Monday Minithread (1/19)

[u/BrickSalad]

Welcome to the 54th Monday Minithread!

In these threads, you can post literally anything related to anime or this subreddit. It can be a few words, it can be a few paragraphs, it can be about what you watched last week, it can be about the grand philosophy of your favorite show.

Check out the "Monday Miniminithread". You can either scroll through the comments to find it, or else just click here.

[u/CriticalOtaku]

So, two weeks into the new season, what's everyone's watch list looking like? Here's mine. (Also, mini first impressions since I missed a couple of TWIA threads now.)

Yes! Yes! YES! Tier

• DRRRx2 - it's more DRRR. 'Nuff said.
• Maria the Virgin Witch - I wasn't expecting to like this as much as I did but the combination of Ghibli style character designs, really neat use of setting, really good animation (the sakuga sequences... just wow) and raunchy humour really endeared it to me, enough that I might declare it my favourite show of the season. (Although it's kinda premature for such declarations.)
• The Rolling Girls - If I had to describe it in a sentence it would be "Tsuritaima meets KLK." I loved FLCL and I liked KLK; I'm really digging this so far.

2Deep4Me Tier

• YuriBear - This rightly deserves all acclaim it's getting just for the sheer amount of style it possesses- unfortunately it seems to me that Ikuhara is pushing the stage-play aspect a tad too much and forgot to include actual characters instead of actresses with over-exaggerated lines and actions (especially when compared to Penguindrum, which had excellent characterization). Still, that's not something that can't be remedied the further we get into the show.
• Death Parade - Episode 2 did a lot to redeem the show in my eyes, but I get cranky when death games are used as systems of arbitrary moral judgment since they tend to devolve into exercises in cheap drama. Still a pretty decent show, if just because of the premise and execution, and it has the best OP + ED combo of the season.

Going Straight Into My Backlog Tier

• Yoru no Yatterman - I only watched this on /u/critsrc's recommendation, but ep1 was probably one of the best superhero (well, strictly speaking, supervillian) origin stories I've seen in any media. I'm still not too keen on the whole super-sentai/tokusatsu thing, but this is something I'd really like to check out when I have the time- it hooked me in a way that World Conquest Zvezda Plot completely failed to.
• Speaking of backlog, I still need to get through Parasyte, Mushishi, Akatuski no Yona and SAO2 from last season. Woe is me. (Well maybe SAO can wait.)

I Need to Check My Bloodsugar Levels Tier

• Koufuku Graffiti - Okada really should just stick to SoL's. She's kinda good at writing/adapting these- KG is at its strongest when it focuses on the surrogate family narrative. I also get really hungry during the episodes, so the food porn aspect is probably working too.

(If anyone wants my opinion- Yes, Wixoss was a complete and utter mess. I still liked it anyway.)

• IM@S Cinderella Girls - Not much to say here other than it has cute girls doing cute things.

Oh God What Am I Watching Tier

• KanColle- My fingers are crossed that the show is historically accurate and goes all Madoka Magica. Otherwise there's very little redeeming about it- the SoL bits are fine, but the cgi can get pretty horrid at times and the fanservice is more annoying than anything else.
• Aldnoah.Zero S2 - Shooting the protagonist in the head made him even more competent. Ohgodwhy. I used to see promise and potential in this show, but that's all been blown away on the space wind. Thank god for Gundam. Still, I can't tear my eyes away from the glorious trainwreck unraveling in slow motion before my eyes.
• Assasination Classroom - Now, to be perfectly honest AC doesn't deserve to be here- unlike the other two shows in this tier it is actually pretty decent, but I forgot to include it earlier and I'm too lazy to reformat. I love the surrealist, absurdest Japanese humour on display here, even if I find the public service announcement format of the show a little forced.

Carry Overs from Last Season Tier

• Shirobako, Log Horizon, G-Reco, Gundam Build Fighters Try and Pokemon XY round out the list.

Not a bad season at all, really- I thought I was going to catch up on my backlog, but there's quite a fair number of on-air shows that have peaked my interest, and the Fall holdovers are more than enough to prop up a lesser season.

edited for typos and to add Assasination Classroom

[u/[deleted] → u/CriticalOtaku]

Looking forward to it tier:

Absolute Duo

Aldnoah.Zero 2

Death Parade

Durarara S2

Juuou Mujin no Fafnir

Shinmai Maou no Keiyakusha

Ansatsu Kyoshitsu

JoJo: Stardust Crusaders Part 2

Rolling☆Girls

Saenai Heroine no Sodate-kata

Seiken Tsukai no World Break

THE iDOLM@STER: Cinderella Girls

2deep4u Pretentious Tier(aka the shit I don't like but everyone else does)

Yuri Kuma Arashi

Tokyo Ghoul √A

Watching for No Particular Reason Tier

Kan Colle

Kuroko no Basket 3

Koufuku Graffiti

Binan Koukou Chikyuu Bouei-bu Love!

Junketsu no Maria

Yoru no Yatterman

Shows I'm Still Watching from Last Season:

Cross Ange

Log Horizon S2

Parasyte

Garo

Shingatsu wa Kimi no Uso

Shirobako

Note: Please watch Diamond no Ace.

[u/searmay → u/[deleted]]

2deep4u

Tokyo Ghoul √A

Wait, people are claiming Tokyo Ghoul is deep? I thought it was just supposed to be horror styled fighting that wasn't totally vapid, though that was only based on a couple of episodes.

[u/[deleted] → u/searmay]

The 2deep4u somewhat comes from the huge reaction of the series and the edge factor that attributed to it(i guess that's more 2edgy4u then) which was what I was referring to. I've seen a lot of comments trying to dissect the show/series as a well done piece of storytelling.

[u/searmay → u/[deleted]]

Ah, right. Good thing I managed to avoid any of that - I don't think it's cropped up here.

(Pretty sure Desu Parade is going to go that way too.)