton.

4: Sora Yori mo Tooi Basho ∥ Madhouse ∥ Dir. Ishizuka Atsuko: When the end credits finally rolled on Yorimoi, the first words that came to mind were "what a journey." I don't know if I've watched another show that made me feel so much like I had truly gone 'there and back again' with the heroes. The treasure really is the friends we found along the way, and you accompany these friends from the very beginning to the very end of their journey to and from Antarctica, watching them mature and learn things about each other and themselves... The result is a series that is immensely satisfying in a way few others are. Hanada Jukki's usual brand of sentimental melodrama is pitch perfect for a show like this, and I'd be lying if I said this show didn't make me cry on like four or five completely seperate occasions. Please let Ishizuka Atsuko direct more anime.

3: Yagate Kimi ni Naru ∥ Troyca ∥ Dir. Katou Makoto: I went into detail about what makes Yagakimi so great just a couple months ago, but suffice it to say this show is my favorite yuri anime of all time. The characters' relationships are just so genuinely fascinating, especially in a genre where 'will they or won't they' is often as far as the dramatic tension goes. It is really a show about two girls discovering themselves through each other, and it's just so beautifully done, especially when accompanied by Ooshima Michiru's soundtrack. I liked this story so much that I downloaded the manga to read through, and I don't even read manga.

2: Violet Evergarden ∥ Kyoto Animation ∥ Dir. Ishidate Taichi: Figures that a show I was so certain would suck would end up here. Violet is the only show this year that made me cry even more than Yorimoi, and although it's a little hamfisted about it at times, I love the earnestness with which it pursues its themes about loss and love. Violet is not just the interloper who allows us to experience the various stories happening around this world, but also a fascinating character to watch in her own right as she tries to learn what exactly it means to love someone. It's sappy and sentimental as hell, which is why I love it. It also has probably my favorite soundtrack of the year, courtesy of Evan Call, which I've probably listened to over a dozen times.

1: Yurucamp ∥ C-Station ∥ Dir. Kyougoku Yoshiaki: Cute girls taking it easy? Hell yeah. There's nothing on this Earth more comfy than watching these girls go camping in the gorgeous Japanese countryside and just being the best of friends. Shimarin is the best loner who absolutely knows how to live life, and all I want is to ride scooters and eat instant noodles with her. It's a cute girl anime of the utmost quality, and the only reason I still have a will to live is because a second season has already been confirmed.

1. Yurucamp 2. Violet Evergarden 3. Yagate Kimi ni Naru 4. Sora Yori mo Tooi Basho 5. Hanebado! 6. Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight 7. SSSS.GRIDMAN 8. Darling in the Franxx 9. Zombie Land Saga 10. Mitsuboshi Colors

Honorable mentions... Hinamatsuri is probably the show I feel worst about not including, given its hilarity and its surprisingly well-done themes on poverty and homelessness, but someone had to be 11th. Asobi Asobase was another comedy I wanted to include, another one which was riotously hilarious at times and also included one of the cutest girls of the year, Olivia. As far as joji anime this year go, Aikatsu Friends exceeded all my expectations to finally be the Aikatsu series I stuck with, and Aine and Mio are the ultimate lesbian idols. I also have to give a shoutout to the Seishun Butayarou show, which is exactly the kind of 'snappy dialogue and adolescence problems' show that makes me love series like Oregairu and ef.

The awards go to...

Best Actress: Ueda Reina as Shinjou Akane, SSSS.GRIDMAN. I've been a big fan of Ueshama's since she turned up as the ridiculous Ajimi-sensei in Pripara. She can do some vocal gymnastics and has a great comedic delivery, but it was fantastic to hear her dramatic chops really leveraged to their full potential in Gridman. I think Ueda has one of the sexiest voices going in the business today, and some of the segments in Gridman where her character tries to seduce the male lead were truly yabai... And of course the more emotional segments with Rikka were also immensely impactful. (Credit to Miyamoto Yume for also doing some great work as Rikka in that series.)

(Honorable mention: Touyama Nao as Shima Rin in Yurucamp. Naobou has been one of my favorites for a long time now but her work as Rin is probably my top role of her's. Her aloof delivery is just so perfect for the character and her voice makes the show even more comfy than it already was. It's like a voice you want to hug.)

Best Actor: Miyano Mamoru as the manager from the moe zombie show I guess. I give up on doing the men every year. Kono baka zombi.

Newcomer Seiyuu of the Year: Shiraishi Haruka. Behind pure acting ability, versatility must be the most desirous trait in a voice actor, and it really feels like Shiraishi can do it all. She's had a couple major roles before this year: Motoba Kirie in the Umaru series, and Ruri in Anhapi, but her three main roles this past year really highlight the breadth of her abilities. She was the cool and collected Asirpa in Golden Kamuy, the impudent loli Misha in Uchi no Meido ga Uzasugiru, and the sexy tsundere Kana in Animayell... Yeah, that's some diversity in performances. It seems like I'm seeing this girl's name pop up everywhere recently and it's easy to see why: she seems to be able to excel in almost any role. She has two more major parts lined up for later this year, and I'm excited to see what she can do yet.

(Honorable mention: Hondo Kaede. Man, it felt like this girl was everywhere this year. Wikipedia counts her as having had no less than eight major roles, and that's following on from a 2017 where she had three leading roles. She certainly has a flair for the dramatic: probably my favorite role of hers was as Kanami in Toji no Miko; in a show where the animation didn't often keep up with the demands of the story, strong voice acting from Hondo and her leading partner Oonishi Saori really helped carry the show. I also really enjoyed her as Kohaku in Irozuku Sekai no Ashita Kara... She doesn't get the award, though, because most of her major roles so far have tended to sound the same. I'd really like to hear her branch out beyond her standard voice.)

[malusdraco]

SO i watched psycho-pass 2 and boy do i have things to say, gonna put them under the cut bc of spoilers

FUCK MAN

okay first off i gotta say the ramp up at the end really sucked me right the fuck in. something about cyberpunk cop shows just HITS THE SPOT so boy was i jazzed for the last four episodes. ESPECIALLY THE REVEAL WITH TOGANE AND SYBIL. I LOST MY SHIT

that being said i don’t think it was better than the first season. for the simple reason that they didn’t have enough time

what made the first season so amazing was, partially, how much we got to know the supporting characters. the new season starts off with a grand total of four returning ‘main’ characters, only three of which are on the main team, Akane’s division 1. while ginoza was still one of those very near and dear characters, we didn’t get a whole lot more from kunizuka and karanomori (moreso applicable to kunizuka because she has so little dialogue)

the new characters also get very little development, except for togane because he becomes another bad guy and shimotsuki because she is... also sort of an antagonist. i mean there are also great moments with a few of the new enforcers (and hinakawa is.. adorable). but nonetheless i don’t feel nearly as connected with them than i do the first cast

so when shit starts hitting the fan i... can’t really care about the new characters. and since akane is the main and has her good good brain i don’t really have to worry about her either (even tho she did that sick takedown on togane in the last ep) so the stakes really ended up being more about the world than about the characters.

which... is good. it was good, it posed a real damning ethical question, brought the world it built to its knees... but it lacked pathos because the characters in danger i didn’t really care about. this, i think, is what having a full (24+ episode) season would have improved on. with 11 episodes they had, i think they chose to focus really on akane and not a lot on anyone else.

and that was my main problem

some sub issues:

-fuckin. kogami is ALL OVER the opening but doesn’t show up in person in the anime and only tangentially in the last couple episodes. while i do actually really like how he came in as one of akane’s inner voices this absolutely did not warrant him being featured so much in the opening. i think they could have done much better with his inclusion in the anime. (like honestly, whenever he came up i started to get real emotional. those were such poignant bits and they could have done so much more but they just.. ugh)

-i really try to monitor this series because it walks the line between being okay and being not so okay (wrt how mental illness is portrayed) and it actually stepped over the line with togane. a man who is genetically engineered for the express purpose of being a merciless killer? i mean they could have gone with the idea that his mother really fucked him up, have some sympathy for him maybe??? but no. it wasn’t really addressed all that well. that’s a strike right there

i want to see the movie at some point too so i can finally finish up the series but that’ll have to wait till a later date

[xtremedespair3d]

Anime Fall 2018 Final Impressions + Plans for Winter 2019

We’re now at the end of the Fall season and 2018 as a whole, but for now let’s focus on the shows I’ve seen this season:

Normally I would write my warning that these lists may contain spoilers but surprisingly they don’t feature spoilers here (or probably haven’t been featured in the previous lists, to be honest). I also noticed there isn’t an ongoing from Summer, so that’s kind of surprising too.

AOTS #1-A: Gakuen Basara: I’m no Sengoku Basara person but I had a good time with this show, the animation is not the best, but the humor was gold. My only complaint is that it was broadcast on October 4 (my birthday), raw torrents were nowhere to be found and I had to wait until the next day and I watch the show on Fridays instead of Thursdays, well, at least I had Zombieland Saga. Despite the schedules and poor animation (like gratuitous CG background people), Gakuen Basara is everything I wanted it to be for a school parody anime since Attack on Titan: Junior High. (Maybe I should binge the Sengoku Basara anime sometime...) 8/10 - Rank: A-.

AOTS #1-B: Zombieland Saga: One of the best original anime I’ve seen yet and a solid birthday anime, and I barely see this as a Cygames IP as I kept watching it. Amazing performances, especially Mamoru Miyano, maybe his character is his best one yet.

I genuinely want a second season, the tease at the end is too good to pass on becoming a full storyline (or subplot), and I don’t care if it’s going to be as shit as Rage of Bahamut: Virgin Soul, I just want it, already. 9/10 - Rank: S+.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 5: FIGHTING GOOOOLD!!! Another solid part of JoJo, my only complaint with the JoJo anime in general is that I’m not fond with the voice actor changes, some of them are good, some of them aren’t, the thing is that I’m mostly associated with the games like All Star Battle and Eyes of Heaven, it’s a little weird for me but it’s true. 9/10 - Rank: S.

Goblin Slayer: It may have caused quite a controversy from the first episode alone, but overall, does the anime adaptation even work? Parts of the animation, like action scenes and all, aren’t that great, even Goblin Slayer is animated in CG frequently, but everything else looks decent even by White Fox standards (see Re:Zero, even that one looks way better than this). 7/10 - Rank: B-.

SSSS.GRIDMAN: I’m no tokusatsu person but this was a solid tokusatsu-based anime, and a solid Trigger show post-Franxx, speaking of which, seems like I haven’t seen a lot of hate like it did with Franxx, so I guess the reception for GRIDMAN is positive at best. Also, my Twitter timeline is always full of Rikka and Akane lewds, mostly Rikka’s (but I prefer Akane because I’m a boobs person). 8/10 - Rank: A-.

Gaikotsu Shotenin Honda-san: This one wasn’t in my radar until I kept seeing tweets of the old man buying a yaoi book for his daughter, that made me watch the show and it’s pretty good. This reminded me why I like going to the bookstore from a shopping mall. 7.5/10 - Rank: B.

Golden Kamuy season 2 (+ overall review): Everyone seems incredibly disappointed and offended with how the Golden Kamuy anime turned out, especially CG animals, but I found it fun and decent to make up for it. 7/10 - Rank: B-.

Senran Kagura Shinovi Master Tokyo Youma Hen: Aside from the fan service (which, not gonna lie, is something I always look for), I felt like I wasn’t a big fan of this storyline but I guess it was alright. 6.5/10 - Rank: C+.

Ace Attorney season 2: I had originally dropped the show at episode 5 but later I caught up until at episode 9 and I kept watching it. It was pretty weird for me to watch the entirety of season 1 but not watching season 2. 6/10 - Rank: C+.

Tokyo Ghoul:re season 2 (+ overall review): This second season is probably Tokyo Ghoul Root A 2.0 but much worse. Even if I haven’t read the manga, I had no idea what the fuck was happening. I genuinely prefer the first season more than this one. Once again, Pierrot fucked up. Season 1: 7/10 - Rank: B/Season 2: 5/10 - Rank: D.

If Sui Ishida were to make another manga (if he chooses to), I hope it could be adapted by a better studio than Pierrot. But to be honest, he seems better off working as an illustrator than a mangaka, just look at some records that the Tokyo Ghoul fan base was wild.

Dropped:

Bakumatsu: I don’t need to explain this one much since it’s a show that came out on my birthday, whatever show I watch, if they don’t convince me enough with the first episode, I’d drop them, and it’s basically what I did here.

Onto the show itself, this genuinely reminded me of Touken Ranbu with the time travel stuff, but everything else, eh... not much of my thing. The funniest thing I can highlight is that the characters have their factions imprinted on their hair lighting.

Honorable mentions:

Angels of Death: ...Yeah, there’s a good reason why do I have to bring Angels of Death like it’s some sort of ongoing, but it’s not actually a two-cour series, it’s actually 16 episodes, the 4 ONAs to end the series.

Honestly, I thought they were going to leave it at episode 12 on the TV broadcast and the final episodes should have been on Blu-Ray but they’re available online or something (They’re called ONAs for a reason...). At least they didn’t shoehorn 12 episodes of rushed story like Pierrot with Tokyo Ghoul.

You can read my final thoughts on the show overall on the previous post about the summer anime shows here.

Hiatus:

Attack on Titan season 3: Yeah, AoT somehow disappeared off the air... until Spring 2019. That’s the most baffling moves I’ve ever seen, but there has to be a good reason for it.

There might have been some sort of production issues or something, but it’s so weird that I’m gonna have to wait a long time to watch the second cour.

Now that the manga is gonna end, either there’s gonna be a 12-episode season 4 or WIT might rush to the finale or make an anime original ending or something.

At least they gave us the weirdest teaser for the second cour ever.

Now, let’s move on with my plans for Winter 2019! (Should really write down what shows to watch and when they’re coming out because I tend to forget some, I’m 19 and I got bad memory...)

The Promised Neverland - January 10th: While I don’t read the manga, I’ve always been following DemizuPosuka for her gorgeous art style, from what I’ve seen from CMs, the art style seems pretty faithful, I’m interested to see how this goes.

Mob Psycho 100 II - January 7th: I’m really happy it’s getting a new season, I wish One Punch Man S2 could have been a Winter anime so I could have a ONE combo but OPM being on Spring and Mob Psycho 100 on Winter is the closest I get to a ONE combo like I wanted.

I wonder if this season will adapt all the way to the finale, but if it’s going to be a one-cour season, I don’t think Bones would skip a ton of chapters and rush the story to the end a la Pierrot with Tokyo Ghoul, it may adapt the middle of it and if it gets a third season, that’s where it would adapt the final chapters. (Hasn’t read the manga at all.)

Kemurikusa - January 9th: With the departure from the Kemono Friends franchise (no thanks, Kadokawa), I wonder what would have been Tatsuki’s fate of making new anime (other than doing shorts and posting them on Twitter), but it seems like they were working on an anime project and it turns out to be an all-new series of the original multi-part web series. One question I’ve always had for a while was if this was a prequel or a reboot of the series, but we’ll find out when we start watching it and go through until the end.

Kemono Friends season 2 - January 7th: This one is either something I’m really not looking forward or cautiously optimistic, either way, I just want to see how will season 2 perform without Tatsuki. Many people are most likely gonna be boycotting this or definitely gonna watch it but for a different reason, being that the animation looks better than the first one (Please, don’t disrespect Tatsuki and the charm on studio Yaoyoruzu’s animation).

As of the writing of this post (Dec.11), the teaser trailer currently sits at 49k dislikes over 5.5k likes and over 8k comments, and at the same time, there was a BTS (Behind-The-Scenes) photo and from what I’ve seen in the replies, the reception is surprisingly positive albeit one Japanese person with the “Bring back Tatsuki!” mood, I do mean it because I thought it would always have negative press, but I think the teaser trailer is its own thing with negativity.

Still gonna watch it, regardless, because I’m on a mission to keep an eye on the future of the Kemono Friends franchise post-Tatsuki, at least on anime like the Japari Park short series, because games, like the Picross game released on October 4th (my birthday. Thanks, I hate it, Kadokawa) for the Nintendo Switch because I don’t own a Switch.

Kakegurui season 2 - January 8th: I’m still baffled how it’s getting a second season after the anime original ending from the first one. I really wonder if they’re gonna follow up from the anime original ending or they’re gonna retcon that ending and redo it with whatever went from the manga from the Yumeko vs Kirari match (Still haven’t read it and I’m lazy to do so).

Boogiepop wa Warawanai - January 4th: So I guess this is Shingo Natsume/Madhouse’s next anime besides One Punch Man season 2, huh? Regardless, seeing trailers of it, looks really nice, but then there were reports that the illustrator of the light novel series wasn’t really happy with the look of the character designs in the anime and it was all Kadokawa’s lack of communication, basically Kadokawa is back doing some property damages but not as scarring as Kemono Friends, so I think things are still gonna turn out alright.

Ikki Tousen Western Wolves - January 3rd: Kind of surreal there’s a new Ikki Tousen in this near-2020 age, as of the writing of this (Dec.10), I need to start binging the series now (even if there’s so many god damn seasons to get through and it’s gonna take me forever).

Manaria Friends - January 20th: This one seems interesting, it was in development since 2015 and it was supposed to come out in 2016 but for some reason it was put on hold, it was originally produced by studio Hibari but now it’s gone completely reworked by a brand new anime studio from Cygames called CygamesPictures. I never actually followed the news of Manaria Friends, so learning about it now feels kind of cheated.

I always thought it had the Rage of Bahamut in the title but it must have been removed (or maybe moetron always tweeted with the Shingeki no Bahamut title with it).

Regardless, after Rage of Bahamut: Genesis and Virgin Soul (the latter which is the most hated, I’m still confused why it is the worst season if I can even process what did I just watch, whateverl, like I care), Manaria Friends seems like it’s going to be a better Rage of Bahamut anime, I may be exaggerating but it could really be. (I’m not really a RoB person so can’t say...)

W’z - January 5th: This is GoHands’ next anime project, it’s going to either make or break as much as Hand Shakers. After the HS flop, I ironically want GoHands to succeed with new ideas and stuff besides the K series. Also, how the fuck do you pronounce W’z?

Mini Toji - January 5th: Thought I’d give up on Toji no Miko after the base show? Apparently not. This one’s a chibi spin-off and it’s going to feature the characters from the game, so it sounds interesting. At least this one is going to be 11 episodes long, instead of two-cours like the base show.

BanG Dream! season 2 - January 3rd: This one’s 50/50 because, first of all, I’d love to watch a new Sanzigen anime because I need more Sanzigen in my life, second of all, Bandori isn’t much my thing (I’m lazy to binge the first season and I got other anime to binge too).

...Despite what I just said, I think I might really consider watching it, after all and the third season in October, I don’t really need to watch the first season, I guess. (I lied, I might binge the first season now)

The thing about Bandori S2 and S3 being full CG is like a Monster Strike situation where the first season was 2D hand drawn and the second season went full CG, but the third season came back to be hand drawn with a bit of CG, it’s weird and inconsistent for Monster Strike, at least Bandori will remain CG.

Virtualsan Looking - January 9th: Okay, what the fuck, I did not expect this to exist out of the blue. I genuinely never expected an anime centered on VTubers, particularly centered on known names like Mirai Akari, Siro and others would one day exist and that day is here (No Kizuna AI and Kaguya Luna here, strangely).

On December 18th, the trailer, a preview of the opening and the website were launched (see thread by moetron). As for the opening, I felt like they could have chosen the hand drawn animation as shown in 5 seconds because I want to see a full series with the VTubers fully hand drawn animated, but oh well, maybe they would be faithful to their 3D appearances (but Tsukino Mito is kind of Live2D-ish but she was turned into 3D at some point).

Speaking of the trailer, it doesn’t show what the story is about or anything, it just focuses on the VTubers featured in it.

I mean, the concept of a VTuber-focused anime is a good idea and something I didn’t know I desire, but this one, even with its vague teasers, it has potential, could be fun or could be hot garbage, just saying.

Lupin the 3rd: Goodbye Partner - January 25th: I genuinely forgot this existed after it was revealed last month, but hey, there’s a new special happening. I still want a new season of Lupin the 3rd, hopefully as good as this year’s season or even better.

This concludes the list of what shows did I watch this Fall season and what I’m looking forward next season, in the next post, my New Year’s post, I’ll address my overall list of my personal best anime of the year, stay tuned and happy New Year.

Twitter: @HKomaeda.