Fall 2016 Anime

Hibike! Euphonium will always be AOTY in any year it airs for me.

YOI was charming, but FF was way more technically competent and visually imaginative (no endlessly repeated stock footage of the characters going through their routines), had a much tighter, more coherent story (every episode marks a clear step in Cocona's emotional journey, and the arcs of the supporting cast are tightly, efficiently wound into that), and had slightly more to say, even if neither show was exactly short on themes. Also, it never engaged in YOI's weird, ridiculous, and transparent bet-hedging about whether its main couple were an actual couple or not, which approached Nanoha levels of silliness by the end.

I disagree w/ the couple part, but in some ends I kinda don't. I think the show made it clear the two are into each other in a big way after episode 7, but a bit more clarity early on would have been welcome.

The production though is...yeah, YOI's production was rough in many spots. I bought into the story and the production heights, but there's corner cutting that feels incredibly blatant in spots. Figure skating is demanding to animate, so I kinda forgive them for the flubs, but you do have to judge what's given to you.

edited 11th Jan '17 6:44:42 AM by mrsunshinesprinkles

> no mention of Keijo, the clear AOTY

pssh

Yuri on Ice was a solid nine for me, Flip Flappers more of a decent eight.

What makes Yo I better is how modern and mature it is, how unencumbered by anime conventions, telling a story about actual adults with actual adult concerns, with adult relationships. There is no doubt whatsoever that Yuri and Victor are a couple, and if you call it bet hedging the same goes for Flip Flappers.

Animation wise its best cannot hold a candle to Flip Flappers' best, true, but as a whole its much better integrated: animation, plot, characterisation, story telling all working together in a way FF didn't quite manage, especially in its later episodes.

Flip Flappers put up a wonderful and mysterious world, but once it started to reveal its inner secrets fell a bit flat for me because it was all standard anime conspiracy stuff.

Yuri on Ice meanwhile seemed straightforward until that big reveal in episode ten, which immediately put everything that happened before in a different light. You could go back and rewatch the previous nine episodes with that new knowledge in mind and it worked, it made sense.

Finally, Yuri on Ice was a series that has a mass appeal in a way that Flip Flappers could never have, as shown by the many non-regular anime viewers who started watching it and got caught up in it.

Gonna watch Flip Flappers now, just to have an opinion on it.

I think what puts Yuri on Ice over Flip Flappers, for me, is that I felt that the writing of Flip Flappers could be tighter. The new kid at the end, for example, has little bearing on the story, aside from giving the cult a replacement for Yayaka. I felt that Cocona's mommy issues could have been foreshadowed a bit more and overall the show is still a tad too ambiguous. But who knows, maybe more pieces will click for me one day, or we really just have to view the entire story as a magical girl embellishment of Cocona's real-life issues as she perceives it, if the reference to Jakob von Uexkull holds weight.

Re: Flip Flappers, I think Nick Creamer's review sums up a lot of my thoughts about it.

My main problem is that I felt the final episode didn't really stick the landing – the way the Mimi conflict was resolved didn't quite gel.

Flip Flappers: 4 episodes out of 13 is enough for me to judge the show and then drop it. Every episode is basically a padded out short, with a uninteresting narrative to "tie it all together". Drop everything except the world traveling every episode and I could see myself enjoying this more, but taking the whole package into account I can't help by get bored.

edited 11th Jan '17 9:18:47 AM by VeryMelon

The Mimi conflict is a bit out of place in the general scheme, actually. I get that.

edited 11th Jan '17 9:17:31 AM by fillerdude

Have you all accepted Yuri on Ice!! as your new lord and savior

I'm not even mad. Any awards event will inevitably have a few choices I won't agree with, especially when it's done by popular vote. Yuri on Ice definitely should not have won Best Animation, though.

I'm happy for Yuri!! on Ice.

Well what skews it a lot is how many people have seen each show, people are only going to back a show they've seen. This is the only explanation I can think for why Kira lost to whats-his-name from Erased.

Although some of these had weird nominees.

Mumei (for hero) isn't the hero of her show and even ends up as a damsel in distress for most of the second half

Biba (for villain) is everyone's less favorite part of that show.

Satoru & Kayo (for couple) is not a thing in the show, because as Satoru keeps telling his 11 year old brain, she's actually 11 and he is 29, also she ends up with the one friend.