Spring 2016 Extravaganza

It’s that time again! After gorging myself on the season’s new shows, here’s what I came up with…

LOVE LOVE LOVE:

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable I was soooo excited for this one and it did not disappoint. At the time of this post we’re 3 episodes in and every time I get to the end I wish I could just watch the whole series.

Joker Game This is another of my highly-anticipated shows and I try to not just grin through the whole episode. I love the intellectual/espionage/historical aspects of it all; you want to pay attention to every little detail.

Bungo Stray Dogs While I thought this would be a bit more serious (I mean, I’ve never found Osamu Dazai to be particularly humorous) I’m pleasantly surprised with the goofy twist. I’d been really looking forward to this series and now that it’s here, I love it.

Haven’t You Heard? I’m Sakamoto Having read the manga, I couldn’t wait for this anime. Yes, it’s so stupid but so GREAT. It has kind of a Cromartie High School feel that I really love.

My Hero Academia I read the manga and love it but the hype for this show was nuts. However…it’s all good! The anime has done an excellent job so far. This is another one of those shows that makes me want to just watch more, more, more! after the episode ends.

Super Lovers My guilty pleasure. A few minutes into the first episode I really thought I wasn’t going to like it but now I’m addicted.

Okay, I’ll Probably Keep:

Kiznaiver This show also got quite a bit of hype…to the extent I almost didn’t watch it. But I liked it more than I thought I would so I’m hoping it surprises me/grows on me/something.

Ace Attorney I have never played these games but decided to watch the show anyway. Turns out, I really like it! I don’t even know why. This show may not qualify as one I “love love love” and I don’t feel compelled to pay attention the entire time, but it’s fun and easy and heck, now I’m thinking about trying the game(s).

Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn RE:0096 It’s…a Gundam series. And as such, seems to take itself pretty seriously. But since Iron Blooded Orphans is over (for now?) I might as well fill the Gundam gap with this.

Twin Star Exorcists I tried getting into the manga and just…couldn’t. I thought maybe the anime would be better but it turns out I’m pretty bored with that too. I don’t know why this series doesn’t click with me; I usually enjoy this general premise. But for some reason I feel compelled to stick with it.

Tanaka-kun is Always Listless This one came out of nowhere (for me) and I thought it would be way too boring but for some reason…I really like it. Admittedly, I’m only through the first episode so the premise might get old pretty fast but for now, I’m really liking Tanaka-kun…’s friend.

And you thought there is never a girl online? I thought the concept was great but simultaneously expected this to be really disappointing. Instead, the first episode was pretty funny to me. I’m still wary and expect it to go downhill quickly but for now I’ll just let it be what it is and enjoy it.

Endride I’ll admit that I was excited for this even though I expected it to be pretty dumb. And it is pretty dumb but I still kinda like it. Though I’m perpetually distracted by the fact that one guy is apparently missing the lower half of his shirt while the other guy always looks like his pants are on backwards.

Shonen Maid Judge all you want, I was looking forward to this one. It’s actually a lot cuter than I expected, even if it’s not as interesting as I’d hoped. I don’t mean that in any BL/pervy way (for once).

Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress This show is…cinematic. It had a very “movie” feel to it. It also felt like a movie in terms of pacing, like it had plenty of time to explore the plot. Which is probably why it felt kind of boring to me at first –plus zombies aren’t really my thing– but by the end, I wanted to know what happened to the main dude and thought, “This might be pretty good.”

Maybe I Will, Maybe I Won’t…

Kumamiko I don’t know why but I thought this would be great. What’s not to love about a girl and a talking bear? Unfortunately it’s kind of boring so far. A girl and a talking bear…I feel like there’s so much wasted potential for hilarity…

Big Order Why did I pick this up? I feel like it should be better than it is. The premise/plot seemed interesting but the protagonist…comes off as kind of whiny and makes me want to hit him (and his sister). However, I did fall asleep before the end of the first episode so maybe I missed something that would actually make me like anyone in the show.

Hundred I was going to drop this but I keep watching it even though the princess-character’s boobs are horribly distracting in their weird defiance of gravity. Actually, I think the only reason I still watch is because of Emile.

The Lost Village I didn’t really know what to expect but the premise sounded interesting. Unfortunately I’m already to the phase of not liking/caring about any of the characters and being perfectly content if they all just kind of died. But maybe that’s what’s going to happen so I’ll keep going.

Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- I picked this up out of curiosity and ended up liking it more than I thought I would. Then I fell asleep in the second episode. The main character (I think he’s the main character–unless he perma-died while I was sleeping) was actually kind of endearing to me, which I didn’t expect. But I don’t know if I’ll see this one through to the end.

Flying Witch I don’t actually know why I picked this one up. But it’s kind of cute and sleepy and simple so far so I guess I’ll keep at it.

Dropped:

Bakuon!! I don’t know why but I actually feel a bit guilty for dropping it. There is nothing that interests me –cute girls or bikes– so I don’t know why I even watched the first episode.

Cerberus After two episodes I don’t even remember what this was about or why I thought I should watch it. Apparently I make impulsive random queue decisions.

There you have it…my too-long Spring Anime Evaluation. *collapses*

Farewell, Winter 2016; Farewell, “Farewell, Shinsengumi”

It’s that time again…the end of a season. What did we love? What did we hate? What made us cry? I’ll give you a guess on that last one…

Gintama I feel like between the anime and manga I’ve spent the last year crying at Gintama. Everything was just so perfect. PERFECT. And beautiful.

Speaking of perfect, Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju was one of my favorites of the season. It entranced me from the very beginning and was one of the shows I looked forward to the most week after week. Episode 11 about did me in, though; I just wanted to live in that episode forever.

Fairy Tail has ended (again). I should be sad but I think it’ll be back once the manga gets a little further ahead. If you can’t wait then I strongly suggest the manga; the pacing is actually much better than it has been in the second season of the anime.

Ace of the Diamond So glad Coach Kataoka got his moment. My brother said, “What’s the big deal. Haven’t you seen this already?” I said, “No, it’s the end. It’s the culmination of two and half years of watching Ace of the Diamond.”

Durarara I love the insane acceleration at the end and the feeling that everything is just totally irreparably out of control. I also love Shizuo throwing heavy objects. The end of the series felt very satisfying to me.

Erased This was another favorite of the season. I actually ended up dreaming about the final episode. This is the type of show I might recommend to people who don’t generally watch anime; I think it’s capable of crossing that boundary.

Haikyu!! This whole season felt very well-paced and tightly constructed to me. I ended up losing myself in fanfic as a result because every time I watched the latest episode, I just wanted MORE. The good news is, we already know another anime season is coming soon for our volleyball boys.

Mr. Osomatsu I have to wonder if the people responsible for this show are laughing their way to the bank since I can’t imagine anyone anticipating the way this show would explode. And yes, I’m as guilty as anyone; I have plenty of Osomatsu-san merchandise and I’ve already preordered my pillow covers. I was actually surprised by how much I loved this series.

GATE This second series felt a lot darker/more intense than the first but I might have enjoyed it more because it made things more complicated. Sometimes the plot felt a bit bogged down and I might not have paid as much attention as I should have…but that didn’t stop me from pleading with Sugawara to save Sherry.

Sekko Boys I loved this. A lot. The premise was absolutely ridiculous, the voice actors my favorites, and it was all short enough to be funny without being “too much.”

Ojisan and Marshmallow I found this oddly endearing even if it made me kind of hungry whenever I watched.

Dimension W When I saw Kyoma’s dance in the opening theme of the first episode I made the statement that this anime would be a winner. I ended up really getting hooked on it. At 12 episodes it’s compact and moves along swiftly. The characters were fun and Daisuke Ono sounded great. Especially recommend if you enjoy sci-fi themes.

Prince of Stride I kinda forgot I even watched this until I was looking through my queues for this post. It was all very…predictable. But I suppose it was okay for what it was.

There are a few shows I’m sad to see end (GINTAMA!!!!!!) but I’m really excited about the Spring 2016 lineup. (Ahem…Diamond is Unbreakable.)