Don’t worry, the frog lives.
An idea I’m stealing from Day. Whether or not this ends up actually being weekly is yet to be seen. Basically, I want an excuse to write more often, but I don’t have much to say on every ep of every show I keep up with in a season, and I’m not really a fan of episodic blogging even if I had the time. So this is a happy medium and a good way to get myself into a tighter blogging regime.
Since most shows this season have already aired 3 to 4 eps, this post will cover my impressions thus far, then from here on out it will just be comments on that week’s episode. Let’s kick this thing off.
Zetsuen no Tempest
Probably my second favourite of season at the moment. The hamlet quotations make for some fun parallels to mull over, and out two male leads are interesting and dynamic thus far. It’s definitely a bit ham-fisted, and while I am enjoying it at the moment, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it turns all sorts of terrible by the end. Fingers crossed.
Little Busters
More Kyoushiro, less mentally handicapped girls, please.
I’m not usually the sort of person to, pre-season, pick out shows to watch to completion no matter how they turn out, but this was my feeling coming into Little Busters. Despite being very aware of it flaws, and totally understanding why some people would hate it, I actually really loved Clannad, so I’ve kept my eye on Jun Maeda since. I haven’t watched Air or Kanon, but Angel Beats, again, despite its flaws, was a net positive experience for me. I totally expect Clannad to be a one-off thing for me, so I came into Little Busters expecting it to suck, though less so than your average harem, but I am interested to see how it develops, in consideration of Maeda’s previous works, so I will stick with it however it turns out.
So far its meeting expectations, it’s pretty mediocre, but there are hints of the elements of Maeda’s writing which I really love, so I find myself looking forward to it to a surprising extent week-to-week. The humour’s alright too. Nothing special, but it gets a few wry smiles out of me each episode.
Question. Why do we need two mentally handicapped girls in this harem baseball team? Really, the less time we spend on these two, the more enjoyable this show will be. On that note, can we please spend less time on Riki and more on Kyoushiro?
K
Always with the obento.
This show is concentrated badness. I keep meaning to watch the second episode, but I just can’t bring myself to do so. This is pretty much the definition of vacuous, pandering nonsense. Generic shounen powers, bishounens, absurdly proportioned ladies in mini mini skirts, a naked cat-girl, an elegant gothic lolita, an ordinary high school student protagonist, really bad, egregious Engrish, and every character and plot development possibility left on the wayside for juvenile attempts at being cool. There’s just nothing to like here. Actually, there’s nothing here not to hate. Fuck you, K, fuck you.
Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure
I love you, GG fansubs.
This show is so bad it’s good. Each episode manages to top the last’s absurdity. We somehow go from 19th century England, to cartoonishly evil twelve-year-olds, to hulking, shounen hero nineteen-year olds, to an oddjob wannabe called “Speedwagon”, to godamn vampires, to “ripple energy”.
To make this all better, gg is making a concerted effort to give this show the subs it deserves. Seeing everybody refer to each other as “toff”, and “sod”, and “chum”, and using exclamations like “by George!” makes this show so, so much better.
Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai
Cynicism is depressingly accurate.
This show is not nearly as funny as it should be. The first episode was reasonably promising, but it’s just been dull and unassuming since. The twist about Nibutani’s personality was alright, I guess. It just feels like Kyoto Animation isn’t even trying anymore, though I’d say that trend started way back with K-On! so I can’t say I’m surprised. It’s entertaining enough to keep watching for now. It better not go the drama route though, or it’s gonna get dropped like a hot potato.
Psycho Pass
I’m starting to understand why people love Production I.G.
Easily my favourite of the season so far. This is how I like my sci-fi. Dystopian, raising broad philosophical questions on human morality, free will and justice, and an interesting cast of contrasting, complex characters. To top it off, the animation is great, and it’s written by Urobuchi Gen, the man responsible for Madoka Magica, for those who weren’t aware.
The latest ep wasn’t as good as the first two, but I get the feeling it’s a set-up for bigger things. Really digging the OP, too.
Robotics;Notes
How this guy responds when anyone asks him to do anything.
This show is really boring, and the protagonist is an unlikeable asshole. If these guys hadn’t made Steins;Gate, I would have dropped this by now. How did we go from a questionably sane, self-professed “mad-scientist” Uni student discovering time-travel and fighting CERN to kids in a high-school club doing, well, not much. They’re working on a robot, but SFA has happened in the first three episodes. Some people thought Steins;Gate was slow starting. I didn’t find this to be the case myself, but at least Steins;Gate gave us a reason to keep watching. The set-up was insane, and the main character infinitely charismatic. I just don’t care how things are going to unfold in Robotics;Notes, and so far I’m impartial to the female lead, and actively dislike the male lead.
I’ll stick with it a bit longer, but I’m not sure I’ll hold out till the end if things don’t improve a lot.
Sword Art Online
Elves were NOT what this show needed right now.
This is the most unintentionally funny anime I’ve seen in ages. It is just so bad, and what makes it so much funnier is how much everyone showers praise on it. It would be even funnier if the wasted potential wasn’t a little bit tragic.
Btooom!
Only good guys get to be good looking.
It’s like if Battle Royale was written by a twelve-year-old. S’alright, I guess.
Under the Bridge 
I’m also getting a bit disillusioned with Chu2, it seems it doesn’t have much beyond the initial “lol, we were awkward as kids” hook. I wrote very enthusiastically about episode 1 setting up the importance of compromise in your geekiness but it hasn’t really done much with it. And Nibutani is a dull tsundere.
On a petty note the Slayers reference actually irked me simply because it referred to a show I’m familiar with – it was a bit of real world chu2ism entering (quoting your favourite show) that actually pulled me out of the fiction.
Oh, that’s a great post. It somehow slipped me by at the time, but just read it then and thoroughly enjoyed, though it just kind of depresses me more about how this show hasn’t really gone anywhere since. Yeah, you’re right, Nibutani is probably just going to be a dull tsundere, though thankfully she hasn’t shown much sign of falling for protag just yet. She probably will though, because anime.
Really I see the setting up of the club as sugar coating being chu2.
Oddly the Nibutani plot could have been a good foil to Yuuta – a look at how society views geekiness in men and women, even. That is, the “gamer girl” stereotype and the sort of tailoring of some nerd media to what the industry thinks women want.
Well, I guess it’s a bit early to say they won’t go there for sure, though I admit I doubt they will.
Interesting point about the club sugar-coating chu2byou. I just saw it as upholding strict anime/Kyoto Animation tradition and thought no further. It is making social interaction a bit too easy for the chu2byou kids, especially with their growing numbers.
I agree you can’t rule it out but it seems unlikely.
The club thing is very interesting – one the one hand it is showing how geeky people club together but at the same time that’s usually through a common hobby in real life, while this is just a typical anime “club” in the vein of the SOS club, light music club etc.
I guess it feels too much like a narrative contrivance needed to keep Rikka and Yuuta together and add new characters easily, almost undermining the potential plots about forming friendships naturally.