Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Anime Roundup: Summer 2013

Looks like I need to write up another apology. The kombine moved over to a new server over the weekend so there are still a few kinks, though the site is mostly functional. Just a few missing bits here and there which I'm looking for and getting restored. But I can still post and, with the new season just starting, it looks like a good a time as any for the usual roundup post! First up, a look at the shows just gone!



BEST SHOW




Ginga Kikoutai Majestic Prince



If I had a larger readership, I'd probably get roasted for this choice but this show is solid! Shingeki no Kyojin would be an obvious choice but I had read the manga long before the show started so I knew exactly how things were going to turn out. Valvrave is another choice but the reason why ppl seem to love it is also the reason why I chose majestic prince over it! Valvrave is an absolute mess of a show. An entertaining mess, but a mess none the less. The creators of Valvrave seem content to just throw all kinds of twists and WTF moments and see what sticks. Majestic Prince is more of a workhorse. It knows what it is and what it needs to do and it simply gets on with it. I like that straightforwardness in the show.



WORST SHOW



Date-A-Live



HANDS DOWN the worst show of the season and one of the contenders for worst show of the year (tho it doesn;t come close to Natsuyuki Redezvous). Had I gone into the show blind, I would have probably just dismissed it as a sub-par harem show with combat elements in it. But, since I had read the first 3 volumes of the translated light novels, I know just how much of a travesty this adaptation was and the staff should be ashamed of their work! So much was wrong, from the pacing, to the removal of small elements which really help form the characters and make them more likeable



God, this show was bad



BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT



Man, the pacing of this show is all over the place. Guess that's one of the problems of making a show whose storyline intersects with another which was aired a long time ago. The sisters arc seems so pointless when it's stretched so long but we already know what the outcome is (was?).



BIGGEST SURPRISE



Mushibugyo



Not sure what I was expecting from this show but it was rather fun!



THE REST



* OREIMO 2 was exactly how everyone expected, right down to the troll ending!

* Not sure if my expectations were simply too high, but I don't think RED DATA GIRL was one of P.A works better shows.

* SUISEI NO GARGANTIA was a very interesting show but, like Fractale, needed more time to expand things.

* It's way less interesting watching SHINGEKI NO KYOJIN when you know what's going to happen.

* Mix up a lot of random elements to a simple sentai Mecha show, throw in a few twists and several helpings of super stupid WTF moments and what do you get? KAKUMEKI VALVRAVE!

* HAIYORE NYARLKO-SAN W was fun but markedly inferior to the first season, just like BakaTest!

* DANSAI BUNRI NO CRIME EDGE is a poster child for "utterly forgettable anime"

* HAYATE NO GOTOKU CUTIES is an entire series of filler!

* I did enjoy HATARAKU MAOUSAMA tho, although the adaptation felt off in places. Just not to the level of Date-A-Live

* I'm 100% certain that DEVIL SURVIVOR 2 was dumbed down a ridiculous amount from the source material (game is not available in the EU)!

* After following behind shows like OreShura, HENTAI OUJI TO WARAWANAI NEKO just felt really bland.

* HYAKKA RYOURAN SAMURAI BRIDE focused way too much on the service this time around. Wish they spent more effort on the story like in the first season.

* PHOTO KANO was just Amagami SS lite



That's it for last season. Here's what I'm picking up from the new shows!



MUST WATCH



GENSHIKEN NIDAIME



Damn Straight!!



HIGH SCHOOL DXD NEW



Believe it or not, this show has a really interesting plot! I've read further in the light novels and it's pretty fun so I'm looking forward to how they adapt some of the later arcs, even if they shoehorn way more fanservice than the original material suggested.



ROZEN MAIDEN



DESU!



HYPERDIMENSION NEPTUNIA



The show is going to be bad but as a player of the first 2 games (hell, I completed the first game! True ending and all!!), I find myself drawn to this title and my tolerance level is insanely high!



INTERESTING BUT MEH



MONOGATARI SEASON3?



I've lost track of how many seasons we've had of these adaptations now, it's at least the 3rd now (with bakemonogatari and nisemonogatari, but we've also had nekomongatari ) but TBH, I'm getting monogataried out. It doesn't help that the show is very heavy on the chatter and very VERY light on the actual animation. Literally nothing happens for entire episodes apart from 2 ppl talking. I'll still watch it but I'm not putting it high in my list.



DANGANROPA



This show has an interesting premise but I don't really know enough about the source material. Otherwise this may have made into the "Must watch" bracket



THE WORLD ONLY GOD KNOWS: GODDESS ARC



Sequel so it gets in. Also, more Haqua is always a good thing!



SYMPHOGEAR G



Its a sequel. Symphogear was also a surprisingly entertaining show!



GIN NO SAJI



I've been reading the manga for a while and I quite like it. I just don't know if the adaptation will do a good job.



KAMI-SAMA NO INAI NICHIYOUBI



The premise of the show is enough to garner interest so I'm checking it out!



WHY AM I WATCHING THIS?



INU TO HASAMI WA TSUKAIYOU



I've heard things about this title for some time, since I did a bit of digging after Satoshi Toda made a GK of the main girl. But after a few episodes, it's turning into a bit of a slog. It'll probably end up as one of those shows I keep cos I just put too much time into it already.



STELLA JOGAKUIN KOUTOUKA C3-BU



This show gets in purely cos I do enjoy a little bit of gun stuff. Hell, I found Upotte! fun for the same reason!



KITAKUBU KATSUDOU KIROKU



I'm not sure what to expect from this show but I'm hoping for something along the lines of GJ-Bu



GATCHAMAN CROWDS



I must confess that I was never a fan of the original Gatchaman, tho I did watch some when I was younger. Just remains to be seen if this twist is going to be worth watching.



SHOWS I WILL NOT BE WATCHING



Normally, I don't do this but just to nip the tip before someone asks, I'll be saying this: I will NOT be watching FREE. The reason is simple, it doesn't interest me. A show about a swimming club without some sort of hook beyond "it has an all male cast" has no interest to me. If the characters were all like Hosaka from Minami-ke, then we have something. Otherwise, I just don't care about it and I'm not going to watch it simply to find myself pulled into the purile and downright stupid arguments on the internet about it being a show for Fujoshi or how it highlights sexism in the community.



I'm also not watching KIMI NO IRU MACHI. The reason for this will take longer but in short, Seo Kouji, the mangaka behind the title, cannot write a good female lead to save his life. In fact, every female lead character in his stories are all BITCHES!! And Eba Yuzuki is one of the worst! It was bad enough when we had to go through Suzuka, since the side characters were way better than the main girl (I, like many others, wished the manga was called Honoka ) but in Kimi no Iru Machi, we have a girl who is such a bitch, she screws over 2 guys at the same time!! The manga was pretty decent during the first arc and it got back to it's more lighthearted and fun storytelling mode later on but the middle arc was just rage inducing. The stuff which happens and the characters reactions are ridiculous, even by fiction standards and I have no desire to be reminded about how fucking retarded the whole thing wasNobody in their right mind would stick with Eba after what she did!



Anyway, that's it for my pics this season. What is everyone else watching?



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