Fall 2017 Anime

Sequels (that I have something to say about)

Blood Blockade Battlefront

So this is back. With way worse main staff. On the plus side the people in charge of the animation are the same and they've said they'll be following the source material, so it might work out

Kino's Journey

This is one of those things that I've always meant to check out but never quite got around to. So that's nice

People are saying that this is probably based on newer volumes and is therefore a sequel rather than reboot. I think it's episodic enough that new viewers can jump in though?

Love Live! Sunshine!!

The biggest issue with Sunshine's first season was that it took a few too many cues from School Idol Project's first season. But SIP's second season didn't really have a plot, so Sunshine is pretty much being forced to get a definitive identity. Of course, essentially being a second draft also made it better, so it'll be interesting to see how this plays out

UQ Holder!

It's selling itself as a sequel so that's where I'm putting it

So, I'm not sure there's anything here for anyone that isn't already following the manga. Part of this is because it appears to be adapting material from fairly late in the manga's run. But mostly because it's a direct sequel to the Negima manga (no, none of the many spinoffs and adaptations are an acceptable stand-in) and I have to imagine that anyone that wanted to continue the story after that shitshow of an ending already has

Also, by most accounts the manga is pretty bad

Wake Up, Girls!

There were a few movies that finished the story of the first and if you want to watch this you'll probably want to watch them (never got licensed but there's ways around that). The staff is saying that the movies aren't mandatory viewing but people tend to say that even if it's not true

Also, the director is a raging asshole and if you want to watch the show I advocate doing so in a way that won't give him money

Yuki Yuna Is a Hero

First half is a prequel, second a sequel. Neither should be watched before the first season

The prequel portion is already out and can be watched subbed if you're not too fussed about legalities

Otome shit

Code:Realize

I hear this one is actually quite good! Pity otome games tend to get gutted when adapted to anime

Dynamic Chord

Male idols, now with garbage-tier animation. Also got the director doing a lot of work on the story, which is usually a bad sign

THE iDOLM@STER: Side M

Something interesting: Side M is doing pretty poorly in Japan. Apparently the music is pretty bad, and I have to assume that using the Idolmaster house artstyle (which is noooot really optimized for males) isn't helping. So yeah, the anime may well end up with a decent story, but if you're in this just for music and pretty boys you might want to look elsewhere

Tsuki Pro

Does anyone else find it weird how idol anime aimed at females seperate the cast into various units but you never really see that with male-oriented ones? I don't get the point. Can't be for the fujoshi, since the yuri fans don't have any problems shipping the girls

Whoops, bit off-topic there. So, this one is probably all 3DCG? At least, all the animation released so far is

Moetrash

Anime Gataris

One of the biggest question marks of the season. Will it's status as an anime about anime be used for anything insightful? Will it be het, yuri, or gen? What's up with that end-of-the-world thing? Originals are usually at least somewhat ambitious, so I'd say it's worth keeping an eye on

Blend S

Cute girls doing cute things in a fetish cafe. This is a reasonable combination. So, the descriptions of the guys ("they like to watch", basically) make it sound like a decent amount of humour is going to come from sexual and/or yuri situations, though as a Kirara series I doubt it'll be particularly racy. PV focuses more on cringe, though

...I'm not going to say that I expect the show to be bad, but I am going to point out that there's enough moe this season that I made a category for it

Girls' Last Tour

Not just moe and scenery gorn, it has a surprisingly sharp sense of humour, with the characters sniping at each other fairly often

Konohana Kitan

Despite the premise recalling Spirited Away, this is a fairly standard CGDCT series

Two Car

IRL side-car racing is pretty badass. The "passenger" essentially rides on the outside of the vehicle like an absolute madman. A surprisingly hardcore sport for a series that looks like it's going to be fairly light

Anime originals (not covered above)

Infini-T Force

Tatsunoko Avengers. Done in the style of a late PS2 cutscene. Might turn out decent (writer's worked on some interesting stuff), but I don't see it getting much of a fandom outside Japan even if it does

Just Because!

From the writer of The Pet Girl Of Sakurasou, so expect something like that, I guess

Vanishing Line

I know a lot of people are attracted to the gritty, urban style, but the attached writer is pretty bad. Like, she's responsible for Last Exile: Fam, the Silver Wing and the butchering of Linebarrels of Iron. Exercise caution

New adaptations

The Ancient Magus' Bride

Despite the title, this runs in a shounen magazine and focuses more on fantasy than romance

It gets a lot of acclaim, but I personally have never been able to get into it

Black Clover

Ah, Black Clover. Very popular with young boys, outright hated by a number of older fans. The thing here seems to be that it's fairly by-the-numbers fighting shounen, so if you want much in the way of creativity it'd be best to look elsewhere. And with Pierrot handling the anime I wouldn't expect the execution to be terribly good either

Boku no Kanojo ga Majime Sugiru Shoujo Bitch na Ken

Sex jokes. Mostly in the form of a reserved girl trying to do sexual stuff but not quite getting it

Dia Horizon

Based on a smartphone strategy RPG and that's about all I know. Doesn't even have a website

I don't think it's going to be one of those chibi gag anime, though. That's already online, and does have a website

Dies Irae

My understanding is that the source VN is pretty awesome, if more than a little chuunibyou. But you'll note that I wrote "VN", and that those tend not to adapt well. And the animation in the PVs looks pretty bad...

Houseki no Kuni

I really really like the source manga, but I'm not sure how much of that's due to it being good and how much to it dealing with concepts that I'm interested in (xenofiction, non-gendered characters, spoilery stuff). I can definitely say that this is worth a look if you want something different, though

The use of 3DCG here is particularly interesting because it pretty flips the strengths and weaknesses of the source material's style. The manga made some striking 2D compositions and did some interesting things with black and white that're difficult if not impossible in the anime's style, but it also is prone to off-model moments and could make telling the characters apart difficult, which isn't a problem with (coloured) character models

Imouto Sae Ireba Ii.

Remember Eromanga Sensei? It's like Eromanga Sensei. A bit more overtly comedic, but, you know. Doublepluspandering

Inuyashiki

From the creator of Gantz, so it has a lot of ugly people, a somewhat cynical take on the world, and incredibly slow pacing holy shit

What's interesting is that the anime was announced at the same time as the end of the manga, which frequently means that the anime will be a full adaption. On the other hand, the anime is known to be single cour (while the manga in 10 volumes), so doing this would mean either being split-cour or moving the pacing up to "a bit rushed"

Juuni Taisen

The source material was written by NisiOIsin, which should tell most of you what you need to know. If you don't know what that means, you should expect lots of words and insanity, but a fair amount of depth as well (more philosophical than emotional)

Kujira no Kora wa Sajou ni Utau

KujiSuna for short. In some ways this is very good— the art is great (and the anime appears to maintain this) and the premise is interesting. On the other hand the pacing is both too slow and too fast and the characters are pretty archetypal. I'd suggest giving it a shot but keeping expectations in check

Ousama Game

About what you'd expect from a horror series. Melodramatic and kind of trashy, with some stupid twists

Saredo Tsumibito wa Ryuu to Odoru

Don't know much about this one beyond that it gets pretty messed up. Hear a translation group dropped it in horror