Originally posted on the r/anime subreddit [14.11.18]
Note: This is going to be a *really* long post. Be warned. Also, if you plan on reading through the whole thing, i'd really like some criticsm. I kinda wanna get back into blogging, so improving my writings is always important!
So, i've been feeling really down lately, which is why i'm staying home from school today. Because of that, what better thing to do than to write about anime to random strangers on the internet?
This season has had a *lot* of good shows, and I mean that. I was originally planning to just watch season 3 of SAO, Yagate Kimi Ni Naru and season 2 of Ace Attorney. And now look at me, with nine seasonal shows on my watch list with only one dropped. Now since I think there is so much good stuff this season, allow me to rant in excess about why you should watch them as well.
Sword Art Online Alicization - https://myanimelist.net/anime/36474/Sword_Art_Online__Alicization
Why should you watch SAO 3? Well, unless you're already heavily invested in the characters like me, there's no reason to. The latest episode of season 3 was complete trash. I have no idea why people in the weekly discussion thread were praising it, but I know that I am not interested in watching a bunch of characters I know nothing about standing around in a room talking about a bunch of techno-babble is not something worth my time.
If it wasn't for the fact that I really like Kirito and Asuna, I would have dropped this after this episode. Episode 2-5 were pretty good, they had a lot of interesting world building and tense fight scenes. Episode 6 was just badly written. I don't care about the fact that they managed to explain a bunch of stuff from better than the light novel, that's irrelevant. Spending twenty minutes on exposition is garbage writing, and unless this series straigthens up again, it's getting dropped by me for good.
Gyakuten Saiban: Sono "Shinjitsu" , Igi Ari! Season 2 - https://myanimelist.net/anime/37490/Gyakuten_Saiban__Sono_Shinjitsu_Igi_Ari_Season_2
Now, i've actually never played any of the Ace Attorney games. I downloaded the ROM on a school computer once and played it during class for fifteen minutes, and that's about what i've played of it. Seeing over-the top legal battles with tons of shouting and people being thrown backwards by wind magically appearing is just really entertaining, I guess. So, how does the second season stand up against the first one?
Not that good. We had a pretty okay first episode. It wasn't that good, but it wasn't a terrible way to re-introduce Pheonix and most of the other supporting cast. Godot is fairly interesting, though we don't really know... anything about him. The latest episode was really good though, the flashback episodes from last season were some of my favorites, and who can complain about Mitsurugi pointing menacingly at a 30 year old obese woman trying to scam someone out of 500.000 yen? Well, I certainly can't. I don't think season 2 is shaping up to be anything amazing, but it does what it needs to do and it does it well, and that is definetely good enough for me.
Yagate Kimi ni Naru - https://myanimelist.net/anime/37786/Yagate_Kimi_ni_Naru
This was probably the show I was looking the most forward to of the entire season. While I didn't watch it while it was airing, I loved Citrus. So a show with a nearly identical plot was something I just *had* to watch. And, it's really good. Like, really good. I ended up purchasing the first three volumes of the manga as well, and woudn't you know it: it's really good as well. This show is r/wholesomeyuri incarnate, and you bet i'll be picking up the next few volumes of the manga as well.
Goblin Slayer - https://myanimelist.net/anime/37349/Goblin_Slayer
I've actually already made a post about my thougts on Goblin Slayer, so i'll keep this short. The first episode had cool action, an overblown rape scene, and a cute Priestess. And apart from the rape stuff (which I didn't really mind anyway) it's exactly what I expected it to be from watching that first episode. Cool action, interesting worldbuilding, and a cute Priestess. I don't think it intends to go any further on that, and I don't really think it needs to.
Gaikotsu Shotenin Hona-san - https://myanimelist.net/anime/36317/Gaikotsu_Shotenin_Honda-san
I don't know why I started watching this. I have no prior experiencing working, I've never watched any workplace comedies before, but the concept of a weekly ten minute show with humour just kind of intrigued me I guess. But no, I did not enjoy this show, which is also why I ended up dropping it. Too many of the jokes boiled down to "heh, this foreign person is asking a book seller for porn!" or "Honda-san is speaking english, and he's really bad at it!" The animation is either complete trash or just non-existent, with most of the movemennt looking like someone taped a paper-cutout to a stick, and then put up a camera and started filming the paper cutout, all the while trying to make it move while hiding the arm that's actually moving it.
The show is trash basically.
Tensei shitara Datta Slime Ken - https://myanimelist.net/anime/37430/Tensei_shitara_Slime_Datta_Ken
This is the show that most people are probably going to have as their personal seasonal favorite, and I can definetely see why. The animation is consistent, the fight scenes are very well animated, it manages to portray an overpowered character without making it boring, and it has a tsundere-dragon.
However, I think the thing the show has managed to portray very well throughout the episodes that have aired already, is the expansion and construction of the goblin town. It's really interesting seeing how they build it up, and how the dwarves helped them with it. This show also has a cute healer-type character, so thats a plus as well.
SSSS.Gridman - https://myanimelist.net/anime/35847/SSSSGridman
Along with Goblin Slayer, i've already made a post about this series, but I made that when episode 6 hadn't come out yet, so i'll talk a bit about that.
The latest episode explained a bit, but not enough. It kinda seems like the show is just Haruhi but with tokusatsu in there. Oh, and Akana is just a prick. I know Haruhi is kind of a prick as well, but at least Haruhi is hot. Akane sleeps on top of trash bags. Not cute.
But while its latest episode may have explained *some* stuff, it didn't explain enough. All we know is that Akana is god, and she's being manipulated by some Megatron lookin' ass. OK, but we still don't know why only a select few people are unnafected by the reset. Rikka has lived in the same building as the computer Gridman resides, so I could get behind that, but her mother doesn't seem to remember anything. Shou literally has no connection to Gridman apart from the fact that he likes Kaiju. There is no reason for them to know who Gridman is, so why do they? At least the fight scene with "the kaiju who talks with Akane sometimes but whose name I can't remember" was pretty funny.
My point still stands: SSSS.Gridman is too vague.
Release the Spyce - https://myanimelist.net/anime/37221/Release_the_Spyce
It's got moe. It's got action. It's got flashy animation. It's got katanas and cool outfits and girls with candy coloured hair, as well as mystery and wholesome character interactions. And it is really good.
I don't really have anything more to say about it though. The show isn't really that deep and apart from wondering about who the traitor is, theres not much to speculate about. I don't think this show is going to leave that big an impact, but it's really fun. And it fills all the criteria of "things I look for when choosing what anime to watcg" and it's kept it up. I feel like the action is kinda stale though, as we haven't really seen any really good ones yet. I feel like it's going to have one heck of a good last episode though.
Anima Yell! - https://myanimelist.net/anime/37206/Anima_Yell
It's K-On! except instead of playing music, they're cheerleaders. Theres not that much else to it.
The girls are cute though, so i'll keep watching.
----------------------
Well, we're through all of them except for 'Tonari no Kyuuketski-san', but I kinda want to make a separate post for that though. If you somehow managed to read through all of this, then I applaud you. And I hope you atleast got something out of it :)