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Watch Masamune-kun's Revenge this season if you like a comedic "high school is a political minefield" type of series (not dissimilar to OreGairu judging by the first episode alone).

Haughty guy and haughtier girl try to out-asshole each other. Should be fun.

I am occasionally hearing about Kobayashi-san's Maid Dragon being strongly disliked on places like Tumblr for some reason and I can't for the life of me work out why or even find any examples of said hate.

Anyway I like the show, it's pretty fun and cute.

haha this thread is gonna die without lisa and 21

haha this thread is gonna die without lisa and 21

Nah, I'm sure I'll be posting here frequently when My Hero Academia and Food Wars start up again.

I am occasionally hearing about Kobayashi-san’s Maid Dragon being strongly disliked on places like Tumblr for some reason and I can’t for the life of me work out why or even find any examples of said hate.

I could guess why, but it would be based on the usual stereotypes of Tumblr.

Erp, Guess I'll talk a little then to make this place feel a bit less barren.

This season has a shit-ton of CUTE. Oh man it's everywhere. Right now I'm watching

• Demi-chan wa Kataritai – It's fucking good, unique MC is a real +

• Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon – Kyoani does it again. Funny and never a miss in the animation department.

• Gabriel DropOut – Not the strongest, But I'm definitely staying for sadistic KanaHana. Still, it's funny enough.

There's also a more that I'm not watching, like Urara Meirochou
Also watching Little Witch Academia, Konosuba 2, and Zestiria 2nd cour. Recently finished Hibike! Euphonium 2, good shit.

Wow, I'm watching a hell lot this season.

I feel like we can get the most discussion going if we all focus on a certain show to discuss, any takers?

I'm watching about 16 shows this season.

• 3-gatsu no Lion (cont.) – Very good, love how the story is panning out
• ACCA: 13-ku Kansatsu-ka – On the fence still, Fantastic OP though.
• Akiba's Trip The Animation – Ok slapstick on otaku culture
• ēlDLIVE – Wacky, a little on the fence but will probably continue
• Demi-chan wa Kataritai – CUTE
• Fuuka – I heard awful things about this series and even read some of the manga spoilers, its sounds like a lot of fun. I love watching shows with this mindset
• Gabriel DropOut – On the fence its a little funny but Im unsure if I'll keep up with it
• Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon – CUTE
• Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! 2 – Loved the first Season, I'm already liking it so far
• Kuzu no Honkai – Looks to be a serious drama, there some stuff going on here that I'm interested in
• Little Witch Academia – CUTE
• Masamune-kun no Revenge – Sadistic? slapstick, looks alright will keep watching
• Minami Kamakura Koukou Joshi Jitensha-bu – Cute girls riding bicycles, sounds good to me
• Seiren – I really like Amagami so I'm looking forward how this series turns out
• Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu: Sukeroku Futatabi-hen I really liked the story of the first season looking forward how the rest turns out
• Youjo Senki – I love crazy MC's, looks like it will an alright show.
  There some other shows I was interested in but I don't have a lot of time as I had last season due to my fall semester starting, damn.
  Looks to be a pretty great season overall.

Magical Warfare was embarrassingly bad.

-Boring and cliched characters
-Lame premise
-Awful pacing
-Awful voice acting, both in delivery and in voice fitting
-Fails at trying to be a harem
-Unlikeable and unmemorable characters

I could go on and on. It's not even a fun kind of bad. It's painful to watch and think about.

This is easily the worst anime I have ever watched.

Why the fuck did you watch that. Pretty sure that it's been known everywhere to be an unironically bad show.

I was watching it with a friend. We decided to just watch a random anime and make fun of it. Read the premise, thought it would be easy pickings, and lo and behold it surprised us on how bad it was.

It's the first I heard of it. I've heard nobody else talk about this anime as far as I know. I guess everyone was so caught up on hating Sword Art Online that this might have been overlooked.

Forgot to mention that Madhouse did the animation ;n; and the author of the light novel itself never wanted it to be adapted into an anime to begin with.

I felt compelled to make this.

An anime about ruining friendships?

An anime where

I wasn't a fan, if that wasn't clear. Me and my roommate have been pressing the "random" button on Crunchyroll. We've mostly ran into absolute trash, but Magical Girl Raising Project seemed like it had potential (even if it was clearly trying to ape Madoka's success in the "tragical" girl genre.) However, it turned out to be just another Battle Royale thing with a bloated cast of characters that drop like flies. Even within the confides of that genre, it has some real character building problems. Namely, the villain's motivations aren't clearly explained, the main character doesn't have any kind of arc, and the character's deaths are as sudden as they are random. Now, one or two surprising deaths are OK, it can be a tone setter that says "no one is safe." However MGRP has several (arguably all) character deaths that weren't the result of a character flaw or a tragic mistake. They just sorta happen. That does not make for a compelling narrative IMHO.

I'm going to disagree that having sudden deaths doesn't make a compelling narrative. In real life, death can be sudden and seemingly without much explanation. Of course, you could say that since it's fiction you really shouldn't do that, but I think the show want to say was that "anyone can die at anytime".

The villain motivation was stupid, but I think it was clear. The problem was that it was doing the "before I kill this character, lemme show you their 'liek if u cri everytim' story".

But back to the final point about making a compelling narrative, I guess the hardest part is to try to combine it with a certain "realistic" scenario. Real life is much more vague, which makes it actually hard to make that "compelling narrative". I guess I'm just trying to say that the closer you are to a trying to make death and destruction realistic, especially if they are fighting because they were basically forced to, the more meaningless they will become. There really is not much room for a "compelling narrative" without making it feel akward. Perhaps the problem really is just the formula of "death battle royale" itself that's the problem.

I respect your opinion if you like the show. More power to you. I do have a couple rebuttals though.

"I guess I’m just trying to say that the closer you are to a trying to make death and destruction realistic, especially if they are fighting because they were basically forced to, the more meaningless they will become."
Well damn, I hadn't realized that this anime where an evil Iphone app gives people superpowers and skimpy outfits was going for realism.

"Perhaps the problem really is just the formula of “death battle royale” itself that’s the problem."
I'd be more inclined to agree with you if I didn't enjoy Battle Royale (the book and the film) and Danganronpa (the villain in MGRP looks a lot like Monokuma, come to think of it) so much. In Battle Royale's case, it does get pretty hectic, especially the movie, but there are scenes where characters are brought down by a mistake, hubris, or some other flaw. Not every death is "surprising." Same thing can be said for Danganronpa, which happens to have an identical number of characters to MGRP. In MGRP many of the deaths just seems to be out of the character's control, be it because they didn't understand the rules or they didn't know what powers their opponent had.

Danganronpa and BR also take breathers in order to build character arcs. MGRP has two characters with arcs, sort of, but for the most part the characters are all static, including the main protagonist.

Ok first as a disclaimer, I don't like or hate the show, I felt it was average in the sense that I think it has some good merits but also glaring faults.

In any case, for the "realism" point, it's one of those things that are hard for me to fully explain what I meant. I guess by "realistic", I'm trying to talk about how it might go down if something like this were to happen in real life. Not everyone is going to have a sob story, not everyone is going to go out in blazes of glory or get retribution for what they do. I guess what I'm trying to say is that while the show is not realistic in a scientific sense, it feel "realistic" in a human sense.

While I never watched or read Battle Royale, I have played DR 1,2 and UDG, along with watching DR 3, but I have not watched DR1 adaptation. Danganronpa benefits from the fact that

• It's a game

• It's lengthier

Of course, it's going to be much easier in such a format, so I guess the only option left to talk about is DR 3. I've heard that DR 1 is actually a terrible anime adaptation, but I haven't watched it so I can't say much about it. For DR 3, only the future arc matters, since that's the one with the "death game" aspect. Honestly, I thought it suffered the same problem as MGRP. In a 12-ish episode show, there is going to be very little room to try to develop every single character. Hell, I thought the reason behind the whole thing was laughably stupid.

Also I thought most of the characters in DR is considerably "static".

I guess lastly, to specify what I mean, I would change my quote from “Perhaps the problem really is just the formula of “death battle royale” itself that’s the problem.” to “Perhaps the problem really is just the formula of “death battle royale” is hard to fit into a 1 cour show without having problems.”

I gotta say, I have seen so many great anime these past months, I'm pleasantly surprised to see that quality still exists.
The ones I've seen are:
- Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu: A surprisingly interesting story, considering that I didn't expect it to hook me in at all. The subject matter seemed a bit trite to me, and I'm not a fan of "historical" anime. But the plot was told in such a mature, realistic and down to earth manner, it was actually really refreshing to see it not devolving into regular slapstick. Also, the anime got a good middle ground to stand on: the first half is rather goofy and light-hearted, the second one's reminded me of Clannad After Story because of the emotional whiplash.
All in all, I will definitely watch the second season which is still ongoing at the moment. Straight (or not so straight if you catch my drift) 10 outta 10!
- Yuri!!! On Ice: Because of course would I want to watch! I can see why people would be miffed at Crunchyroll's obsession over this anime, but in the end it doesn't take anything away from the sheer quality (both in storytelling and animation) of YoI. I really appreciated that the love story in this was genuine, and not just yaoi fodder for the fujoshi amidst us…although I thought the fanservice was also quite nice to see. Between each episode, I actually wondered how much gayer this show could be and my expectations were always blown out of the water. Kinda liked that it was so over-the-top, but everything else, notably the relationship between Yuri, the other Yuri and Victor seemed so real. Also gotta give it a 10/10!
- Death Parade: To be honest, I've only watched it because my best friend recommended it to me. It was definitely worth it. The characters' design is gorgeous, the animation style is sublime and the opening…well, even though it's the biggest lie I've ever witnessed, I could still never skip it because it's so darn catchy! The plots of the different couples are engaging, but the main plot got me teary-eyed so much I felt like bawling my eyes out. Regarding the comedy, I thought it was good the way it was sprinkled here and there (plus some really goofy moments), so as to not make the atmosphere overly gloomy. It was a great balance between thrilling suspense and light-hearted jokes. Only problem was that some characters deserved more screen time and background story to get to know them more. 9/10!

Currently watching:
-Pokémon Sun & Moon: The anime, despite its ugly character designs, is actually quite good and fun to watch. The entire cast except maybe for Oak (which I find extremely annoying) is great to watch and I'm glad they get more focus as opposed to the SuMo games. Just saying: I'm still rooting for Team Rocket more than I do for Ash. I thought I would hate the comedy aspect this time around because it is much more focused on making the characters do silly faces, but it kinda fits the jovial theme of Alola. The animation is definitely better than I thought, I was worried since the stills between frames we've been seeing prior to release looked like sh*t. Since the animators do a sloppy but fast-paced and fluid animation, the stills happen too fast to notice them, and that is fine by me. I'd say for now I give the anime an 8/10 (I was going to give 7, but Lillie convinced me to give that extra mark ;) best girl, BEST GIRL!)
- Little Witch Academy: Good Lord, is this anime sweet and innocent to the core! I knew that Studio Trigger would save anime once again! (I know, overused joke, sue me) While the animation has been kicked down a notch since LWA became a TV show, it's still one of the most insane ones with great effort behind it. The comedy works incredibly well (luckily, Studio Trigger knew better than to include superfluous panty shots since this is NOT Kill la Kill), and the characters (even the not so good ones) are all likeable. It's a nice little cutesy slice of life anime that funnily enough gives me nostalgia feels for the older Harry Potter books.
- Watashi ga Motenai no wa Dou Kangaetemo Omaera ga Warui!: Incredibly awkward, but funny second hand embarrassment! I love our lil' edgelord Kuroki so much, she could be a relatable character if her personality traits weren't upped to infinity and beyond. It's like a slow-motion trainwreck where you can't look away. The opening truly had me in laughing fits, it's everything I didn't expect and the cheesiness just made it better. I'm only about 3 episodes in, but I'll continue watching WataMote. 9/10.
I guess that's all for now. I mean, someone needed to revive the thread, better get that ball rolling again.

So I've given Demi-chan wa Kataritai a shot and all I can say is I finally understand the appeal in monster girls, it quite frankly is the most adorable series I've ever seen.

Oh and Machi is best girl there is no denying it

Welp since I don't want to see this thread dead, lemme share some news:
According with /r/ anime, a new Kino's Journey anime adaptation has been announced.
(Original article)

I can say that nobody excepted that and in all honesty, is good to see a light novel that's not SAO or your typical high school romance/trapped in a different dimension, to get an anime (that and the fact I watched the original tv show). So yeah, I'm a little hyped.
If only they announced a season 3 of Spice and Wolf…

Kushina Uzumaki (Naruto's Mother) is voiced by Laura Bailey in the English Dub?

And her voice is absolutely perfect! <3 Laura Bailey is bae (full bias).

Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card OVA PV

It…It's so, Beautiful.

So I saw the Ghost in the Shell live action film. I had never watched any of the original Ghost in the Shell anime, so I went in with a completely neutral viewpoint.

And well, consider me a fan now. I even watched the original when I got back home and still think the movie stands up pretty strongly.

I know fans of the original series will probably find something to be upset about; the watered down philosophical aspect is probably an instant death sentence to the die-hard fans. However, it's not like they didn't completely disregard the questioning of humanity aspect. They could very well focus on that in a sequel film, which I absolutely hope there is.

Overall, the live action film finally breaks the curse of the bad hollywood anime adaptations. The actors nailed their roles pretty well (Standouts being Chief Aramaki and Major Motoko, but especially Chief Aramaki), the effects where fantastic (though chaotic at times), and good lord the Action is just amazing.

(And now is the part where I get Lynched)

I just finished the finale of Dragon Maid, which I sincerely hope will get a second season at some point, and I picked up the season premier of Attack on Titan. Other than that I've been binging Demi-chan wa Kataritai and following Little Witch Academia, and am swimming in a warm and present stream of cute.

I saw someone mention Youjo Senki, and I've been thinking of picking it up. The premise looks interesting but I worry that it might not be executed well. Anyone have thoughts on it? Is it worth my time?

I've watched Youjo Senki, and honestly it suprised me on how hooked I was.

The good

• Action is great
• Magic isn't total bullshit
• Interesting MC
• Interesting depiction of "God"

My biggest complains against it are

• Shitty CGI. Relatively new studio, they even had to do a recap to ensure quality (IMO good move)
• Fucking fish face, but it's only one character luckily
• lack of a real ending, although there are rumors of S2

I should also note that it is set in WWI-ish mostly, which helps set initial understanding of the politics hopefully.

I'll say watch it. Gave it a 8/10.

@The Sniper in White

Thanks, I guess I will take a look at it.

I also stumbled over a neat show called Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu. I've watched maybe the first hour of it and it seems pretty damn amazing – very well written, well animated, interesting plot and characters. It's great if you want something more intelligent, to give yourself a break from the action shows and moe-blobs and slice-of-life.

I still need to know the VA list for the Monster Musume dub…

So, we're somewhat underway with Spring 2017, what have you guys been watching? Or plan to watch? I'll make an update with my list a little bit later.

Hey so this thread is dead, how about I bump it to say this

I'm not watching much at all this season, but I'm basically in love with all the stuff I'm watching. Attack on Titan, Rage of Bahamut, Eccentric Family, Re:Creators and Kado are all so good that not only can I not make a ranking of them all, they all could genuinely get a 10 out of me. I don't think they're getting enough attention (Besides Titans obvs), so please check them out (and their previous seasons where applicable) when you can

Guess we're reviving this thread. Going to run down some stuff I've checked out.

• Shingeki No Kyojin/Attack on Titan – Yeah, you know what the show is. It got really dumb at some parts near the beginning, but is picking it back up a bit. It still feels really fucking slow though.

• Boku No Hero Acadamia – Fuck yeah, this shows getting good, already liking it more than S1. Also 25 episodes, so this ones going to be a good long ride.

• Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records – You know, I don't know exactly why I'm still watching this. At times, it can be pretty good, but sometimes it's just so goddamn awful. The latest episode was awful. I feel like I'm just trying to see if they ever introduce interesting side characters. It also has a terrible first episode but a way better second one.

• Re:Creators – I want this to be good. I really do. But the exposition. It burns. It's original and interesting at times, but I think they need to do a hell lot more with what they have. also another 2 cour show, so hopefully it picks itself up later.

• Renai Bouken – It's funny at times, but the gags are just too much for me. It overloads on the tropes a bit too much and has too much actual nonsense stuff going on. Nichijou did it right with it's absurdity, but this one's takes it far too seriously (well, not that it's serious, but I hope you get what I mean). Probably will drop it, already behind by an episode.

• Zero kara Hajimeru Mahou no Sho – For some reason this one gets a bit of flak. It's NOT re:zero, despite the name, but it's still pretty interesting so far. It's like Spice and Wolf, but then set into an action fantasy instead of medieval economics. I'll recommend to consider this, because it doesn't get a lot of attention.

• Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata ♭ – I think I almost forgot the plot from the first Season. Anyway, since all the cast have been basically introduced, it's starting to get into the meat of it. So far we got lots of good drama with Utaha, Eri, and it seems like Katou will get some too, but for some reason Michiru will get shafted. Or maybe they'll do a thing like S1 where she does some crazy hype shit like Gurren Lagann's OP

• Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul – Hell yeah, but where the fuck is Favaro. Anyway Azazel is great. The moral ambiguity of the whole thing is great. Cygames really being ambitious with another project going on this season too (Granblue)

• Tsuki ga Kirei – Someone described the show's animation and aesthetic as Your Name but with a fraction of the budget. The CG robots people are terribly noticable, but everything else seems OK so far. The shorts are actually better than the show itself. Also find it semi-awkward that they're middle schoolers, but maybe that's just because I never saw much romantic stuff happening at my school during my middle school years.

• Sakura Quest – Hey look it's not Shirobako. Well, it kinda is, but I can't say that it's as good as Shirobako yet. I don't think it will. But it's still good. Still adult stuff having adult problems. Great perspective on the subject of dying suburbs of Japan.

• Little Witch Academia – Carrying off into it's second cour, it finally picks up with a plot, while still keeping a mostly episodic format. Still good so far, but I don't know if it's anything too extraordinary yet.

Kind of wanted to check out Oreimo V2 Eromanga-Sensei, but from what I'm hearing about how It's a "so bad it's good" and meme status of the show, I think I might end up hating it. I kind of liked Oreimo S1, and unfortunately I don't think I can expect anything seriously good from this author.

Heard a ton of good stuff about Seikaisuru Kado, but I'll wait for this one to be done first. Honestly, everything screamed like it was going to be a trainwreck (Toei, overly wordy synopsis, etc.), but people keep saying good things about it. The one interesting dissent I've heard was that it was just another "Japan good, USA and everyone else being shit" type of stuff, so I'll just wait to see how this plays out.

From the last time I posted, I've went and watched The Idolm@aster. It's actually not shit, but struggle a lot because of it's large cast. Gave it a generous 8/10, Chihaya's arcs was probably the best thing I've seen. Oh also got to watch Your Name, 9/10. I don't know if most theaters are running it anymore in the US.

Koe no Katachi BD's were actually out, but no one properly subbed it yet. Luckily it seems that UK will have theirs by tomorrow in fact. Heard a hell lot of good stuff about this, and it's KyoAni, so it's gonna look fucking great.

Koe no Katachi BD’s were actually out, but no one properly subbed it yet. Luckily it seems that UK will have theirs by tomorrow in fact. Heard a hell lot of good stuff about this, and it’s KyoAni, so it’s gonna look fucking great.

I recently watched it in theaters (because I'm sick to spend my monies on hollywood blockbusters), now if your expectations are top quality animation from KyoAni, drama, feels, and situations that can hit to close to home then I'd say go and watch it m8.
For me it's a 9/10.
Now if only there's a release date for "Your Name" in this DVD region-4 block where I'm from, that would be great…

And since I'm not the only poor soul who watched The Idolmaster, lets discuss like civilized people on why Producer Kotori is best grill.

Producer Kotori is best grill.

Ahh, I see you're a man of culture as well. Unfortunely, while I loved Kotori too she didn't get the screentime she deserved, so I feel she belongs in a different tier than the idols. But whenever she was on it was great. Her description on MAL made her earn a special spot.

She also spends much of her free time during workdays browsing 2chan

Yeah that's the best girl material right there.

About Koe no Katachi, I wished it hit theaters here, but for some reason US ends up getting shafted (again) on anime movies. I really don't understand how that works, considering Crunchyroll gets like all the license for mostly only US. I'm just waiting to see if the UK release has better subs.

Just finished watching Koe no Katachi.

It's great. I can't really put it all into words together, but it's really damn good. Highly recommend it. Gave it a generous 10/10. Used 35mm subs, been told they're the best ones out.

As did I. I liked it a lot.
I'll have to give it extra points for having my favorite seiyuu as the heroine (though she understandably doesn't talk too much).

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
WHY DIDN'T I GET INTO MY HERO ACADEMIA EARLIER!?
ANOTHER SHONEN ANIME DONE BY STUDIO BONES!?
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!

Since I have nothing to do besides to resurrect dead threads I shall bring a preview:

Yeah the thread is kinda dead right now, what are you guys planning to watch?

On my PTW

• New Game- Already watched and liked the first season, why not more
• Fate/Apocrypha – A-1 Pictures doing Fate this time, it's gonna be interesting
• Symphogear AXZ – Have to finish up GX first, but I'll probably watch this one when I'm done with that

There are other interesting shows this season such as Centaur no Nayami and Made in Abyss, which I've heard have good source. Original anime is lacking as always, but stuff like The Reflection (Stan Lee is involved on this one) and Princess Principal (By studio 3Hz, which has done very little so far, known recently for Flip Flappers).

Though there is also a hell lot of good leftovers from last season, like Hero Academia, Shingeki no Bahamut, Re;Creaters (this show has a shitton of exposition though), and Sakura Quest.

Buckle up buttercup, the spring rains are over, breath in that summer air, cause we got a worthy season here finally! I might do an inital impressions every season, as well as thoughts on the previous season. Maybe.

Here's how I "score" things, because I don't like number systems:

Red – Unworthwhile, distasteful, or unenjoyable. Completely not for me.

Yellow – Disappointing, unimpressive, or simply average. Not bad, not great. Just good.

Green – Enjoyable and worth my time. Has a degree of passion or refinement that's a step above the season fluff I'm used to.

Blue – Compelling, leaves an actual impact/impression which resonates with me. Something I'll look back on very fondly. When referring to finished shows it does not mean perfect, just it has a special place in my heart.

Also note, for first impressions these are based on the first and maybe second episode. It is not a full review, just my thoughts. I'll leave a statement for each verdict.

Current Season

Ballroom E Youkoso

Where do I begin. This is my most anticipated show of the season, and for a first episode it was rather excellent. I'll start by saying the manga is absolutely phenomenal. The artwork is gorgeous and painfully detailed, when the characters are dancing their movements crash like waves. It's powerful and elegant, there are several instances where my jaw dropped in astonishment. The characters are all lovable, and none of them are as they first appear to be. It's a pure joy to read each chapter, gaze at each page, admire every panel. One of the best manga I've read in years.

But the anime, that's what this thread is about. Production IG adapted Haikyuu very well, and people seem to keep mentioning that title when talking about this show. Which is fair, they're both about sports, and the anime artstyle is similar. I adored Haikyuu and the anime's animation was nothing short of unique excellent. This time the animation is just as wonderful.

Sengoku's movements are sweeping and powerful. Shizuku is so gorgeous. Fujita's box left me with shivers. So yes, the animation is great, and really makes me anticipate what they have in store when the dance competitions come into play. Because seriously the manga is ridiculously beautiful. I watched the premiere on Twitch a day before the official stream was out, so I didn't get to take screenshots. Also there was this horrendous subtitle lag during the Twitch stream (damn you Anime Strike, damn you), but still the episode was fantastic.

The seiyuu choices are on point. A lot of Haikyuu cast members are here for this show too (dear lord have mercy Yachi and Mako share a voice actress, I'm dead, cinnamon role Mako is being voiced by Morohoshi Sumire, I'M DEAD). She hasn't appeared yet, but Fujita's voice actor Tsuchiya Shinba is perfectly cast. Mushroom head Goshiki from HQ. Sakura Ayane as Hanaoka was really good.

The OP and ED were rather nice, the animation fluid and well drawn, the characters likable and engaging. The men in this series are chiseled and have presence. The women in this series are dropdead divine and alluring. If this is like the Haikyuu adaptation we'll be in for a treat. The story is fantastic. The manga is fantastic.

Verdict – Impeccable, and I promise it only gets higher from here.

Katsugeki Touken Ranbu

I could not watch the light-hearted Hanamaru version of Touken Ranbu, it just felt off and stale. But this time ufotable will surely treat us to some nice visuals and special effects, as they already have with the first episode. I'm normally not a fan of video game anime mostly because I don't play games and aren't really interested in the majority of the premises, but Touken Ranbu is a sort of exception. Mainly has to due with the extravagantly gorgeous character designs, gosh I've spent hours and hours on pixiv browsing wonderful art of the characters, it's really a treat. Plus, I enjoy reading up on Japanese history and nice to see some swordfighting. Music even reminds me of the long running Nobunaga's Ambition games. Solid first two episode, sets up the show well and I'll definitely follow it keenly.

Verdict – A real treat, been waiting for months since it's announcement and am not disappointed.

Koi to Uso

This was a decent first episode. The premise is captivating enough and the animation serviceable. I'm not a big fan of this art style, but that's just me and I'll get over it. I think it'll be a good watch, I mean the setup is there and I'm always down for romance and drama. Woah when was the last time I watched a show with Kana Hanazawa as a leading role? Oh yeah, Orange, still bitter about that adaptation.

Verdict – It's fine. Interesting enough, but nothing special yet.

Keppeki Danshi! Aoyama-kun

Hey this wasn't half bad. The lighting is like a JJ Abrams movie, and the artstyle has this clean, sterile feel to it, feels smooth and consistent, a bit too clean. For the comedy and base of the jokes, I don't know if the clean freak gimmick can last, and the jokes themselves aren't really that entertaining for me. But it's a goofy little show with a goofy cast I wouldn't mind returning to.

Verdict – Not the funnest comedy but still quirky. Has potential.

Dive!!

I'll be frank, this one doesn't really interest me. The characters are flat, the visuals aren't compelling, and the premise doesn't stir any excitement. Not that a sports anime necessarily needs that, but I'm looking for a bit more passion. It reminds me a lot of Battery, which was also made by Zero-G. That was a decent show, but the biggest problem was it's slow and dry pacing and directing. This one has less polished animations too. Not much going for it. I can almost tell I'll drop it, but I'll give it a couple more episodes to see for sure.

Verdict – Maybe it'll be a Battery repeat, maybe worse. From the start I don't see a path that's going to be any higher than Battery, but eh, I could be wrong.

Nana Maru San Batsu

Despite the somewhat intriguing setup, I'm not a fan of the directing, the artstyle, and the cheap panty joke. It's labeled as comedy, and I can imagine some fun coming from this show, but it's not my usual cup of tea. I didn't love the first episode, so I think I'll pass.

Verdict – It's just not for me. Nothing about it is appealing enough.

Princess Principal

What a pleasant surprise! A show with gun-slinging fantasy steampunk London moe spy girls. Never thought I'd fall in love with this. Pleasing visuals and a drawn out atmosphere, this was fun, this was nice to look at, this was a great first episode. Now rewatching the episode, there was some confusing points like characters popping out of nowhere and why the doctor was being chased after by armed pursuers (despite the doctors revealed role later on), but nonetheless the other elements still captivated me.

Normally I wouldn't care for this nature of a show (cute girls doing violently cute things), but I don't know I was drawn in by the rather impressive animation and the vibrant dark world painted in a single episode. Gorgeous lighting. Lovely ambient music. Pretty kicker OP too.

Verdict – I can't help but not love this. A really fine first episode. It's like a talented pixiv fantasia artwork turned into an entire show. With steampunk.

Vatican Kiseki Chousakan

This was weird for me. It had a good theme and tone going on, pretty serious and tense with the religious setting and all. I haven't watched a lot of mystery or supernatural, but I don't dislike it. It's not really what I look for when I sit down to watch anime, but it seems to have a clear foundation. I'll keep watching and decide if it's right for me.

Verdict – Not bad, but again one of those shows that I'm not the target audience.

(character limit, continued below)

edits: Formatting

Kobini Kareshi

To be honest, I saw cobini in the title and that was the only reason I watched this. And I got nothing out of it. I learned nothing about the characters, the animation and directing is lackluster, nothing actually happens the first episode. And we didn't barely got to see what's in the damn cobini.

The great joy of stepping into a Lawson, a Family Mart, a 7/11 is to browse the bento selection, linger at the drink fridges, go up and down the snack and ramen aisle. I can almost tell it's not going to amount to anything, but I'll keep watching for the Conbini.

Verdict – Honestly awful. It's only for my great love and obsession for convenience stores that I'll muster another episode. Maybe half an episode.

Isekai Shokudou

Within the first 30 seconds the episode introduces itself with dialogue about what "yoshoku" is. I'm sorry, but buta no kakuni is NOT yoshoku.

Yoshoku translates to "foreign food" or "western food", but it is not synonymous with "non Japanese food". You cannot label a dish like buta no kakuni as yoshoku.

Wrong! Yoshoku is predominantly American, English, French, and Italian food adjusted by Japanese ingredients. Japanese-style Chinese food like mabo dofu, gyoza, ramen, are not considered Yoshoku. Karaage and Tempura are also not considered Yoshoku. Tempura is Portuguese in origin, but because it was introduced during the Shogunate period, Tempura is seen as more traditionally ingrained with Japanese cuisine. It is not true Washoku, but it is not the modern definition of Yoshoku.

What is Yoshoku? Yoshoku is a style of cooking that can be traced to the Meiji Restoration, when Japanese society rapidly changed and modernized. It modeled itself on European and American powers, changing the military, political system, industry, and naturally eating habits. The ban of consuming meat was lifted, and thus western style cooking techniques for meat were steadily introduced to the Japanese diet.

Post-Second World War, America had heavy control and influence over the rebuilding of Japan. Things such as bread, milk, corn, ketchup, etc, were imported and encouraged. The spread of television and broadcasts of chefs cooking western style food began to develop what we in the modern day identify as yoshoku. Due to US influence/imports and the resurgence of the Japanese economy, these became affordable and widespread. Common Yoshoku dishes include Hamburg Steak, Spaghetti Naporitan, Korokke, Omurice, Curry Rice, Hayashi Rice, Ebi fry, Katsu, Gratins, potato salad, macaroni salad, and well, salad.

Ramen, tempura, karaage, sukiyaki, yakitori, okonomiyaki are not Yoshoku. Many of these use meat. The modern Japanese connotation with Yoshoku is not "foreign food", nor is it "food with meat". The modern day Japanese word is associated with cooking styles that originated during the Meiji Restoration and Post-WW2. These recipes incorporate Western ingredients with uniquely Japanese cooking styles and recipes. Maybe before ~1920 you could call something like sukiyaki Yoshoku but certainly not today.

So where does that leave us? Ah yes, buta no kakuni. Pork belly simmered for hours under dashi, soy sauce, mirin, sake, sugar… Wait. That sounds like Hong Shao Rou. Red Braised Pork. Braised Chinese Pork Belly. Could it be, Buta No Kakuni, a common household dish, drew inspiration from Chinese preparation of pork belly? That when pork belly was offered in Japanese supermarkets, people took to cooking it in a similar style to the Chinese? Apply dashi to incorporate a uniquely Japanese aroma, and have a delicious weekday meal for the family? Am I being a pedantic snob that is way too excited over a simple 30 second dialogue regarding the finer details, etymology, and history of Japanese cuisine? Maybe.

I just want to clarify. Yoshoku is a special class of cooking that draws inspiration and influence from American and European techniques, recipes, and ingredients, that is associated with the Meiji Restoration and the Post-WW2 period. Anyways there's nothing wrong with serving a common dish like Buta No Kakuni at a Yoshoku restaurant. The eatery is basically the Japanese equivalent of an American diner, it serves everyday meals at affordable prices, these are common in Japan and it's not odd to serve western food alongside traditional Japanese food. So yes, as an eatery, what's most important is the food's good.

Oh. The actual anime. How is it? Uhh….. It's alright. The premise is interesting enough and the visuals are acceptable. There was this dull and lengthy exposition dump where the girl explains her story, but eh, it's just one scene. Show seems alright, might become something I'll get bored of quickly but I'll give it a chance. The characters are likable enough. Pretty good.

Verdict – I can't believe I just wrote an essay about one mislabeled dish. But the show was decent enough to merit another episode.

Tsurezure Children

Wow, this was actually really really good. It was only twelve minutes and it flew by in 12 seconds. I love when all the characters are absolutely clueless dorks, the jokes were executed perfectly, and the relationships are adorably cute. The last show I watched this season, and certainly one I'll look forward to every week.

Verdict – Surprised at how good this was! A perfect balance of mellow art, queer comedy, and pleasant voice acting.

Leftovers/Previous Season

Boku no Hero Academia – I marathoned both available cours at the time, and it was a pretty solid watch. I don't have much to say about it, shounen isn't my favorite genre, but this was enjoyable. Tsuyu best girl.

Verdict – Fun, with likable characters. Solid and steady.

Re:Creators – I struggled with liking this show. I want to like Troyca, but every show they've dished out so far has problems dotted across the board. And Re:Creators is no exception. The show would swing between moments of entertaining action to goofy pointless shenanigans. It doesn't feel heavy or consequential enough, and the worldbuilding and exposition dialogue is dull.

Verdict – Low lows and not very high highs. I don't hate it, but there are times it is bothersome to slug through.

Sakura Quest – A comfy, homely show. It's not PA Work's best, but far from their worst. The girls are lovable and I'm convinced PA Works are the master of facial expressions. Now I'm critical and biased on PA Works only because they're my favorite studio, and I felt they've made stumbles with Kuromukuro and Haruchika. Sakura Quest seems to break this trend, it balances work life with positive and engaging scenarios. There's always a sense of optimism and value throughout the first cour, and I hope like Shirobako it blasts off during the second. Shiori best girl.

Verdict – One I look forward to every week, knowing I'll get a well animated show filled with lovable girls in a not too serious setting. When it does get serious, it does so maturely.

Tsuki Ga Kirei – This show was so good. I adore these down to earth and honest romance shows. It's not pandering, it's not covered by a veil of overly shoujo art or exaggerated cuteness, no it's all to real and relatable. Middle School dating could not be potrayed more quaint and subtle. Studio feel had some hiccups across the episodes with unfortunate production issues and cg, but honestly that does not detract from the viewing in any significant way. The music is so lovely and calming, Nao Touyama is a great singer. And I'm so glad loundraw got to do the character designs, it's almost too perfect. One of the best shows I've watched in ages, might even consider it a favorite.

Verdict – The standard of excellence I look for with romance. Elegant and refined, I could not recommend it enough.

I forgot to add in Action Heroine Cheer Fruits! Damn you 30 min edit limits! Damn you 10000 character limits!

Oh also the verdict for Princess Principal should read: "I can’t help but love this." Not "I can’t help but not love this."

Action Heroine Cheer Fruits

This show is dumb. It's goofy. And I like it. It's not a serious show, and it's entertaining to just see these girls obsess over their heroines. Otaku moe girls. It's pretty cute and I even got a few good chuckles from it. Not only are the jokes pretty good, but there's enough going on screen to not bore me, so the animation's presentation gets a check for me too.

Hey I didn't expect much, but what I got was a light and fun viewing. Reminds me that I should get around to watching Sailor Moon.

Verdict – Really fun. I could recommend it.

And with that, I'll end this ridiculously lengthy post with a song. Tsuki Ga Kirei featured Nao Touyama covering Hatsukoi (First Love), an absolutely wonderful and nostalgic song by Kozo Murashita, which I'll show here.

Nothing better than classic 80's/90's Japanese pop. Have a lovely summer everyone~

Well that was impressive. Almost needlessly so, but I can only give you so much.

Yeah, Tsuki Ga Kirei was pretty good. I was foreseeing this to be the dark horse of that season, and was damn right. The biggest complain I'll say is the fact that the background people can be terribly animated. As someone has said before "It's like trying to copy Your Name style but with a fraction of the budget." The show was great because it stuck to it's guns instead of going for something grand, and it works.

I haven't seen such an established and well organized written post to this degree on this thread, nice work Xin, good read.

I'm tempted to write my own impressions but I'll keep it brief later, still some shows that I'm interested in that are barely airing this week and a video game backlog, shows to catch up on, movies I want to see, and a summer semester that makes me write 4 pages a week

Let me just join the discussion by saying that Tsuki Ga Kirei turned me into a giddy school girl through the whole show, I loved it, solid 9/10 for me.
As said already, the show was so grounded with its characters and it made a lot of it relatable.

My favourite anime



Please don't downvote this to oblivion I'm just joking don't ruin me

@The Sniper in White

Well that was impressive. Almost needlessly so, but I can only give you so much.

Thank you! I know I went on for far too long in some places, the Isekai Shokudou segment was a dumb vent that didn't need to be a paper. But that's the way I write, I'm not good with being concise.

As someone has said before “It’s like trying to copy Your Name style but with a fraction of the budget.”

I'd have to disagree with whoever said that. Makoto Shinkai is an artist in his own right. Television anime and film anime are produced differently. Tsuki Ga Kirei isn't trying to copy anything, it sets out to deliver a practical love story and accomplishes that wonderfully.

I'm much more forgiving of the visual presentation and cgi because studio Feel had some unfortunate production issues (a recap episode, the op was a stitch of in-episode frames and filtered real-life video, and there were numerous delays from the scheduled broadcast). They did an exceptional job conveying the most important aspects about the character's relationships, and I think they should be commended without having to compare it to the talented but different Shinkai.

The show was great because it stuck to it’s guns instead of going for something grand, and it works.

I totally agree with you! It's really refreshing to see romance so low key and subtle.

@SweetAndDelicious

I haven’t seen such an established and well organized written post to this degree on this thread

Aw I appreciate it! It's been half a year since I posted in this thread, and I thought this season was pretty noteworthy so I decided to do something.

I can't watch every show, I'm only human, so I missed Kakeguri and Made in Abyss, but they didn't interest me (despite horrible shows warranting a browse, I'm weird).

Tsuki Ga Kirei turned me into a giddy school girl through the whole show

Haha no kidding! Scenes like the texting definitely had me suffering flashbacks from middle/high school experiences of my own. Ahh the strange ways I got overexcited over messaging people of the opposite gender.

@CombatNife1337

Friendly reminder, this isn't riff-raff. It's generally discouraged to post completely unrelated things that don't contribute to the discussion/thread topic. In fact, it's rule 2: Keep it relevant. We've all heard this joke before, here isn't the place for that. This is a anime general thread, not a riff-raff shitposting one.

Don't post for the sake of posting. Please be considerate of that.

edits: wording

I think bee movie is relevant to anime.
On to some real stuff, what is the most popular anime right now? I don't watch anime but it's interesting learn more. Knowledge is power.

@Xin

I meant more in the artstyle as I was mentioning, not storytelling and presentation. I was talking about the off model background people in the show, and just the palette coloring used in general. I think it was just someone trying to rationalize why they decided to do that type of animation, instead of something more typical. In the end, the show ended up LOOKING good when it really needs to, but animated poorly at times. Which I was Ok with, just a bit jarring sometimes. While I know they weren't copying Your Name, I still felt that at least in artstyle and the soft-ish color palette reminded me a bit of it. Or maybe it was just me.

On a different last note about Tsuki Ga Kirei, The one part I felt disconnected was the fact that they were middle schoolers (granted going to high school, and technically would be freshman in high school in the states), but I myself never saw much relationship action around my days of being a middle/high schooler. Really made wonder how much of a different high school experience I actually had.

@CombatNife1337

First, popular aren't always good. In fact, most popular anime gets trashed at (partly because they're popular, and partly because people think they're trash). Of course, they are still popular because they attract a broad audience. I'll just list some stuff out near the end. I'll also note that anime fans can be very divided at times. What's popular and good in one group of fans might be viewed as terrible in another.

First of, despite it being extremely trashed on by certain parts, the big 3 (Naruto, One Piece, and Bleach) is still popular, just that you won't find people talking much about it outside of those fandom. It's harder to explain, but I've considered anime fandom works with layers. Big 3 is usually seen as the most casual stuff. I wouldn't recommend it since they aren't highly discussed material within certain online forums

After that, you have 2 catergories: popular modern, and popular classic. Popular modern are recent shows which has have quite a bit of popularity within the fandom, and likely many fans have at least heard and know about it. Stuff like Attack on Titan, Sword Art Online, Tokyo Ghoul, Mirai Nikki. I can't really list out all of them, and it's not as if the group is an entire concrete entity. Note that most of the stuff in this category might not be well regarded with other parts of the community, mainly as you go more niche level of the fandom.

Popular classic would refer to older shows that have stuck around enough for casuals to know about and watch them. Stuff such as Death Note, Fullmetal Alchemists:Brotherhood, Code Geass.

After that, the there becomes a lot more different divergeance as you go more niche. There is the section I would refer as "true classics", which are decently popular among older fans and fans in general. Stuff such as Cowboy Bebop, Neon Genesis Evangelion. There is also the modern classic section, which are popular, have high regards among critics, and is somewhat recent (around 2010), such as Steins;Gate, Madoka Magica, Gurren Lagann. There are of course much more to these section and much more other sections, but I can say that if you watch any of these, there will probably be more than enough people for you to talk to about the show.

I'm going to go link MAL's popularity list. MAL is a site that a lot of people use to keep track of what they watched, and it also has a good database on what is most popular and what is highly rated.

Thanks.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooh shit lads Kakegurui gonna be anime of the season watch it
who knew psycho lesbians gambling in highschool could be so good
but anyways, yeah for this season i'm watching kakegurui, made in abyss and welcome to the ballroom. i'd recommend all three if you're looking for something to watch this season, especially, like i said, kakegurui and welcome to the ballroom. judging from the first ep of ballroom, i can tell this is also gonna be very very good, though we'll have to wait and see.

Previously on DBZ this thread:

Now if only there’s a release date for “Your Name” in this DVD region-4 block where I’m from, that would be great…

It seems my prayers were finally answered.

In other news:
Twich announces a 5-day streaming anime marathon with Crunchyroll.
Y'all get ready for those kappas and autism shitposting on the Twitch chat.

So, this might be an unpopular opinion, or not, that remains to be seen, but I've tried watching the movie Summer Wars today. I was putting of the movie for a long time, but after watching Wolf Children and Koe no Katachi (as recommended in this very thread!), I was still searching for some good anime movies and this seemed like a good idea. A lot of people were enamored by this work, so I wanted to check it out.
I thought the premise of an anime that resembles a combination between Ready Player One and Watch Dogs was pretty cool. The visuals were some of the best I'd seen till now. Seriously, the animation and backgrounds look so crisp and colorful, I thought it was gonna be an instant hit with me. The story wasn't bad either, and I was engaged throughout most of the film.
Unfortunately, I ended up ragequitting after about 1 hour 10 minutes or so, because I absolutely positively could NOT stand the bland and incredibly stupid superficial characters. Not one of them stood out to me in any form (except for their respective avatars, of course), every single one of them could be described in one character trait. The MC was boring, Natsuki was even more of a bore (at least said MC had something he was good at), and don't get me started on the women. These were some of the worst, under-developed and hateful bitches I've ever seen and I was rooting for them to fucking die already. While the men (also stereotypes of all sorts) were somewhat useful by trying to save the world, I don't know what those women actually accomplished. I'll probably never know, seeing as I quit before the end of the movie, but it couldn't have been much. Even the grandmother who actually was quite capable didn't see much screentime.
I was so frustrated as everything that happened in OZ was so much fun and engaging, and all the other scenes were just a chore to sit through.
I don't know about you, but that is how I felt. I felt cheated out of some good character development. I mean, the same dude who made this also made Wolf Children which has one the most empowered and strong anime women I witnessed. So seeing this actually offends me. I don't like getting triggered over nothing more than a movie, sorry if I overexaggerate the importance of this, but this really rubbed me the wrong way.

Time for a revival.

https://twitter.com/dengekionline/status/914371243301789696
I N D E X III
N
D
E
X
III

Ahem.

So I'm going to run down some seasonal shows that I watched for Summer 2017.

Fate/Apocrypha Ongoing
Going into this while not a fate fan, and hearing a hell lot of bad things, it's turning out OK so far. There is a real downside into not giving this to Ufotable though, at least A-1 isn't giving potato quality.
Only rate when completed

New Game S2
Heck yeah, arguably better than the 1st season, with good advances for the plot and characters, while still being CGDCT. I'm not sure what more I could write, but a solid show if you like this kind of stuff.
8/10

Owarimonogatari S2
One of the better edition to the Monogatari series, although you'll need to watch basically everything before it, including the short stuff from Koyomimonogatari.
9/10

Princess Principle
A good show that wasn't exactly popular, but I stuck with because of the people behind it (Studio 3Hz, Yuki Kajiura). It's got a bit of everything in it, which can be a bit of a problem with the overall tone. The plotline isn't truly plot-streamed (It's a non-chronologically showing of different missions), so the middle part actually only contributed little to the ending and overall plot. Still a good show.
8/10

Senki Zesshou Symphogear AXZ
I didn't finish it. Not because it's terrible, but because the subs can't come out consistently (nobody license to stream it here), and it's just a better show to binge than to watch weekly.
Not completed

Leftover from last Season

Boku no Hero Academia 2nd Season
Fuck yeah, I thought this was much better than S1. Much needed stuff on all the characters, while also having a decent moving plot. Still, it's barely getting into it's own meat yet.
8/10

Re:Creators
The show wasn't great. Not bad, but not great. It could have been. At times, it felt like there was just too much exposition, and not enough exploration into their whole premise and concept, which is their strongest parts.
6/10

Sakura Quest
P.A Works at it again. While not Shirobako, it still is pretty good at what it does, especially depicting the problem rural areas in Japan face, and the general adult life thing. Also pretty sure they hired actual Spanish speakers for a certain part.
8/10

Maybe with all these 8/10 I was a bit more forgiving of this season. Quite a bit of stuff I skipped out on.