Winter 2020 anime

NEKOS!

Yep, Nekopara is here, and thus far it has been as cute as you'd expect series about catgirls to be. That said, the nature of the source material is still quite evident.

Also, it appears to be taking place after the OVA

Edited by NHunter on Jan 9th 2020 at 2:27:25 PM

Infinite Dendrogram is pretty alright.

Bofuri: Huh, I'd forgotten just how quickly Maple breaks the game. Fun, though. This sort of thing works a lot better as a comedy than as one of those notionally serious isekai stories

Nekopara: That was odd. Eroticised but not really erotic, and comedic but not really funny. Mildly uncomfortable to watch, and not much else

SB69: The very first scene is kind of awful, but past that it's pretty decent. The characters, while archetypal, have some depth, the designs are good, the music's solid, direction's fine. There's enough other cute girl shows this season that I'm not sure I'll be following it, but it's not bad. Also it's sexier than either of the kemonomimi anime this season that're actually aiming for sexiness?

Dendrogram: Incredibly bland. No ideas I haven't seen elsewhere, and the execution is poor but not exceptionally so. Easy skip

OshiBudo: So the issue here is that I find stan culture really offputting. This is well-made, but I'm cringing throughout it

Hanako-kun: Good direction, great visual style, and... not doing much for me. I think the main problem here is that my sense of humour is just wrong for it

Dorohedoro's opening is… weird. As you'd expect.

@Hylarn: As a fan of the Nekopara novels myself, I have to agree with you. As interesting as it is to see Kashou interact with the characters from a perspective other than behind his eyeballs, the camera work was nothing short of skeevy in some places and there were some pretty uncomfortable jokes. Cinnamon, like the actual spice, is best enjoyed in small doses, and it was a really weird decision to open with her particular... quirkiness right on full display. Probably won't follow the anime too closely.

Railgun T: Typical Railgun first episode, reintroducing the characters and setting. I have been hoping to see this arc animated since I read it in the manga and I am looking forward to it more than any anime in the past few years.

Rikei ga Koi ni Ochita no de Shoumei shitemita was surprisingly fun.

Watched the episode that’s out of Somali and the Forest Spirit, and I like it already. Hard to say why besides seeming like my kind of thing, but I want to see more of it.

For the two-and-a-half people who care, the Crunchyroll Anime Awards have announced their nominations.

…It's kinda sad that with 18 categories, there are only about 30 different shows represented. I guess it's slightly better than last year, but there are still some… baffling choices to say the least. Like, can you really call Angela an "antagonist"? Can you really call Kaguya and Miyuki a "couple"? Can you really call Levi vs. Zeke a "fight"? Can you really call Astra "fantasy"? Can you really call Sarazanmai a "comedy"? And why nominate Historia & Ymir for "best couple" in a season where both of them barely appear?

Also, no Beastars because Netflix.

It makes me sad that Carole & Tuesday is more or less a shoo-in for the music-related categories, but a complete non-starter for everything else. At least in my mind.

At least we'll get new episodes of Eizouken and Somali today.

Kaguya & Miyuki definitely count, but the rest are playing really loose with the definitions.

Shame that Dororo's first OP didn't nominated, and quite surprised that Kimetsu no Yaiba's didn't either. But the real snub is that Hiro Shimono didn't get nominated for his voice acting in Kn Y, because, like it or hate it, he committed to that role.

I'd say other overlooked titles are Boogiepop, as well as Run with the Wind.

Edited by Eschaton on Jan 11th 2020 at 5:08:12 AM

Well, the thing is that Miyuki and Kaguya are not a couple yet. That's the entire premise. But I guess they're mutually in love so it still counts…

As for overlooked shows, I could have seen Granbelm at least nominated in best animation/direction or best drama. And definitely a contender for best VA because Aoi Yuuki was having entirely too much fun with Suishou. Hell, best antagonist too, maybe… would have made more sense than freaking Angela…

By the way, I'm a bit amused that Giorno was completely overshadowed by Bucciarati in the Jojo nominations.

Edited by Lyendith on Jan 11th 2020 at 2:20:29 PM

Now I'm noticing some other big outliers, like Ao T S3.5 not up for Best Anime, and Fire Force not up for Animation. Also the Mob Psycho S2 fight not being vs. Shimazaki

That, at least, is as it should be.

Edited by Eschaton on Jan 11th 2020 at 5:33:44 AM

A bit confused to why Angela (Carole & Tuesday) was nominated in the best antagonist category.

Like, I enjoyed the show. But she was hardly an antagonist and her conclusion was a bit of a mess.

Honestly, from what little attention I paid to the awards last year, it came off less like an actual poll, and more like "how many fans of popular anime can we get to come visit our site to vote".

In short, I doubt CR cares about actually recognizing the quality of certain shows, and are just putting things into certain categories to attract attention.

No gurenge for best OP,are you kidding me?

Casual reminder that this is the discussion topic for the winter anime season not for Crunchyroll's farcical awards.

Edited by Silentedge89 on Jan 11th 2020 at 11:48:51 AM

Watching Ishuzoku Reviewers.

It's garbage. Don't make the same mistake I made.

I agree that this should be its own thread or chatterbox.

In/Spectre: Eh? I find it more tolerable than the manga version, but it still feels kinda up it's own ass. And the comedy is out of place. May still follow just to have something that's not about cute girls

22/7: Well, that was odd. When it's focusing on the main character it's dark and dramatic, but the other girls are all straight out of your standard CGDCT show. And then everything about GIP is bizarre and OTT? I think this is intended as commentary on how idols are treated, but, uh, it doesn't make for the most coherent viewing experience. Going to give it another episode, though

@rynnec: Guess I'll watch it then.

Ishuzoku Reviewers is trashy as all hell, so I can understand where Rynnec is coming from, but I still found it pretty enjoyable. Seems to me like the basic hurdle here is whether or not the premise is one you can tolerate at all.

In/Spectre's great character animation made me more aware of how static the Hanako-kun anime is. The price to pay for detailed art and colouring is steep huh?

People have different tastes, just how it is.

Like how someone said above that Infinite Dendrogram was shit but I said it was an enjoyable watch.

Actually, I've been here on TV tropes now long enough that I've gotten the general vibe that if Hylarn strongly dislikes a show I'll have the opposite opinion.

That can be just as helpful when looking at things as when there's someone who's opinion you also tend to agree with.

As a complete random aside I was already planning on watching In/Spectre but finding out the source material was written by the same person who wrote Zetsuen no Tempest: The Civilization Blaster made it jump to the top of the list of priority watches for the season.

So this season's looking good. I'd stopped doing the seasonal thing because of time, but I was hearing a lot about some new shows so I thought I'd check them out... and I might be following all of them. So between Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! (which is fucking amazing), Bofuri (which struck a good balance between cute and funny), Hanako-Kun (which is just gorgeous) and Ishuzoku Reviewers (which was stupid, raunchy fun, even if it could easily turn bad at any time), I'm actually watching way more than I thought I would...

Did I just luck into three really good shows and something stupid enough to watch, or is this season just starting out really strong? I'm open to recommendations.