November 2013 Rankings

Ended up dropping Strike the Blood. It felt good.



GOOD TIER




(=) KILL LA KILL (episodes 5-9) - Kill la Kill remains incredibly consistent and continues to progress at a slow but steady pace. I was worried that after the first three episodes the story wouldn't be able to go anywhere without turning into a haphazard mess, but Imaishi has quelled my fears and all is bombastic and well. Though I hope this tournament arc will bring more than just good fights.



(=) KYOUSOGIGA (episodes 5-7) - I ended up skipping episode 5.5 because I simply didn't feel like it. If I feel like learning about Kyoto I'll go back to it eventually. Aside from that, Kyousogiga is already one of my favorite shows of 2013. There's so much to love about it. It's telling its story exceedingly well and its cast is wonderful.



(=) VALVRAVE THE LIBERATOR (episodes 17-21) - Two supporting character deaths on both sides this month. (Though as per the Laws of Anime, no body means you're not actually dead. And I would love H-Neun to still be alive.) More importantly, Kriemhild has received more screentime and is finally getting involved with the plot. All of Lieselotte's revelations seemed pretty rushed. The writers really crammed a lot of info there.



(+) SAMURAI FLAMENCO (episodes 4-8) - Like Kill la Kill, Samurai Flamenco also continues to grow in the good ways. Mari roping in her fellow idols into the crime fighting has added even more craziness and fun times. Though naturally the GUILLOTINE GORILLA is the talk of the blogosphere. Did not see that coming whatsoever.



OKAY TIER



(-) BAKEMONOGATARI 2 (episodes 18-22) - Okay, Shaft. Now this was just lazy. As lovely as all those stills during Shinobu's backstory episode were, it would've been nice if I saw her story animated in that style. I never liked the blue-green haired girl, so she certainly didn't make things any better for me. At least Senjougahara is finally getting her time. She and Kaiki have great chemistry and I'm continuing to enjoy the lack of Arararagi.



(=) GINGITSUNE (episodes 5-8) - As predicted, Gingistune remains a safe character centric anime. It doesn't offer much at all except obscenely light entertainment. Both the new boy and the little fox spirit Haru annoy me. The guy has no emotions and his story didn't make me feel sympathetic, and Haru is just irritating. Why couldn't Gin be the central character?



SHIT TIER



(=) LITTLE BUSTERS: REFRAIN (episodes 5-8) - As soon as the conspiracy was revealed, I imagined Kyousuke saying "just as planned."



(-) GALILEI DONNA (episodes 4-8) - What the flying fuck, Galilei Donna? Episode five got a ton of shit, and I'm also unhappy that we revisited the 'sick sister' shtick. Twice already? That is not cool, writers. Especially falling off of a building only gives you a really bad cold. The dialogue continues to deteriorate; Especially with the nameless background characters. I didn't think this show would fall this far. (The animation has also worsened, too.)



(-) ARPEGGIO OF BLUE STEEL: ARS NOVA (episodes 5-8) - What is so important about this little girl again? Arpeggio of Blue Steel is just barely managing to hold my attention. The character design for the loli's blonde guardian was awful by the way.



(-) KYOUKAI NO KANATA (episodes 6-9) - The idol stint.Yeah. Clearly that was either a very "like it or hate it" moment. Unsurprisingly, I am on the hate end of things. KyoAni is known for pandering and is well aware of what kind of audience it has. But this this is just too much. It got better past that, however I still don't fuckin' care.



(=) COPPELION (episodes 6-9) - I'm still not quite sure what story Coppelion is trying to tell. Everything about it is a mess and inconsistent and I just don't give a fuck. Plus the Oz sisters are fuckin' annoying.



(new) WALKURE ROMANZE (episodes 1-8) - I ended picking this up to replace Strike the Blood. One of my friends on MAL is enjoying it, so I figured I'd give it a shot. I will say that it's not the worst thing this season, but it's still very dumb. The CG jousting bits caught me off guard. Especially since the CG is pretty bad. And I'll never get over how Mio looks exactly like Utena.



(=) INFINITE STRATOS 2 (episodes 6-9) - I still don't know why I'm watching this.



(-) BLAZBLUE: ALTER MEMORY (episodes 5-8) - There's way too much dialogue. And a hot springs episode already? This seems to be less of an adaptation and more like simple fanservice to game players. I'm sure they're the only ones who can make any sense of this bullshit.
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