Fall 2015 Anime Season

http://anichart.net/fall

http://randomc.net/2015/09/24/fall-2015-preview/



The following three shows are continuations of shows I really enjoyed so they're automatic adds:

Gochūmon wa Usagi Desu ka??
Noragami Aragoto
Yuru Yuri San☆Hai!

Of the "new" shows, the following will get at least a first episode:

Comet Lucifer
Concrete Revolutio: Chōjin Gensō
Heavy Object
Sakurako-san no Ashimoto ni wa Shitai ga Umatteiru
Subete ga F ni Naru

Hacka Doll the Animation

Hacka Doll app delivers a customized feed of news for each user. The user answers some simple questions when launching the app for the first time, and then the app will filter the news that caters to the user's personal interests. With daily use, the app automatically analyzes and learns which news articles the user reads and recommends to further personalize the feed. The anime personifies the app's customization engine as three "Hacka Dolls" — the personal entertainment AI and main navigator Hacka Doll #1, the anime expert Hacka Doll #2, and the knowledgeable otaku Hacka Doll #3.

I can’t help but think if Ah! My Goddess was created today, this is what it would look like.

It’s dumb, but in a kind of funny way. We'll see how it goes...


Heavy Object

"Objects" are powerful, massive weapons that change the course of warfare and are manned by Elite Object pilots. An odd Elite girl named Milinda meets Quenser, a student who aims to become a Object mechanic, with the soldier-in-training Heivia on a snowy battlefield.

In the early 21st century, the world is at war. Japan introduces a new super weapon - the Object - and with it quickly defeats the militaries of the world. In response, the United Nations dissolves and the nations of the world combine into four Megapowers, all of whom build Objects of their own and now wage individual Object-on-Object warfare like gladiators of old.

If you’re a Military Otaku, this show is for you. It’s essentially a visual technical manual with some really awful attempts at comic relief. As for me, I was not impressed so I am not going forward with it.



Kagewani

Mysterious monsters called "UMA" suddenly appear in the present day and attack humans. The scientist Sōsuke Banba pursues the truth with the keyword "Kagewani," a word that literally means "Shadow Crocodile.”

Created and directed by Tomoya Takashima, who did the two Yamishibai: Japanese Ghost Stories series. While the anime studio for this one is new, it is animated in the same kamishibai (a storytelling method using paper scrolls) style that ILCA did Yamishibai. I really enjoyed the first season of Yamishibai, however the second season really dropped the ball so hopefully this one is more like the former.



Lance N' Masques

Yōtarō Hanafusa is a young man who is part of the last remaining order of knights in the 21st century, "Knights of the World." As he fights as the mysterious Knight Lancer, he must hide his identity behind a mask. One day he meets a girl named Makio Kidōin, and when finding that she lives alone, decides to watch over her.

Likely to be popular with loli-cons. As I am not one, I found it mostly mediocre and won’t be continuing. Hard to believe this one is helmed by Kyōhei Ishiguro, who also directed Your Lie in April, though it does have hs visual style. In the end, yet another in a long line of poor adaptions of poor visual novels.


Noragami Argoto

In the second season of Noragami the main focus is on Bishamon, god of combat. She has many shinki due to her being unable to abandon spirits attacked by Ayakashi. She has a large group of shinki with her as leader, causing her trouble as she sometimes cannot tend to all of them properly, especially when one of them gets sick or is in pain. She has a strong hate for Yato, as a dark past binds the two of them.

No worries about this one, as it’s first episode is full of everything that made the first series great.

The Asterisk War

Invertia was a meteor storm that caused an unprecedented disaster during the 20th century. Because of this disaster, numerous cities around the world were destroyed. However, within the meteor, an unknown element called mana was discovered. It allowed human technology to make rapid strides giving rise to a new species of super-powered humans, the Star Pulse Generation (Genestella). The Festas (Star Warrior Festivals) host battles between Genestella at a city of six academies called “Rikka,” also commonly known as “Asterisk.” Scholarship student Ayato Amagiri transferred into Seidōkan Academy in order to fulfill his own wish, swearing he too will fight in this city.

The Asterisk War fills this season’s quota for “boy goes to a magical school and meets cute girls” light novel adaptations and it stays true to the lame formula of such shows with plenty of fan service and tropes before the eye-catch.

Fortunately, the second half of the episode is a fair bit less eye-rolling then the first, though that is partly because it’s an exposition-dump so they don’t have much time for anything else. 

Overall, I’m unlikely to continue. It’s animated quite well, but the characters are mostly stereotypes and in the past these kinds of shows usually don’t hold their appeal for me long-term.

Attack on Titan: Junior High

The parody re-imagines Eren, Mikasa, Armin, and other characters from the original manga as students and teachers at Titan Junior High School.

Remember those generally unfunny shorts with the Chibified cast at Titan School that shipped with the Blu-rays? Well triple the running length and you have this show. It’s not terrible, but if you do not have intimate knowledge of the first series, the gags will go over your head. 

If you just can’t get enough Attack on Titan in your life, or just need something AoT to hold you over before the new season next year, well here is an extra helping. Just beware of heartburn.



Chivalry of a Failed Knight

Magic Knights are modern magic-users who fight with weapons converted from their souls. Ikki Kurogane goes to a school for these Magic Knights, but he is the "Failed Knight" or "Worst One" who is failing because he has no magical skills. However, one day, he is challenged to a duel by Stella, a foreign princess and the "Number One" student. In this duel, "the loser must be obedient for life.”

This show is exactly like The Asterisk War, except it doesn’t have Aniplex funding it with a massive budget nor A-1 Pictures animating it with their usual perfection. It’s also far cruder and lewder in story and storytelling.


Concrete Revolutio: Chōjin Gensō

Tokyo is flooded with countless heroes — chōjin — during the time of "apotheosis." Their origin stories are all different. While some were altered by evil organizations, others came from space, magical worlds, or are fairies from ancient times or robots. But the Japanese government could not simply close its eyes as these superheroes ran rampant.

No, seriously, WTF is this show about? It’s pure hodgepodge in both story and visual style. I guess BONES is trying to be SHAFT, but it sure as hell does not work for me. If there is an actual plot somewhere, it’s buried so deep a century of excavation is unlikely to uncover it.



Comet Lucifer

On the planet Gift there are precious crystals called Giftjium buried in the earth. A young man named Sōgo lives in Garden Indigo, a prosperous mining town. Sōgo's hobby is to collect rare crystals. One day, he gets wrapped up in a riot caused by his classmates Kaon, Roman, and Otto, and he loses his way until he finds a lake deep under the ground's mining ruins. There, he meets a mysterious girl with blue hair and red eyes that gaze straight ahead. The story follows the adventure of what happens after this meeting.

Since BONES is working on the abortion that is Concrete Revolutio, what if another studio wanted to try it’s hands at being BONES and set Eureka Seven in the world of Laputa: Castle in the Sky?

Yeah, it doesn’t inspire confidence in me, either, but, surprisingly, they mostly kept it on the rails for at least this first episode



Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans

300 years after a great conflict between Earth and Mars known as the "Calamity War," a woman named Cordelia sets out on a journey to Earth to speak for the independence of the Martian city of Chryse, which is under the control of the Earth government. Escorting her is the private security company CGS members Mikazuki Augus and Orga Itsuka. When a group named Gjallarhorn attacks CGS and Cordelia, Orga sees this as a chance to rebel against CGS and launch a coup. Mikazuki and Orga are thrust into a new conflict. To fend off Gjallarhorn, Mikazuki rides an old mobile suit from the Calamity War, powered by a nuclear reactor, the Gundam Barbatos.

So they let a woman write Gundam and the end result is pretty good. Of course, it helps that the woman is Mari Okada, who has been lead writer on a number of pretty good anime series (including many personal hits). Overall, the show has an MS 008th Team feel to it, which is a good thing in my book. As an aside, it is not part of the official Universal Century (UC) timeline, so no previous experience with the Gundam franchise is necessary.



Onsen Yōsei Hakone-chan

Hakone is a hot spring spirit who descended to a spa resort on Earth. However, with her long slumber, she looks like a little girl on the outside.The high school boy Tōya stumbles across her at a hot spring and ends up joining Hakone in retrieving her original powers.

I have a feeling I’m not going to enjoy where this one is going…

Kiskaloo wrote:Overall, the show has an MS 008th Team feel to it, which is a good thing in my book. As an aside, it is not part of the official Universal Century (UC) timeline, so no previous experience with the Gundam franchise is necessary.

08th MS Team feel? Sounds promising. That said, of the Gundam I have seen, the ones I've liked best (ie. those not simply falling into the category of "just good enough for me to give it twenty minutes a week" ) have been UC so...

I've checked out three of the big four shows that I had quite a bit of advance interest in for this season.

I would disagree with the first episode of Heavy Object being "like a technical manual."  Supposedly the series has a focus on exploiting engineering weaknesses in the designs of Objects, so perhaps it may become like that later, but I didn't find the technical information in the first episode particularly excessive, and in fact I think it was important for establishing the credibility of the series' titular mechanical monstrosities.  I also liked that there were not one, but two male main characters, and that they're a pair of grunts who are focused on mundane grunt concerns such as boredom, heavy labor, and crummy rations.  Unfortunately, the series' credibility is seriously undermined by its anime/light novel cliches/conventions and fan service (which is perhaps to be expected considering that it's based on source material by the same guy who wrote the A Certain Magical Index light novels, though Heavy Object's military setting probably makes those elements somewhat more jarring than they were in Index).

Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans is kind of on the grimdark side, and like a lot of grimdark stuff ended up striking me as kind of ridiculous.  It also suffered from having a lot of character introductions and exposition.  The fan service in this one is mostly man service, with muscular protagonists who have a habit of piloting their mechs shirtless.
Despite not being generally to my taste, the series does have some good points.  The art is quite good, and there are a lot of classic Gundam elements present.  I may give it some more episodes out of curiosity -after all, I'm getting to see the (in)famous Mari Okada take a try at writing Gundam.

Utawarerumono: False Mask had a slow start, but so did the anime adaptation of the original Utawarerumono game.  The sequel is in some ways deliberately like its predecessor, and in some ways different.  The new male lead's lazy attitude sets him apart from the original's rather serious male lead Hakuoro, but certainly doesn't endear him to everyone.  The female lead's being a big eater and liking to spy on guys in the bath set her apart from the original's much more proper Erururu, but seems to be getting a reasonably good reception.
I found the first episode a bit slow (it doesn't even introduce very many characters), but I'm willing to give the show a chance since the adaptation of the first Utawarerumono game was pretty good and the OP animation for the game this sequel is based on looks pretty promising even if the trailer for the anime itself doesn't look nearly so promising.

Still waiting for subs on the new Lupin III series, so I'm not going to say much on that just yet, though I've been hearing good things about it.

For the relaxing, slice-of-life fans.

Not for this season, but related because of the ARIA stuff coming out (and I can't think of anywhere else to put it)...


Looks like Amanchu! is getting an anime. Oh hell yes.

For those unfamiliar, Amanchu! is Kozue Amano's current manga, what she did after wrapping up ARIA, and it's basically the same thing, but with scuba diving instead of gondolas.

Alfisti wrote:For the relaxing, slice-of-life fans.

Looks like Amanchu! is getting an anime. Oh hell yes.

For those unfamiliar, Amanchu! is Kozue Amano's current manga, what she did after wrapping up ARIA, and it's basically the same thing, but with scuba diving instead of gondolas.

Junichi Sato is directing, so I am 110% there.

Deko Akao, who wrote Arakawa and Shirayuki is writing the scripts and J.C. Staff is animating, so those are good signs, as well.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2015-10-04/amanchu-manga-by-aria-amano-gets-summer-2016-tv-anime/.93791

Saw the first episode of Comet Lucifer.  The series looks (and sounds) really good.  It's fun and energetic and feels adventurous despite being very derivative.  The two teenage protagonists seem likable enough.  I have some reservations about the moe McGuffin Girl that was introduced at the end of the episode, and I have doubts that the story will hold up well in the long run, but for now I'm liking it.

Going to keep this quick since I'm busy this week, but so far I've seen Utawarerumono: The False Mask, Owarimonogatari, Lance & Masques, Onsen Fairy Hakone-Chan, Heavy Object, The Asterisk War, Chivalry of a Failed Knight and Comet Lucifer.

Haku and Kuon, the lead pair of Utawarerumono: The False Mask are loads of fun, and so is their show. Pretty much lives up to my sky high expectations as a fan of the original.

Owarimonogatari was the other standout despite a slow first few minutes. Not a huge surprise for me - Monogatari Second Season had some exceptionally strong story arcs and said pretty clearly to me that the franchise didn't intend to rest on its laurels, Owarimonogatari's double length opener just confirms it.

Most of the rest didn't leave much of an impression though I have a soft spot for Onsen Fairy Hakone-Chan - I'm a sucker for boy meets spirit girl comedies, even in three minute chunks. I'll also admit to liking "meet awkward" magic academy romances as a guilty pleasure, but the characters introduced so far in Asterisks War and Chivalry of a Failed Knight aren't as memorable as say, Unbreakable Machine Doll's Charlotte or Dragonar Academy's Silvia, or as cute as Blade Dance of the Elementer's Claire. So they end up feeling a bit also run. Heavy Object and Comet Lucifer's also failed to stand out, though I'm intrigued by one of the possible directions Heavy Object could go (resourceful protagonist versus much stronger enemy). As for Lances & Masques, I'd have to say the character and premise characters and premise look like a miss but I might give it a second chance because I like Studio Gokumi.

So yeah, the standouts so far are Utawarerumono and Owarimonogatari. Not a huge surprise as I love their predecessors, but these entries are living up to the hype for me.

Beautiful Bones ~Sakurako's Investigation~

Shōtarō Tatewaki is a normal high school student with a serious demeanor who spends his free time with Sakurako Kujō. Sakurako is an extraordinarily beautiful woman in her mid-20s from a rich family who loves "beautiful bones." The two live in the city of Asahikawa in Hokkaido, and they get involved in various incidents regarding bones.

I like crime procedurals, which drew me to check this show out, but this first episode was, in terms of story and characters, decisively ‘meh’. Thematically, it’s a cross between the FOX television show BONES and Sherlock Holmes. Sakurako is as annoying as she is attractive and while Tatewaki is adamant that his feelings towards Sakurako are purely platonic, I’m pretty sure Sakurako doesn’t feel that way.

Sakurako does not appear to be interested in the “who” or the “why” of murders, just the “how”, so there is no closure to the two mysteries presented. And since she is the niece of a prominent forensic scientist, she instantly has all the answers and mockingly throws it in the face of the police (who, admittedly, take the path of least resistance - and least work - in their initial deduction). It’s similar to what I saw as a major failing of Ranpo Kitan last season - the detective doesn’t bother to take the audience along with them for the ride, instead just quickly and analytically solving the mystery and moving on.

I will say the show is immaculately animated. I was sure it was Kyoto Animation, but in fact it is TROYCA, who have only one major project under their belt as lead animation production company - Aldnoah Zero, which was also immaculately animated.

I’m willing to give it another episode based on how beautiful it looks, but if it’s more of the same, I will not be continuing with it.


Dance with Devils

Ritsuka Tachibana is a female second-year high school student who attends Shiko Academy in Shiko Town. She enjoyed her school life while living with her mother Maria, but one day, that balance fell into ruin when she discovers several of her attractive, male classmate are demons.

I normally would have no interest in a reverse-harem fujoshi series, that this one is structured like a Disney Musical had me intrigued enough to give the first episode a try and, overall, it was worth the watch. And yes, you read me right - there are three distinct musical numbers interspersed throughout the normal dialogue and action. And all three are quite good. 

For the moment, the sheer novelty of the format has me adding it to my normal watch rotation.

Kiskaloo wrote:Beautiful Bones ~Sakurako's Investigation~

Same thoughts. 

It was visually captivating, and I usually dig these style of shows, but how deep the story ends up being will determine how long I stick with this one.

Anti-Magic Academy: The 35th Test Platoon

People with magic powers are close to being wiped out. Just as the balance of power and military might had once shifted from swords to sorcery, it shifts once again to guns. Takeru Kusanagi goes to "AntiMagic Academy," a training facility for Inquisitors of Heretics who crack down on the dwindling threat posed by magic users. However, Takeru cannot use guns at all and can only fight with a sword. As a result, he is relegated to the 35th Test Platoon, the motley "small fry platoon" for poor students. One day, Ōka Ōtori, the ultra-elite pistol master who already has her qualifications for witch-hunts, joins the platoon.

Remember Witch Hunter Robin? And how awesome it was?

Well this show is the polar opposite. Yet another craptastic LN adapted to become an equally craptastic anime. 
 
 

I Was Abducted by an Elite All-Girls School as a Sample Commoner

Kimito Kagurazaka is an ordinary high school student. One day, he is enrolled in a school where its noble female students are cut off from the rest of the world to preserve their innocence. This deep isolation causes a large number of graduates to be unable to cope with the outside world... thus, to deal with this problem, they have decided to kidnap a male commoner - which happens to be Kimito - hoping that his "common man's" influence will be a gentle way to introduce the girls to the realities of life outside.

Shaman Sample (to condense the title down to something you’re less likely to choke on pronouncing) is easily the dumbest concept I have seen in 2015. I cannot see how this show can possibly escape being crushed under it.



JK-MESHI!

Three high school girls have mastered the art of cooking simple, B-class dishes called JK meshi. The three girls — Reina, Ryōka, and Ruriko — are all classmates in their second year of high school. They often get distracted when studying for tests, and when they do, they cook JK meshi.

Three dumb girls crudely animated talking about basic fare. Effectively the anti-Kohaku Graffitii.



The Perfect Insider

Sōhei Saikawa is a member of the Saikawa Research Lab. He goes on a vacation held by the lab, and Moe Nishinosono, the daughter of his mentor, joins the group on their vacation despite not being a part of the lab. There, the two end up finding a corpse. The two work together to solve the mysteries of what becomes a serial murder case.

As much as Aniplex is paying A-1 Pictures to handle animation production of The Asterisk War, Fuji Television is spending at least five times that on them animating this show. It’s literally theatrical-level in quality.

Like Beautiful Bones, we have a mystery show with as yet no mystery (which seems to be a trend this season) and a cast of mostly annoying characters. Moe comes from a rich family and is in love with her teacher, Sōhei, who himself is only interested in Dr. Shiki Magata, a beautiful genius prodigy engineer who was tried of killing her parents, but acquitted due to mental incompetence (which strikes me as odd for someone who earned her first Doctorate at 11 and evidently makes Einstein and Hawking look like morons).

The show is very pretentious - it’s what I would expect if Aaron Sorkin directed an anime. Now I happen to really like Aaron Sorkin’s work, so I’m in for the long haul just on the basis of the animation, if nothing else. But I am hoping once they reach the island and the mystery kicks off, things start to pick up.

Love the style of the animation in the OP:





Tantei Team KZ Jiken Note

Aya Tachibana is a sixth-grader who frets and obsesses over friends, family, grades, and more. One day, she joins the "Tantei Team KZ" with four very idiosyncratic boys she met at cram school. There is the glib and attention-grabbing leader Kazuomi Wakatake, the mysterious "expert of personal relationships" Takakazu Kuroki, the smart and stoic math genius Kazunori Uesugi, and the sweet-hearted Kazuhiko Kozuka who is good at social matters and science. Aya finds her place among them as the "language expert." "Tantei Team KZ" gets involved in modern-day cases, and even if they bicker from time to time, they collaborate by pooling each of their talents and skills to solve these cases.

Yet another mystery anime in a season full of them. And no, this one didn’t solve it, either, but with a 9-minute run time I’m willing to cut it a bit more slack than the 23-minute shows. It also was “Part I” so I assume we’ll get to the mystery in “Part II” next week. Honestly, probably not one I will stick with as it’s average animation and average cuteness for Aya.

One-Punch Man

One-Punch Man is a super hero who has trained so hard that his hair has fallen out, and who can overcome any enemy with one punch. However, because he is so strong, he has become bored and frustrated with winning all his battles so easily.

Originally a web comic, then a manga, it is now an anime and it’s ludicrously awesome.

Kiskaloo wrote:Originally a web comic, then a manga, it is now an anime and it’s ludicrously awesome.

Watched the first episode and, yeah... wow. Best description I can think up at the moment is Madhouse does Gainax, with a bit of Dragonball thrown in at the start for good measure.

The gundam one looks interesting, but then I am a big gundam fan.  I'll check it out once it gets an English dub.

Kiskaloo wrote:Anti-Magic Academy: The 35th Test Platoon

People with magic powers are close to being wiped out. Just as the balance of power and military might had once shifted from swords to sorcery, it shifts once again to guns. Takeru Kusanagi goes to "AntiMagic Academy," a training facility for Inquisitors of Heretics who crack down on the dwindling threat posed by magic users. However, Takeru cannot use guns at all and can only fight with a sword. As a result, he is relegated to the 35th Test Platoon, the motley "small fry platoon" for poor students. One day, Ōka Ōtori, the ultra-elite pistol master who already has her qualifications for witch-hunts, joins the platoon.

Remember Witch Hunter Robin? And how awesome it was?

Well this show is the polar opposite. Yet another craptastic LN adapted to become an equally craptastic anime. 

I remember thinking that the idea of introducing firearms to a fantasy world was kind of cool.  But the rest of that description... bleh.

BTW, I did end up watching episodes of both The Asterisk War and Chivalry of a Failed Knight, which have become topics of discussion in another anime group I'm in.  They're terrible.  There are occasional parts where they're clever, or the characters are charming, or there's some bit of storytelling I like.  But that just makes the awful parts all the more awful.

Kiskaloo wrote:The Perfect Insider

Sōhei Saikawa is a member of the Saikawa Research Lab. He goes on a vacation held by the lab, and Moe Nishinosono, the daughter of his mentor, joins the group on their vacation despite not being a part of the lab. There, the two end up finding a corpse. The two work together to solve the mysteries of what becomes a serial murder case.

As much as Aniplex is paying A-1 Pictures to handle animation production of The Asterisk War, Fuji Television is spending at least five times that on them animating this show. It’s literally theatrical-level in quality.

Like Beautiful Bones, we have a mystery show with as yet no mystery (which seems to be a trend this season) and a cast of mostly annoying characters. Moe comes from a rich family and is in love with her teacher, Sōhei, who himself is only interested in Dr. Shiki Magata, a beautiful genius prodigy engineer who was tried of killing her parents, but acquitted due to mental incompetence (which strikes me as odd for someone who earned her first Doctorate at 11 and evidently makes Einstein and Hawking look like morons).

The show is very pretentious - it’s what I would expect if Aaron Sorkin directed an anime. Now I happen to really like Aaron Sorkin’s work, so I’m in for the long haul just on the basis of the animation, if nothing else. But I am hoping once they reach the island and the mystery kicks off, things start to pick up.

Love the style of the animation in the OP:

Not that keen on this one myself.  It does seem a bit pretentious.  Moe sure has a sweet looking Alfa though.

I've had a chance to check out the second episodes of a few shows.  Sakurako-san had a very good one -I still dislike the weird sequence of Sakurako "getting in her groove" and how sure her rapid conclusions are (though in this case she at least made some revisions later).  But overall, that show had a very strong second episode.

Heavy Object also got a big boost from it's second episode, which was much more serious than the first and didn't have as much exposition and stupid LN crap.

Utawarerumono: False Mask didn't have the strongest second episode, but I expect things to pick up as the show goes along, so I haven't given up on it.

Considering how much I liked the first episode of Comet Lucifer, my reaction to the second episode was pretty ho-hum.

I'm still not a huge fan of Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans.  To be fair, I was somewhat negatively inclined towards the show even before I watched it and it's hardly the first Gundam series to leave me wondering what's up with the factions.  On the other hand, the series' exposition and heavy handedness are probably legit points of criticism.  I'm personally not too fond of the characters, your mileage may vary on that point.

Piero wrote:BTW, I did end up watching episodes of both The Asterisk War and Chivalry of a Failed Knight, which have become topics of discussion in another anime group I'm in.  They're terrible.  There are occasional parts where they're clever, or the characters are charming, or there's some bit of storytelling I like.  But that just makes the awful parts all the more awful.

I tried the second episode of The Asterisk War, but the show is so formulaic and tropey that I lose interest within minutes. They might as well have neon signs next to the characters: "I'm the tsundere with a tragic past"; "I'm the lovable, but dopey male lead who gets into sitcom trouble"; etc.

Piero wrote:Not that keen on The Perfect Insider myself.  It does seem a bit pretentious.  Moe sure has a sweet looking Alfa though.

Yeah, it’s a 4C so Moe has taste, but god she annoys me. So far the first two episodes have been nothing special. I think it is trying too hard to be another Another, but then that show took awhile to get started and had some tough-to-like-at-first characters, as well. At worse, I’ll end up grudge-watching it because it is so beautiful.

Piero wrote:I've had a chance to check out the second episodes of a few shows.  Sakurako-san had a very good one -I still dislike the weird sequence of Sakurako "getting in her groove" and how sure her rapid conclusions are (though in this case she at least made some revisions later).  But overall, that show had a very strong second episode.

It was better than the first, but again, a mystery show that doesn’t bother to involve the viewer in the mystery rubs me the wrong way. And they have so telegraphed that Sakurako and Tatewaki have a past together when both were much younger between the OP and the knife fight that the only real mystery will be how long before they reveal said past.

But as with The Perfect Insider, I’ll probably watch it to the end, even if grudgingly.

Piero wrote:Heavy Object also got a big boost from it's second episode, which was much more serious than the first and didn't have as much exposition and stupid LN crap.

It was better, but I still didn’t find it good. The third episode improved more, however, so I'm willing to keep with it for the moment.

Piero wrote:Considering how much I liked the first episode of Comet Lucifer, my reaction to the second episode was pretty ho-hum.

Felia totally ruined the second episode. She is such an otaku wish-fulfillment character that I am sure she’ll kill my interest in the show, if not on her own, then in connection with her mecha avatar, who was as irritating as a pebble in one’s shoe. I fully expect the third episode will be my last.

Piero wrote:I'm still not a huge fan of Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans.  To be fair, I was somewhat negatively inclined towards the show even before I watched it and it's hardly the first Gundam series to leave me wondering what's up with the factions.  On the other hand, the series' exposition and heavy handedness are probably legit points of criticism.  I'm personally not too fond of the characters, your mileage may vary on that point.

The second episode did not impress me. In general, I am not a fan of anything Gundam so it really has to make a mark to interest me and I am pretty sure this show won’t do that. Mikazuki is firmly in the “I can win if I only RAGE HARDER!” school of anime characters and those totally turn me off.


On the flip side, the second and third Attack on Titan High episodes were a fair bit better, but then I love slapstick, which this show very much is. YMMV depending on how much you feel the same.

After the third episode, I'm finally ready to start recommending Utawarerumono: False Masks in earnest.  The new characters help spice things up a bit.  Okay, the princess is a shrinking violet/yamato nadeshiko but her giant bird is pretty awesome. Not sure I consider the bird the best member of Haku's growing harem though, as Kuon remains great.  A lot of anime heroines could stand to learn a few lessons from her.

Kiskaloo wrote:
Yeah, it’s a 4C so Moe has taste, but god she annoys me. So far the first two episodes have been nothing special. I think it is trying too hard to be another Another, but then that show took awhile to get started and had some tough-to-like-at-first characters, as well. At worse, I’ll end up grudge-watching it because it is so beautiful.

I wrote what I'd said previously before I saw the second episode, but yeah, I'm not huge on Moe's character either.  Character who are that sheltered tend to annoy me a bit.

Kiskaloo wrote:

Piero wrote:Heavy Object also got a big boost from it's second episode, which was much more serious than the first and didn't have as much exposition and stupid LN crap.

It was better, but I still didn’t find it good. The third episode improved more, however, so I'm willing to keep with it for the moment.

Funny, I actually thought the third episode wasn't as good as the second.  Though I think I'm sticking with it for now as well.  The LN elements are kind of annoying, but I kind of like the goofball pair of leads.

Kiskaloo wrote:

Piero wrote:Considering how much I liked the first episode of Comet Lucifer, my reaction to the second episode was pretty ho-hum.

Felia totally ruined the second episode. She is such an otaku wish-fulfillment character that I am sure she’ll kill my interest in the show, if not on her own, then in connection with her mecha avatar, who was as irritating as a pebble in one’s shoe. I fully expect the third episode will be my last.

She seemed a bit better handled in Episode Three, which I liked somewhat more than episode two.  It reminded me a bit of Macross Frontier's Episode Five, perhaps in part because I was reflecting on 8-Bit having been formed by ex-Satelight staff, and how Comet Lucifer looks better than a lot of Satelight's recent output. Of course, the fact that both episodes involved having fun exploring a city was probably a factor as well.

Kiskaloo wrote:

Piero wrote:I'm still not a huge fan of Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans.  To be fair, I was somewhat negatively inclined towards the show even before I watched it and it's hardly the first Gundam series to leave me wondering what's up with the factions.  On the other hand, the series' exposition and heavy handedness are probably legit points of criticism.  I'm personally not too fond of the characters, your mileage may vary on that point.

The second episode did not impress me. In general, I am not a fan of anything Gundam so it really has to make a mark to interest me and I am pretty sure this show won’t do that. Mikazuki is firmly in the “I can win if I only RAGE HARDER!” school of anime characters and those totally turn me off.

How on earth is Mikazuki an "I can win if I only RAGE HARDER!" character?  From what I've seen, he's far from rage prone.

I'd was going to start the previous sentence with "I'm not a big fan of the series either" or some such but the third episode won me over. I liked it much more than the first two for whatever reason.  Perhaps its because the episode wasn't introducing so much stuff and had some focus.

Piero wrote:After the third episode, I'm finally ready to start recommending Utawarerumono: False Masks in earnest.  The new characters help spice things up a bit.  Okay, the princess is a shrinking violet/yamato nadeshiko but her giant bird is pretty awesome. Not sure I consider the bird the best member of Haku's growing harem though, as Kuon remains great.  A lot of anime heroines could stand to learn a few lessons from her.

I’ve heard you do not need to have seem the original to follow this show, so I may give it a shot since I have dropped so many shows this season.

Piero wrote:I wrote what I'd said previously before I saw the second episode of The Perfect Insider, but yeah, I'm not huge on Moe's character either.  Character who are that sheltered tend to annoy me a bit.

Moe's hot, she knows it, and she uses her innate sexuality to try and manipulate men to do her bidding. I kind of get the same vibe from Doctor Magata, so that might be an interesting contrasting dynamic on how they deal with Sōhei.

Piero wrote:(Felia) seemed a bit better handled in Episode Three, which I liked somewhat more than episode two.  It reminded me a bit of Macross Frontier's Episode Five, perhaps in part because I was reflecting on 8-Bit having been formed by ex-Satelight staff, and how Comet Lucifer looks better than a lot of Satelight's recent output. Of course, the fact that both episodes involved having fun exploring a city was probably a factor as well.

I did not enjoy the third episode so I am dropping this one.

Piero wrote:I was going to start the previous sentence with "I'm not a big fan of the series either" or some such but the third episode of Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans won me over. I liked it much more than the first two for whatever reason.  Perhaps its because the episode wasn't introducing so much stuff and had some focus.

Crunchyroll and Funimation have both added the show, though they’re a week or so behind Daisuki.net, so I have not seen the third episode as of yet. But I’ll give it a shot before I make a final decision.

Kiskaloo wrote:

Piero wrote:After the third episode, I'm finally ready to start recommending Utawarerumono: False Masks in earnest.  The new characters help spice things up a bit.  Okay, the princess is a shrinking violet/yamato nadeshiko but her giant bird is pretty awesome. Not sure I consider the bird the best member of Haku's growing harem though, as Kuon remains great.  A lot of anime heroines could stand to learn a few lessons from her.

I’ve heard you do not need to have seem the original to follow this show, so I may give it a shot since I have dropped so many shows this season.

I'm probably insulting the new Utawarerumono by even mentioning it in the same sentence as The Asterisk War and Chivalry of a Failed Knight, but after those two I think you may find the show's characters and how it handles certain situations very refreshing.

Kiskaloo wrote:

Piero wrote:I've had a chance to check out the second episodes of a few shows.  Sakurako-san had a very good one -I still dislike the weird sequence of Sakurako "getting in her groove" and how sure her rapid conclusions are (though in this case she at least made some revisions later).  But overall, that show had a very strong second episode.

It was better than the first, but again, a mystery show that doesn’t bother to involve the viewer in the mystery rubs me the wrong way. And they have so telegraphed that Sakurako and Tatewaki have a past together when both were much younger between the OP and the knife fight that the only real mystery will be how long before they reveal said past.

But as with The Perfect Insider, I’ll probably watch it to the end, even if grudgingly.

After Episode Three, I'm thinking the show does drama much better than it does mystery.

Yeah, but in a way I kind of like the direction Beautiful Bones is going if it's not going to be a mystery-solving mystery show.

Perfect Insider had an interesting third episode with the formal launch of the mystery aspect. But it's kind of a bad thing when the two people I next want to die are the leads (Moe and Sōhei, respectively). 

All-in-all, my favorite shows this season are the sequels to earlier seasons (Norgami Argoto, Is The Order a Rabbit? Season 2 and Yuru Yuri Season 3), though on the plus side, I have more free time.

While officially this will be part of the 2016 Anime Season, the first teaser for the next Macross TV series - Macross Δ (Macross Delta) - was released today in Japan.

The show takes place eight years after Macross Frontier and will incorporate elements from earlier Macross properties, including dueling Valkyries (Macross Plus) and fighting aliens with music-playing Valkyries (Macross 7)

Visually it looks solid, as Satelight appears to have been given a movie-level budget as opposed to a television-level one so while their CG is lame as ever, the character and background artwork is more reminiscent of the Bodacious Space Pirates movie than TV series in quality.

It certainly looks interesting enough.  I'll check it out.

Subete ga F ni Naru: The Perfect Insider - B

I think this show was in the end a failure as a mystery because the reveal events were just ridiculous. I admit I am not all that good with sleuthing things out in mysteries, but I’m pretty confident the “failure to communicate” here was the script and not me.

The show had it’s moments. Episodes 08 and 09 were quite strong as the built up to the reveal, but said reveal (in Episodes 10 and 11) was underwhelming and, as noted above, ridiculous. The dialogue in the final episode was at times shockingly bad and the narrative it told just made me dislike the characters of Souhei and Doctor Magata even more. The show tried to portray them as geniuses, but I think they were more fools.

I don’t regret watching the show because it had it’s strong moments and it touched on serious topics like incest, pedophilia, and patricide that made it feel more dramatic than your usual anime fare. And it was beautifully animated - this is A-1 Pictures at their best.



Attack on Titan: Junior High - B

So this one turned out to be pretty good, mainly because they embraced the slapstick and I love slapstick. You still need to be pretty familiar with the show to get the most out of the gags, but if you are familiar with the show and like zany comedy, you might find this one worth the time.

One Punch Man - A

Every now and then there comes a “gateway” anime that is so universally appealing that just about anyone can watch it and enjoy it. One Punch Man is the latest installment. Magnificently ridiculous from start to finish. It should have been a boring show because Saitama is so overwhelmingly overpowered that God himself would get his arse handed to him. But the cast of characters - heroes and villains, alike - are memorable and give this show a unique feel. Even though the budget for this show was average, Madhouse put their best people on it and they delivered time and time again with some truly astounding segments of animation.

Yuri Yuri San-Hai - A
As cute girls being idiots goes, this show delivers - it's the perfect mix of laughs and lesbianism.

Beautiful Bones: Sakurako’s Investigation - B

Another…okay…mystery series. Sakurako solved each mystery pretty much instantly and as a character I didn’t find her all that interesting. Overall it gets a B for the quality of the animation - while the work of TROYCA, the style strongly reminded me of Kyoto Animation. But personally, I think FOX’s BONES is a better show in this genre.

I've been neglecting this thread for a while.

I found the characters in Sakurako-san likeable enough.  As I noted earlier however I find its a better drama series than it is a mystery series.

I don't really get what people find so entertaining about One Punch Man.  It really doesn't do much for me.  I consider a lot of shows with so much hype you can drown in it overrated (see Attack on Titan, Kill la Kill, Gurren Lagann), but I find this one in particular doesn't really do much for me.

I was pretty much ready to write off Heavy Object because of how bad some of the episodes towards the middle of the season where (too much of the series' oft times annoying fan service humor).  But the last few episodes have actually been quite good.  The Antarctica episode was hilarious (baby penguins for world peace!) and the last couple episodes are some of the strongest in the series in terms of the technical and tactical aspects.  Unfortunately the series hasn't entirely ditched some of its problematic elements, but if the entire series has been on par with the recent episode I could probably recommend it more strongly.

Utawarerumono: Itsuwari no Kamen has been disappointing.  It started off promising, and there's been a couple really good episodes -episode six, where Kuon is reunited with two of her surrogate parents is a particular standout.  Overall however the series has suffered from significant pacing problems.  In the first Utawarerumono, slice of life stuff happened between bouts of action.  Itsuwari no Kamen has front loaded its slice of life material and has only just gotten to the point where the shit is about to hit the fan.  The humor in the first few episodes seemed clever, but with the exception of the hilarious farce that is episode eleven, most of what occurs after episode six isn't that good.  Hopefully a more action oriented second half will help the series though it can't really fix what's already happened.

I also have mixed feeling about Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans but while it may not be my favorite show, I think it's avoided the sort of major pitfalls that Itsuwari no Kamen and Heavy Object have fallen into.  About the worst I can say about it is that it drags for a few episodes.

Comet Lucifer... let's just call it a write off and leave it at that.

Well if the rest of the world likes an anime, you generally don't Piero so I would have been more surprised if you had liked One Punch Man.

I also gave up on Heavy Object around episode 6 due to it focusing so much on fan service I figured it had nothing else to offer (and I just absolutely loathe Havia). However, since I am now done with everything else, I did plan to go back and skim through it, at least.
 
 
 
Is The Order a Rabbit? (Season 2) - A

Another show that fills you with the warm fuzzies and could make a Vulcan bust a gut laughing.

Kiskaloo wrote:I also gave up on Heavy Object around episode 6 due to it focusing so much on fan service I figured it had nothing else to offer (and I just absolutely loathe Havia). However, since I am now done with everything else, I did plan to go back and skim through it, at least.

In your specific case, I'm wondering if you might get better mileage out of giving the new Utawarerumono a try.  Granted I can't make any guarantees -there's a reason I'm not recommending either show all that strongly at this point.