October 05, 2015

End of Summer season thoughts

Another post, hopefully a little more in depth.

Covering:

Rokka Braves of the Six Flowers
Classroom Crisis
Charlotte
Himouto! Umaru-chan
God Eater

Conclusion for those who want the short notes was that there were some series that brought me back into the anime fold again after being away for some years.  There were some big misses too. More after the jump.

So this is the first season in a while that had me looking forward to the next episode on a weekly basis.  I had one hit from a series in the Spring season in the form of  'Is it Wrong to try to pick up girls in a Dungeon' (commonly referred to as Danmachi or 'that show with the blue ribbon').  I really liked the overall story despite falling a little on the rote side of high fantasy.  I was honestly waiting for it to turn into an MMO show like Log Horizon or Sword Art Online. 

The real effect it had on me though was that I started paying attention again to what was upcoming for the Summer season.  I hadn't been that interested in a new series since Last Exile aired or possibly Ergo Proxy.  No, wait... before I start to lie, Psycho Pass.  So it was a bit more recent than I really make out but I've been enjoying multiple series of shows this Summer season. 

Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers really started out strong.  Ticked off some checkboxes in the high fantasy department, as well as having a protagonist that didn't drive me nuts by being passive and well.. a doormat.  And then in episode three or four, it turned in to a game of Danganropa.  *sigh* I stuck through it in the hopes that the mystery part of the show was just a couple of episodes, but it quickly dropped to the last show I would watch every week. Oh, you'll catch me watching season 2 because the art and animation is great and I want to know a little more of the story, but based on how the season ended, we're looking at round 2 just in a different location.

Himouto! Umaru-chan is one I have not finished yet.  I've been watching this with my ten year old daughter, Samantha and we've both been laughing at Umaru's antics.  Apart from her size change when that hamster snuggie goes on, we have really enjoyed it as a light show to watch now and then.

God Eater I have mixed feelings about.  The animation is really good.  I think it's mostly CG which is fine.  It is a video game adaptation and thats the part that I'm not so sure of.  I've always wanted to play the God Eater games on the PSP/PS Vita because of my enjoyment of the Monster Hunter series but I've never gotten around to it.  The pacing of God Eater is leaving me a little cold, and I think some of it stems from the action of the video game vs the scenes back in base.  Add on top a protagonist mired in his own grim jaw...  I just don't know how many more episodes I'm gonna watch.  There needs to be some character turnaround in ep 5 or 6 for me to keep going any further.

Charlotte was one of two surprises of the season.  In a comment, I called it an 'esper teen show' and I think that's the right name for it.  The opening theme left me with my jaw on the floor.  The animation is as beautiful as Hibike! Euhphonium was last season even though Charlotte isn't a KyoAni series.  Teens with super powers but only until they're 18, a student council trying to collect them all for their safety, mysterious research labs, black helicopters, a pyramid named Bill...  okay, I threw in the last one just because Gravity Falls is fun.  The best part of this show was the pacing.  It did not feel rushed from episode 1 to episode 13.  And better yet, it's done. A complete story in those thirteen episodes. If you like the current trend of modern metahuman science fiction, then Charlotte is a great take on it all. They could air this show in a block with Agents of SHIELD and Peggy Carter and it would work wonderfully.

Classroom Crisis is in a dead heat for favorite new show this season. Very well animated, very well paced, a complete story from ep 1 to ep 13. Science fiction.  This was one I was wondering if it was going to get a second season in the fall, or if it was going to have time to wrap everything up.  The last episode might have worked as two episodes, but all the major plot lines got a fair treatment. by the end.  I think one of the standout things of this show is that they didn't have to use fanservice to sell the show. (Unlike the opening season of K: Return of Kings... yeesh.  I like a little sexy in my anime, but wow...)  But there was none of this in Classroom Crisis they focused on the story and the art supported that without trying to oversell it with typical cleavage and panty shots.

So that pretty much sums up my viewing time for the summer.  This was certainly not the only anime I watched.  Catching up on Psycho Pass 2 is my most recent adventure.  One Punch Man, Chivalry of a Failed Knight are two new ones I'm following.  I'm kind of hoping Owari no Seraph gets interesting in it's second season.  I really like the character designs and art there, but some of the brooding keeps me away. Looking forward to suggestions in the comments!

Posted by: Tom Tjarks at 06:39 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 961 words, total size 6 kb.

1 Rocca surprised me a bit by turning into a mystery.  I haven't finished watching it yet. (SO much overtime lately).

Posted by: Mauser at October 06, 2015 03:09 AM (TJ7ih)

2 Crud, I could have sworn I put the slash in the unspoiler tag.

Posted by: Mauser at October 06, 2015 03:15 AM (TJ7ih)

3 So, I finished Rokka. Not really satisfied with that last episode. Nor the reveal. There's something about mysteries where you should be able to put the clues together as you go through them, rather than have something appear at the end that invalidates everything you thought you knew.  It's not playing fair with the audience.

And I especially don't like the new character thrown in at the end, just in time to make for stupid jealousy games with Flamie. Plus I hate her character design.

Posted by: Mauser at October 06, 2015 04:50 AM (TJ7ih)

4 Yeah, sounds like you and I have the same reason to Rokka.

Posted by: Tom Tjarks at October 06, 2015 09:31 AM (J0lM9)

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