I'm not sure anyone out there can appreciate the amount of effort it takes to make these retrospectives. Not just watching the anime, or writing about them, but getting the motivation to do the busywork like formatting and even adding the Anime Relations here on MAL to the blog post - for a section barely used on the site. I'm whining a little because it's a lot of work for literally no payout, but also because I'm late getting this one out and I'm sad about that. And sorry. But mostly sad.
The point is, it's a lot of work and way more hours than I thought I'd spend on them. And I'm not always the most motivated person when it comes to them - once you're paid to do something, it's hard to do it for free. That's why I don't write movie reviews anymore. This is just different enough, even if I'll continue to make jokes about how I should be paid. Which I absolutely should be, by the way.
I've also been spending my time doing other things. I have a massive tracking spreadsheet that requires a tremendous amount of manual data entry, and I get bursts of motivation for that - and we're in one of those times. And I'm also still trying to figure out what I want to do for an anime YouTube channel. I've got some ideas, but it'll be a while. And I might get discouraged and quit. But we'll see.
Irregardlessly (not a word), we've got another retrospective to look at. This time, we're into Fall 2016, a season where I didn't get to as many things as I thought I would. I did have one or two other shows planned but time got away from me. I still hit the minimum threshold I set, but I feel like I should've gotten in a few more. Maybe my standards have been raised to unrealistic highs...
By my count, there are 46 full-length series that started to air this season. They add up to 871 episodes - not counting OVAs. 31 of these shows are new, while 15 of them are continuations (read: sequels) from previous seasons. I am not including long-running shows in these numbers; those will be included only in the season in which they began.
Here are the shows that are being included:
All Out!! (Season 1)
Complete
Brave Witches (Season 1)
Complete
Cheating Craft (Season 1)
Complete
ClassicaLoid (Season 1)
Unwatched
Digimon Universe: App Monsters (Season 1)
Complete
Drifters (Season 1)
Complete
Flip Flappers (Season 1)
Complete
Girlish Number (Season 1)
Complete
The Great Passage (Season 1)
Complete
Idol Memories (Season 1)
Complete
Izetta: The Last Witch (Season 1)
Complete
Keijo!!!!!!!! (Season 1)
Complete
Kiss Him, Not Me! (Season 1)
Complete
The Kubikiri Cycle (Season 1)
Complete
Long Riders! (Season 1)
Complete
Magic of Stella (Season 1)
Complete
Magical Girl Raising Project (Season 1)
Complete
Magic-Kyun! Renaissance (Season 1)
Unwatched
March Comes in Like a Lion (Season 1)
Complete
Matoi the Sacred Slayer (Season 1)
Complete
Monster Hunter Stories: Ride On (Season 1)
Unwatched
Nanbaka (Season 1)
Complete
Occultic;Nine (Season 1)
Complete
Poco's Udon World (Season 1)
Complete
Scorching Ping Pong Girls (Season 1)
Complete
Soul Buster (Season 1)
Unwatched
Touken Ranbu (Season 1)
Unwatched
Trickster (Season 1)
Unwatched
ViVid Strike (Season 1)
Unwatched
WWWWorking!! (Season 1)
Unwatched
Yuri!!! on Ice (Season 1)
Complete
12-sai.: Chicchana Mune no Tokimeki (Season 2)
Unwatched
Ajin: Demi-Human (Season 2)
Complete
BBK/BRNK (Season 2)
Unwatched
Bungo Stray Dogs (Season 2)
Complete
Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans (Season 2)
Complete
My Wife is the Student Council President! (Season 2)
Unwatched
Show By Rock!! (Season 2)
Unwatched
Sound! Euphonium (Season 2)
Complete
Strike the Blood (Season 2)
Unwatched
Haikyuu!! (Season 3)
Complete
Selector Infected WIXOSS (Season 3)
Complete
Tiger Mask (Season 3)
Unwatched
Uta no Prince-sama (Season 4)
Unwatched
Natsume's Book of Friends (Season 5)
Complete
Pokémon (1997) (Season 10)
Unwatched
In total, I completed 30/46 shows, which includes 23/30 of the new shows, as well as 7/15 continuations. That's 65.22% total. I've said before the target is 70%, which I acknowledge not hitting here. The initial target was 60%, which was hit. A few of these shows will be watched in the next calendar year; I just didn't get to them here. But you know the reviews will be added once I watch them (unless I forget).
My average rating for the completed shows was 5.90/10, which is higher than expected. That's the first time we've been able to say that for a while, I feel.
A reminder or introduction for any new readers:
(MAL's average score sits around 7.10/10 for the entirety of the full-length database. You guys score high. The average score should be 5.5/10 if the entire scoring system is used and a random (or, not-cherry-picked) sample size is used. Neither of those happens for the majority of users, which leads to a high average. Nothing against it, but my average - and generally individual - scores are almost always going to be lower than the MAL scores, and there's nothing wrong with that.)
Let's get to the reviews!
Disclaimer: These are my opinions. Feel free to disagree. You can like things I dislike and I can like things you dislike. That is okay.
It isn't really important, but I wonder how big of a sport rugby is in Japan. It doesn't seem like it'd be something that gets
a lot of traction. All Out!! is the first rugby anime I've watched, and maybe it'll be the last. The easiest way to quick-hand
the summary would be to say it's like Haikyu!!, right down to two exclamation marks in its title, except with rugby
instead of volleyball, without the stellar production qualities, without the narrative progression, and with most of the
team being one-note instead of full characters.
That doesn't make it sound similar at all but stay with me here. It's a sports anime about a plucky undersized kid who
has to, through the power of friendship and hard work, help his team make it to the big tournament. Except the anime
never progresses that much - most of the time is spent either doing the friendship thing or training matches. It got 25
episodes to waste and it's determined to do just that. The matches themselves are ... fine. Probably the highlights, even
though they're not top-tier sports matches. Maybe if you like rugby you'll get more out of it. Not me.
Long Story Short All Out!! is budget rugby Haikyu!!, and is probably only worth checking out if you already like the sport.
It's an odd feeling to like a spinoff more than the original, but that's where I'm at with Brave Witches and Strike
Witches. It's not even close - Brave Witches is so much better than its predecessor that, if the series had just
started with it, I'd probably look more favorably on it as a whole. We finally have an entry that's got a decent story,
okay characters, solid (albeit unremarkable) action, and an emotional core that might make you care about the things
that are happening in it.
At its core, the shows are similar. Both follow a group of magical pantsless lolis fighting against aliens. But it's
functionally, and in the details, that they differ. Brave Witches has a story with (mostly) constant forward
momentum. It has a protagonist to root for who has to overcome struggles. And it doesn't shove frequent fanservice
in our faces. None of its elements stand out and, in a vacuum, it's nothing special - but taken in context with its
series, it's a delight.
Long Story Short
I may be overrating Brave Witches just because of how much better it is than its predecessor, but I don't care.
While I've been known to like some of the comedies that the MAL consensus is pretty low on, I'll hand it to you guys
this time: Cheating Craft is not good. It's a half-length show about a world in which academic success is everything
(lol), and where cheating is done to absurd lengths to get good grades and then have a fruitful adult life. But
there are other students, teachers, and other systems in place to try to stop that cheating, which is where our action-
comedy comes in, as we watch the over-the-top battles to cheat take place in the exam rooms.
It's repetitive, rarely seems to amount to much, and it's not very funny. It's occasionally creative and, at times, even
visually appealing. But it's unsubstantial, can never generate any forward momentum with its 12-minute episodes,
and you're unlikely to care much about our protagonists. A smart satire about both the educational system and the
faults in the working world by putting such a strong emphasis on exam results could come from this premise, but
this isn't it.
Long Story Short Cheating Craft, even with occasional spurts of creativity, isn't funny enough to recommend.
I guess I'm getting old because while Digimon Universe: App Monsters makes complete and total sense as the next
evolution for the digital monsters ... I don't like it. Not the show - it's fine, I guess, but I think that, perhaps, I'm not well-
suited for Digimon anymore - but the idea that the monsters are now in our smartphones. Digivices? Cool and based.
Smartphones? Lame. Yes, that probably makes me a boomer. Oh, and the show not being dubbed feels wrong, too.
I only ever watched Digimon dubbed and you can't make me feel bad about this!
Anyway, like I said, it makes sense that this is where Digimon has gone. It was always a way to integrate technology
and the internet with these creatures, so smartphone apps make sense. I'm sure we'll do a VR one of these eventually,
too. The story is nothing we haven't seen before, the Digimon themselves are a mixed bag in terms of designs, and
the characters are pretty weak. But it's also a show for children and, apart from the 3rd season of Digimon, most of
what I just said has always been true. So while it's hard to fault the show for being as mediocre as most of the rest of
it, it's also easy to acknowledge it's just not for me anymore.
Long Story Short Digimon Universe: App Monsters makes conceptual sense, but it didn't hook me.
I'm not sure what it was about Drifters that failed to captivate me as much as most people, but that's what these
couple of paragraphs are designed to find out. Its premise sees a bunch of historical figures - your Nobunagas,
Jeanne d'Arcs, etc. - pulled into a parallel world and pits them against (or with) each other in fights to the death.
It generally looks pretty good, its action scenes are fun enough from a spectacle front, and it is neat to see some
characters you might recognize from history. Or might not, if you aren't a history buff and are generally ignorant of it.
Maybe that's it. I am not much of a history person, and while many of the names were recognizable to me, most of
the characters came across, in the anime, as pretty one-dimensional. Perhaps to fully enjoy this show, you need to
come in with more extensive knowledge, and the anime expects you to have done that legwork beforehand. It's not
going to do it for you. Does that make it bad? Should the anime expect that knowledge from its audience? I don't think
it's a bad anime either way, but some more development and depth to most of its historical cast members would've
improved it and made its battles more meaningful.
Long Story Short Drifters is for the history buffs out there.
For context, it's been 4.5 years since I watched Flip Flappers. A professional would have rewatched at least part
of it to remind oneself about the events that transpired during it, but a professional, by definition, would be paid to
do such a thing. And y'all ain't paying me. So you get to hear my concussion-brained, foggy memory version of what
I remember thinking about it almost half a decade ago.
And that thought is: It's pretty good. I remember being told to watch it because I liked Madoka Magica, and it's
another "magical girl with a twist" show. Girls go on adventures in alternate worlds, they're probably metaphorical,
and it's more dangerous than initially believed. It's a pretty show to look at, its main characters are fun to follow,
and it has themes worth exploring. It was one of the earliest anime I watched as an adult and I was not prepared for
it. On a rewatch, I'd probably like it more.
Long Story Short Flip Flappers does a good job of the "magical girl with a twist" format.
Despite what its poster and genre might make it seem like, Girlish Number is not a cutesy slice-of-life show. Its
characters aren't nice enough for that, and its subject matter - primarily the creation and promotion of anime - doesn't
lend itself to that. Anime production is hard and stressful, after all. Its protagonist is an inexperienced voice actor
who gets a big break as a co-lead on a big show.
That's a red flag already - voice actors start small and work up to that sort of thing, and a show that would let her
jump the queue may not be handled all that well. Girlish Number then showcases everything that follows this
casting decision. It does a decent job building a couple of its characters, but I was mostly engaged with the more
background production stuff. It truly was fascinating. There's drama, comedy, and actual genuine insight into the
industry. It held my attention through to its finale.
Long Story Short
If you have an interest in voice acting or anime production, Girlish Number is almost a must-watch.
Back when I was a film critic - even before I was paid to do that, actually - The Great Passage is the type of story
I would've eaten up. A realistic workplace drama, with strong characters who develop over time and are united in a
single passion. Told well, this would've been one of my films of the year, highly recommended to everyone, etc. etc.
And perhaps it's a decline, rather than an improvement, that I no longer find myself effusively praising such productions.
I still liked The Great Passage, mind, but to a lesser degree than I might have a decade ago.
I don't know if I found it a little too slow nowadays - has social media truly rotted our brains? - or maybe something else
that is holding me back. It is a good story that's told well and has strong characters. It feels realistic, it's thematically rich,
and ... I don't know why I don't love it. Perhaps this requires further introspection, which I guess is something that a
drama like this can provoke out of someone when it works.
Long Story Short The Great Passage has a lot of things I used to love (and still like), and I'm grappling with why I don't anymore.
I got a VR headset a couple of years ago and while I maintain that the technology behind it is cool, we're still a ways
away from it being more than a gimmick. It also made me motion sick to the point that I couldn't use it much. And
now I barely hear anyone talking about it - we moved on to AI being the next tech-bro gimmick. Idol Memories
shows us a future where idols perform virtually - this was made before vtubers, interestingly enough - and various
groups compete against each other to be the top-ranked ones.
That is a good premise. The anime does not capitalize on it. It lacks the character depth from both our protagonists and
antagonists to make us care about them, and its narrative - like most short anime that try to have a plot - is stunted
by only getting 12 minutes per episode. It looks pretty decent and some of the songs are fine but it just isn't remotely
interesting enough to set itself apart from other idol anime, even with its potentially fascinating premise.
Long Story Short Idol Memories winds up as another bad idol anime.
Izetta: The Last Witch is basically a "What if WW2 had witches?" story. It's set during a WW2-analog and sees
a small independent nation get the help of Izetta (the last witch) to prevent the Germanian army from taking control
of their country. It has some big battles, some fun moral lessons, and strong world-building. Its two leads are
interesting cute anime girls, and the production consistently looks pretty good.
So why only a 6/10? The narrative is a little unfocused and leads to a rushed conclusion, and this might be nitpicky but
Izetta's powers don't seem to always follow the rules that the anime, itself, established. It's a little tropey, too, and
while you don't have to develop the villains in a show of this nature, making them more compelling would
make it more enjoyable.
Long Story Short Izetta: The Last Witch does enough right to make it worth checking out but does falter somewhat, especially in
its second half.
I don't think Keijo!!!!!!!! has enough exclamation points. Exclamation marks? Whichever is proper, it has a lot of them.
It's a sports anime about "keijo," which sees female-only competitors have to knock their opponents off platforms using
their, um, assets. It's a ridiculous idea that you'd think could only exist in anime, which is why I was pleased to see
Portugal tried to turn it into a real thing. The real-life version was less fun than the anime version, which is ridiculous and
over-the-top in all the right ways.
It fails on a character front, its competitions aren't very good if you compare them to normal sports anime, and there's
pretty much nothing going on to keep your brain engaged. But, well, cute anime girls bouncing into each other with
their breasts and butts is something. It's a dumb ecchi show and it kind of works in that area - even without the
nudity you'd probably expect. So, yeah, it's ... well, it's Keijo!!!!!!!! If you're not sold already, you're not the one
who should give it a go.
Long Story Short Keijo!!!!!!!! is ridiculous but it's entertaining.
The protagonist of Kiss Him, Not Me begins the show as an overweight girl obsessed with BL content. She has
like 1 friend, is treated poorly by a lot of her fellow students, and is largely ignored by boys. Then she magically
becomes attractive and finds her world turned upside down. People are being nice to her, and a bunch of boys
want to date her. But she, as the title indicates, would rather they go down the BL route rather than her current
reverse harem.
It's ... interesting to me how various media projects handle the "suddenly attractive" situation. Will it critique the
shallowness of society? Will it have the formerly ugly character take advantage of their new situation? This is a new
direction, I'll grant you, but it doesn't do much in terms of positive messaging, either. Beyond that, it's intermittently
funny but more often annoying, and its production values don't exactly stun. There aren't a lot of reverse harems,
and even fewer like this, so if it's your thing then you might get some value out of it.
Long Story Short Kiss Him, Not Me annoyed me more often than it made me laugh.
I can't say I've ever been disappointed by a Shaft x Nisio Isin collaboration, and since The Kubikiri Cycle is one of
those, you can see where this is going. Based on the first in the Zaregoto series, it's a mystery anime about a
group of geniuses on an island ... and then one of them is beheaded. Our protagonist has to solve the case.
It's a lot of fun. If you've seen a Monogatari installment, the visuals are of a similar ilk, meaning there's always
something for your eyes. The dialogue remains snappy and philosophical, too. Its ultimate solution to its mystery is
... maybe not the best out there, requiring a bit too much suspension of disbelief. But that's okay. This is an anime
where one of its characters is a literal psychic. Our disbelief is suspended enough, and when the proceedings are
this enjoyable, I'm willing to indulge it.
Long Story Short The Kubikiri Cycle is murder-mystery Monogatari, so of course I enjoyed it a lot.
I was about to swear on my life that I had just watched Long Riders!, but it turns out that was a different show about
cute girls doing cycling things (hey, we can keep the acronym!). But, really, Long Riders! is just that. Cute girls
bike around Japan and nothing much more happens. I'll continue to reiterate that cute anime girls can't, on their own,
make a niche subject interesting to people who aren't already at least somewhat intrigued, and this anime doesn't
have much else to offer.
Well, it does have some mediocre animation, and production issues caused its final couple of episodes to air months
late, but as someone not watching it weekly, only the animation quality matters now. But it's bland. The girls are fine
but they're mostly one-trait characters, and cycling just isn't something I've ever cared about, much to my father's
chagrin. Hi, Dad!
Long Story Short Long Riders! doesn't offer much for those not interested in cycling.
You know how there's that meme of something looking like a bad version of a thing you like and people say it's the "we
have x at home" version? Magic of Stella is the "we have New Game! at School" version. It's about a girl who
joins a game-making club at school and then CGDCT ensues for 12 episodes. Sometimes it's game-related, sometimes
it's just CGDCT. Sometimes it's club-related, sometimes it's CGDCT.
You get it. You've seen this show before, just not necessarily about making video games. We've done it with all sorts
of clubs. You need some top-tier element to stand out in this field - be it characters, themes, production values, etc.
And this one doesn't have anything to make it noteworthy. It's fine in the sense that it isn't going to do anything so
poorly that it makes you feel like you're wasting your time. But in the field of CGDCT anime, that's not enough.
Long Story Short Magic of Stella does nothing to make it stand out.
Magical Girl Raising Project is another one of those "magical girl with a dark twist" stories. This time, the cute
mascot creature recruits too many magical girls, so half of them need to go. It holds a contest where the one who
does the fewest good deeds (tracked by "candy" gained) is no longer allowed to be a magical girl. Also, they die
when that happens, which none of them were told upon signing up.
So, it's a death game magical girl anime that starts cordially and eventually becomes, well, less so. Is that fun?
Kind of. It feels rushed in this adaptation, as we barely know any of the characters - and often learn their
backstories in the episode they're going to die, which is a tip-off and also bad storytelling. It's not without some
enjoyment but it does feel like a lackluster adaptation of a strong premise.
Long Story Short Magical Girl Raising Project has a fun premise but this version is not the ideal realization of it.
March Comes in Like
a Lion (Season 1) Rating: 8/10
March Comes in Like a Lion succeeds primarily - although not exclusively - in its handling of the little things. Its
small details, its seemingly trivial conversations, its character's routines - those sorts of areas. The devil's in the
details, as they say. It has a lot to say without outwardly saying it, much like its depressed protagonist, a depressed
high schooler who is also a pro shogi player, and who doesn't talk a lot but has lots of thoughts and feelings.
It doesn't matter if you have any interest in shogi, as its focus is on its characters and not the game, even if the game
does play a prominent role in the lives of many of them. You get glimpses into the lives of these people as they go
about their day, dealing with various traumas and dramas in ways only they can. And then you reflect on your own,
and how you make it through each day. It's a show that makes you think and cry but it isn't overwhelmingly negative,
dramatic, or sad. It does so with its attention to detail.
Long Story Short March Comes in Like a Lion is a thoughtful anime that, if you let it, will make you reflect on your own life in ways
you might not often do.
MyAnimeList dot com does not list Matoi the Sacred Slayer as a magical girl show. It is one. You can change the
name to whatever you want, but if it looks, walks, and quacks like a duck... Anyway, it's a magical girl show about a
trio of girls who combine with gods to beat up evil supernatural creatures. And battle them they do, repetitively to the
point where you might get tired of the fights, which are not entertaining, before the one against the final boss.
While there's effort put in to try to get us to care about the three girls, it's not a very successful attempt. There's little
tension, too, so the outcome never feels in doubt. It looks pretty decent - it's a White Fox anime, after all - and the
designs of the transformed characters are, as usual for the genre, quite solid. But I found myself dozing more than I
was engrossed.
Long Story Short Matoi the Sacred Slayer is a dull magical girl show, even if MAL doesn't list it as one.
Nanbaka is a really fun and funny anime about a quartet of dummies who are incarcerated at a secret prison whose
claim to fame is nobody has ever escaped from it. They constantly try to escape but also get treated well and
maybe aren't trying that hard. And then the halfway point of the season hits and the tone takes such a hard turn into
Seriousville that it causes significant whiplash. Where ... where did the fun go? Where are the jokes? As a famous
Batman villain once said: Why so serious?
The show remains a visual delight, vibrant and creative in the way it portrays our heroes(?), the supporting cast, and
the prison in which they live. But the show becomes something different from what was established, and it's not to
its benefit. Turning the tone on its head like this feels unearned. It works as a silly gag show; it doesn't so much when
it wants us to start thinking or caring about the events beyond a cursory "hey, that was fun."
Long Story Short Nanbaka works as a comedy but its tonal shift midway through wasn't a successful one.
When I watched Occultic;Nine, back in 2020 when I had no clue I'd be doing these retrospectives, I had somewhat
recently come off the high of watching Steins;Gate - still one of my favorite anime - and let's just say I was a little
let down by what I saw. It starts with way, way too much in the way of information. You know how you become
overwhelmed when too much is thrown at you, and you lose interest? This anime does that to us immediately. It is
adapting a long visual novel into a cours worth of episodes, so I get why this happens, but it's not great for us.
Characters wind up underdeveloped, explanations for all of the plot threads, phenomena, and many other things are
either convoluted or just left hanging, and it's hard to get very invested in any of the proceedings. If anything, due to
the info dumps and rapid-fire dialogue, you're more likely to be run down midway through than engaged. Steins;Gate
takes the opposite approach, with a very slow opening that a lot of people (not me) didn't like. But it sucks you into
its world and gives you ample room to breathe and explore. This one strangles you.
Long Story Short Occultic;Nine is too much, too fast, to be worth watching.
Poco's Udon World is another anime about a dude adopting a cute kid that's designed to make you also think that,
"Hey, maybe it'd be cool if I also had a child to take care of. Just look at how cute they can be (in anime)! I should
make/adopt a child." This one is a magical tanuki kid, something you probably can't get in real life, but ignore that
part and pay attention to how much fun you could have! (Ignore how, sometimes, young-looking mystical creatures
aren't as young as you might think...)
Anyway, this is an iyashikei about a dude and this child, whom the guy finds in his family's old restaurant. Iyashikei
and I don't have the greatest history - they're often too slow and uneventful for me - and need really strong characters
or themes to keep my attention. Poco's Udon World is slightly better than middle-of-the-road here. Its characters
do develop and we're given some things to think about. It is slow and not a lot happens, but it is kind of relaxing
to watch. I guess it's good enough, as far as these things go.
Long Story Short Poco's Udon World is a decent iyashikei.
Scorching Ping Pong Girls is another example of anime giving us cute anime girls doing a niche activity and hoping
that will be enough to get us invested in something we otherwise wouldn't care about. Well luckily for Scorching Ping
Pong Girls, I like both cute anime girls and the niche activity de jour, which you can probably guess from the title
is ping pong (table tennis if you're a nerd). Our girls have a chance to reach and potentially win nationals, and ...
yeah, it's every sports anime plot ever™ but with ping pong this time.
But, hey, that does make it stand out, considering how few ping pong anime there are out there. And the girls are
cute and have fun personalities. And the tone is not supremely serious, which is nice. The table tennis action
is pretty solid as well. You probably won't be very invested in who wins and loses, but it's a fun enough ride to
tag along. And it's surprisingly ... focused, I guess. Usually, there are a lot of CGDCT moments or even full episodes,
but this one is mostly about the sport.
Long Story Short Scorching Ping Pong Girls is an enjoyable enough ride as long as you like cute girls and/or ping pong.
Most of you probably know that Yuri!!! on Ice has nothing to do with gay girls, and instead actually has a lot to do
with gay boys - which sounds contradictory given how the yuri genre of anime/manga is about girls. But here's the thing:
"Yuri" is our protagonist's name. And an antagonist's name. And I already said it's about gay boys, so you may be
thinking they fall in love. But you're wrong! I got you! Our protagonist and his coach are the main couple, even if the
anime doesn't quite go far enough to truly cement their romance. Which it should've done. There is no reason for
the ambiguity the anime has.
The rest of the show is about our protagonist going to ice skating competitions. And also his competition. The anime
is steadfast in deciding to present its competitions like they would be shown on TV (except with inner monologues
for each character, but besides that). So we get ... a lot of ice skating. From everyone. It's a lot. And it feels repetitive.
If you aren't a fan or knowledgeable, it'll feel samey. It loses a lot of potential dramatic impact because of this. The
skating looks good and there are some good emotional moments both in and out of the arenas, but what could
have been a tremendous show just winds up pretty good because of this.
Long Story Short Yuri!!! on Ice made 2 bad choices which turn it from a fantastic anime into a pretty good one.
Is it fair to criticize a project for something it couldn't reasonably be expected to fix? I think yes, since production
circumstances should play no role in evaluating the quality of a finished product. But you could make the argument that
criticizing the visuals of the second cours of Ajin: Demi-Human is ... maybe not wrong, but pointless. It wasn't
going to change regardless of how the first cours was received, and you've already accepted them if you're willing
to sit through another dozen episodes, so ... I guess why bother?
Anyway, this second part of Ajin: Demi-Human sees the conclusion of our story, but not of the overall conflict
between humans and the immortal demi-humans. The various alliances that have formed and changed all lead
to a pretty entertaining climax for our characters. It's still pretty ugly, and I can't say I felt any emotion while watching
it, but it's not dull and there are some good elements at play. So I guess what I'm saying is that if you want
to check out the second cours, you know what you're getting into. Is this review worth anything? Nope!
Long Story Short Ajin: Demi-Human's second cours is much like the first, but considering they were made back-to-back, and
maybe even concurrently, this shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.
On one hand, the second season of Bungo Stray Dogs is mostly superior to its predecessor. It's more serious,
doesn't have as many inappropriately placed "comedic" points, and has no interest in doing a case-of-the-week plot;
it instead has 3 arcs. On the other hand, it opens with what I can only describe as a boring prequel arc that, while
crucial to the story going forward, made me want to stop watching in the moment.
So I find myself thinking that while the season is better than the first, its bland beginning hurts it on the whole. There
was nothing - save for perhaps the suicide jokes - that made me want to stop watching the first season, but if I wasn't
as committed as I am, the prequel with characters I really don't care about (and still didn't, even after) might've done
just that. And if even a 3rd of a season is that uninteresting, then perhaps it needed some adjustments. Still, once
you're past that, the series picks up and is worth the watch.
Long Story Short Bungo Stray Dogs's second season does eventually get quite good - you just have to wade through some
(necessary)prequel arc slog first.
Mobile Suit Gundam:
Iron-Blooded Orphans
(Season 2) Rating: 8/10
The first season of Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans didn't connect with me as emotionally as it probably
wishes it could've. It told a good story, delivered several conflicts and battles, and gave us a strong indication of its
characters and what they're fighting for. But it felt arm's-length to me. This second season, set a few years later (yay,
time skips!), breaches that emotional distance I felt. Is that due to Stockholm Syndrome from spending another 26
episodes with the cast? Maybe! But that works well for sitcoms and is simply part of the deal, so even if that's all it
was, it's still effective.
This season sees our group of characters as a formidable branch with considerable power. This brings forth new
and old conflicts - both external and internal, the latter of which has some interesting consequences. We get to further
delve into the sacrifices required for all of this to happen, and perhaps the inevitability that it can't be sustained forever
this way. It's a really strong conclusion that, if you're on board, will grip you to the end. After 50 episodes, though, the
robot stuff gets a little repetitive. The conflicts the robot fights represent and/or resolve are important, don't get me
wrong - the actual fighting doesn't hook me as much as it might you.
Long Story Short Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans has a gripping conclusion.
Sound! Euphonium's first season felt like a sports anime, while its second season approached things a little differently.
Instead of spending most of its time practicing for the next big event, it dedicates that time and effort to growing its
characters. They're still training, of course, but the time the anime spends isn't on that. It's on Asuka, and Mizore, and
Natsuki, and Nozomi - and, of course, on Kumiko and Reina.
Noticeably less important are the other two members of the main quartet. But that's okay, as we basically know what
we need to about them and they're not crucial players anyway. The added depth we get to some of the key supporting
members makes everything matter a little more. The drama is involving and engaging as well. And it all looks gorgeous,
sounds great, and still has some wonderful performances.
Long Story Short Sound! Euphonium's second season gives some of its supporting cast additional depth while providing all the
joys we saw in season 1.
This is the season of Haikyuu! we've been waiting for. Its scope is more limited (10 episodes compared to the
previous standard of 25), and it's just 1 long match. But it's tremendously entertaining. It has drama, suspense, and
great character moments - it is exactly what one could hope for from a season comprised almost entirely of a single
volleyball match.
I'm glad this match wasn't rushed, and I'm glad this season doesn't have any unnecessary filler. You could've
stretched it to 12-13 episodes if you wanted, but that would have taken away from the epic-length, 5-set match
at its core. Honestly, if Haikyuu! were to end here, that would be fine. This is probably its peak.
Long Story Short
It's amazing that 1 match could be this entertaining, but Haikyuu!'s third season pulled it off.
Oh, you thought we were done promoting this card game? After season 2, which more or less wrapped up what we
needed it to, now we're back with another tale in the WIXOSS universe, focusing on a new cast of characters -
and the game itself has changed. Well, not necessarily the card game rules, as those are impenetrable to an anime
watcher anyway. But the stakes. Now we have coins that slowly get corrupted, and if all 5 you have turn black, you
"disappear." Win enough battles to turn them all shiny gold and you can manipulate one of your memories.
Of course, it's still the dark card game battle show we've come to like, but with new characters, still a muddled
system, and ... it was already starting to drag a bit by the end of the second season, wasn't it? Still, it's tackling
(somewhat) different themes this time around, and it mostly justifies its existence. I like the franchise, okay?
Long Story Short
The third season of WIXOSS probably shouldn't exist, but it's entertaining.
Through four seasons, Natsume's Book of Friends has maintained a consistent quality that has successfully built
upon previous chapters exactly how it should. Characters have grown, themes have deepened, and while there hasn't
been a ton of narrative throughlines - episodes are largely episodic - there has been progression. So, what happens
when you take that consistency and throw a wrench into it? In this case, it's a new studio. Brain's Base moves aside
for Shuka.
Nothing. It's the same level of quality you've come to expect, the formula remains the same, and not a beat
was missed in the transition. It just goes to remind us that staff members matter more than the studio - barring
outliers, of course - and that we shouldn't necessarily worry when anime we like moves around. Pay attention to
the people involved in its creation, I guess is my point. And in the case of Natsume's Book of Friends, we
remain in good hands.
Long Story Short Natsume's Book of Friends survives a studio change to deliver the same quality we've come to expect.
Time for the Anime of the Season and the 3x3!
Haikyuu!! (Season 2)
There were three contenders this season. Haikyuu!! might've peaked here, so I'm giving it the award. Plus, how often do you think I'll have a real shot at giving a sports anime without a bunch of cute anime girls an AOTS award?
Girlish Number
March Comes in
Like a Lion
Mobile Suit Gundam:
Iron-Blooded Orphans
Natsume's Book of
Friends
Haikyuu!!
Sound! Euphonium
Yuri!!! on Ice
The Kubikiri Cycle
Flip Flappers
That's all she wrote, folks. I will be back early next year with the next two retrospectives. Fall 2024 and Summer 2016 should be released within a couple of weeks of each other. Assuming motivation, etc. etc.
