Spring 2014 Anime Season

People who made you say "Wow!"

Who are your favorite characters of Spring?

Females:

1) Tensai Ikkyuu (Nanana's Buried Treasure)
2) Nio Hashiri (Akuma no Riddle)
3) Kaori Fujimiya (One Week Friends)
4) Chaika Gaz (Coffin Princess Chaika)
5) Aoyama Blue Mountain (GochiUsa)

Honorable mentions: Saki Yamagishi (One Week Friends), Ruko Kominato (Selector infected WIXOSS), Akari Yomasturi (Captain Earth), Jibril and Stephenie Dola (No Game No Life), the rest of the GochiUsa cast, Nanami Knight Bladefield and Ruri Ninjabayashi (Kanojo ga Flag o Oretara).

Males:

1) Toru Acura (Coffin Princess Chaika)
2) Souta Hatate (Kanojo ga Flag o Oretara)
3) Yuuya Sakaki (Yu-Gi-Oh Arc V)
4) Yutaka Hoshino/Peco and Makoto Tsukimoto/Smile (Ping Pong)

Honorable mention: The Jojo cast.

edited 22nd Jun '14 12:40:21 AM by Diamite

Now that we're actually near the end of the season, my impressions of what I've been watching:

M3: Pretty good overall, if a bit aggressively dark and kind of slow. Despite the presence of giant robots, it's a supernatural drama, not an action series

No Game No Life: Very pretty and quite fun. Also stupid. Not recommended for those with a tendency to look at their entertainment critically, because hooboy does it have a lot of flaws. And the fandom is awful

Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka?: Watchable. Not something I'd ever bother to recommend

Ryuugajou Nanana no Maizoukin: Consistently quite pretty, but otherwise pretty uneven. Things tend to be kind of dull if Tensai isn't around

selector infected WIXOSS: Reasonably good. Tends to feel a bit slow. Season finale was fantastic, though

Akuma no Riddle: Fairly well made, despite consistently feeling like it needed a bit more time. Best description would be "larger than life"— the overall plausibility level is around that of the Metal Gear games

Mekakucity Actors: I'm honestly not sure if I like it or not. I enjoy the art style and seeing the story slowly come together, but said story isn't anything special and I don't find it engaging at all

edited 22nd Jun '14 2:01:20 AM by Hylarn

But is it as fun to watch as a Metal Gear game?

Final impressions on shows I've finished:

• Seikoku no Dragonar: Quite possibly the most generic thing I've watched in recent memory.
• Blade and Soul: Ended up having too little of the Blade and too much of the Soul. That is to say, that what little action was nice, but the characters and introspection were not.
• Mushishi: As good as it's ever been. Consistently high quality.
• Ping Pong: A peculiar art style coupled with superb storytelling make this the most refreshing take on sports series that I've seen in a while. Heck, check it out even if you're not a sports fan; it's arguably more of a character study.

...Jojo is actually getting a dub.

edited 23rd Jun '14 11:19:05 PM by LordofLore

Oh my god yes.

Love Live Season 2's first set of blu-rays sold 82K in its opening week, breaking records and becoming the strongest opening sales week for any TV anime ever.

I doubt the momentum will hold steady but wow.

edited 24th Jun '14 4:13:10 AM by burnpsy

I hate that they're are skipping over phantom blood and battle tendency.

edited 24th Jun '14 5:02:20 AM by TheHandle

O_O

I doubt it will stay consistent though

IIRC, they halved the price, bundled a ticket to one of their concerts and included a code for special content in their mobile game. They pulled out all the stops and it paid off.

For the record, season 1 of Love Live only sold 10K or so initially per volume (still a notably high number), and are currently sitting at just under 30K on average over time. Saying the series has legs in an understatement.

This is quite a satisfying season, whether you want action, fantasy, slice of life or something grimdark, you'll find something worth watching. Like I wrote a few pages back the only weakness is in the comedy department.

Anime of the Season - Mushishi
I don't like episodic series in general because they're often formulaic, but Mushishi manages to avoid this pitfall. Every story seems unique and the characters of the week are memorable despite how little screen time they have.

Worst series that I manage to finish - Akuma No Riddle
This series tries to be taken seriously, but there're so many why "don't you just shoot her" moments that it becomes unintentionally hilariously. The only reason I finished watching this was to see what Nio's up to.

Worst series that I tried and dropped - Mekaku City Actors
Seriously, this is Mekaku City Actors, not Mekaku City-gatari. Shaft is forcing their signature style too much this time. Besides the first 2 episodes (and the last one from what I heard), not much really happens. It seems to take a series of 5-minute M Vs and pads them up to 23-minute episodes, with predictable results. The music still deserves some credit, though.

Most disappointing - Gokukoku no Brynhildr
It could have been a contender of Anime of the Season up to the 10th episode, then they decide to cram the entire Valkyria arc into 3 episodes and things go downhill, fast.

It's a nice surprise - Hitsugi No Chaika
Toru is easily the best protagonist this season. He acts professionally without being a cold-hearted bastard. It's also refreshing to see characters who understand fighting is just a means to an end, using negotiation/trickery to achieve their goals and avoid unnecessary combat/killing. But when it does comes to blows the fight scenes are fluid (for something not particularly well-funded) and enjoyable.

Other shows that I find enjoyable: Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka?, Isshuukan Friends, Love Live! Season 2, Yowamushi Pedal, Jo Jo Part 3(ongoing)

Not quite final impressions:

• M3: Lightless realms that degrade a human into black metal which can only be explored via mecha? Said realms don't follow normal geometry and so the humans have to use telepaths to poke their way around? It's good material, and it's more or less decently handled. The characters are also a bunch of jerks, which is kind of cool.
• Baby Steps: Very good show. The lead character is industrious and strategic and basically a protagonist I can get behind.
• Kindaichi Case Files: A decent diversion from Detective Conan, but it doesn't quite match it. There's a certain elegance in its simplicity, though.
• Captain Earth: Interesting ideas here and there. The writing leaves something to be desired, but there's little to complain about the directing and production values. More stuff like Baku's arc, please.
• Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei: Over-shill! A tired yet valid criticism. Magic system's legit interesting though.

Final impressions galore:

• Yowamushi Pedal: Did not expect an anime about biking to be as enjoyable as this one was. Special mention to Midousuji, that slimy bastard.
• Soul Eater NOT: Quite a boring slice-of-life. Personally only drew me in for its connection to the S Oul Eater universe.
• Brynhildr in the Darkness: ...read the manga instead.
• Akuma no Riddle: Pretty good fight scenes. Some of the assassins were more interesting than expected. Story is generally a bust, though. Crappy ending too.
• Kenzen Robo Daimidaler: Crosses the line so much it circles from being disgusting to hilarious. Much helped by the second protagonist several episodes into the cour. Still not recommended: the "fanservice" is downright appalling.
• Date a Live: I still think the premise isn't done as crazy as it can be. So, it's serviceable, as was the first season. The Storm twins were a nice addition to the cast; the idol wasn't. At least Shidou can use Sandalphon now.
• Nobunaga The Fool: Too much senseless philosophical babbling and navel-gazing about Savior-Kings and Destroyer-Kings. It didn't even have the courtesy to at least provide a satisfactory amount of historical figures waging mecha battles.
• Mangaka-san to Assistant to: It's okay. Very odd how the idiotic pervert can have a harem. Some of the comedy is too cringeworthy for my tastes.
• Kanojo ga Flag ga Oraretara: Expected it to be a harem series, then it grows into a parody of one, then it becomes the Matrix. Wait, what? Not very polished, but am rather glad to have watched this strange show.
• Atelier Escha and Logy: Thought it captured the feel of the game well enough, even if that doesn't necessarily translate to an engaging narrative.
• Selector Infected WIXOSS: Dark, dark, dark. Twincest characters are interesting, everyone and everything else aren't. Lack of understanding of the card game made it hard to care about the matches too.
• Soredemo Sekai wa Utsukushii: A fun romp of a shoujo. I appreciate that it spent more time on shenanigans and adorable moments than the drama stuff. Nike is an awesome girl.
• One Week Friends: Blatant feels grab. But the soft palette is a treat for the eyes, the supporting characters are cool, and the main "couple" have a legitimately adorable dynamic. At its best when it's about friends hanging out and not drama about the amnesia.
• Black Bullet: I would love to take the basic plot and write it differently. It's a decent watch for what it is, but it could be so much more. This would benefit from more character drama, especially when you factor in plot elements like Enju's corrosion rate.
• Mekaku City Actors: Some very questionable directing dampens the enjoyment considerably, but I still felt this was worth watching. Wouldn't want to revisit, though.
• Knights of Sidonia: Straightforward. Still a swell sci-fi survival story. Delectable world-building too.
• Gochuumon wa Usagi Desu ka?: The strange not-Europe setting was rather amusing. Pretty decent cute-girls-doing-cute-things show.
• Love Live S2: Found it considerably inferior to the first season, but there were quite a few inspired skits.
• Ryuugajou Nanana no Maizouki: Its ambitions were too lofty for the writing on display, but it is still to its credit that it had ambition. Enjoyed how everyone had their own agenda. Tensai and Juugo are awesome too!
• Hitsugi no Chaika: A generic fantasy story at surface level, but avoids many of the genre's usual pitfalls. Save for Akari the characters act more or less like actual humans. The characters avoid fighting when they can. When they do fight, they do it with brains and brawn, and the action is always fluidly animated. The story is predictable, but still rather intriguing, because of some little details like the stupidly headstrong general successfully taking down the enemy. Especially surprising because it happens after a show of the usual expected incompetence.
• Bokura wa Minna Kawaisou: Peculiarly refreshing vanilla love story. The guy is actively pursuing a romance (and the rare kind of anime guy that's in-between a full pervert and an oblivious asexual), and the girl is one of the most realistic depictions of introverted bookworms that I've seen. It's an awkward, bumbling teenage romance with all of the feels and all of the ughs. Props to the colorful supporting cast too. Oh, and Kana Hanazawa's voice acting here is godlike.
• No Game No Life: Stupidly awesome, really helped by the top-notch animation, sound design and directing. Just don't go in expecting game theory.

edited 7th Jul '14 9:19:53 AM by fillerdude