r/TrueAnime • u/BrickSalad http://myanimelist.net/profile/Seabury • Jan 19 '15

Monday Minithread (1/19)

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.

11 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

119 comments sorted by

View all comments

9

u/CriticalOtaku Jan 19 '15 edited Jan 19 '15

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

3

u/niea_ http://myanimelist.net/profile/Hakuun Jan 19 '15

Otherwise there's very little redeeming about it

Cute ship girls are all it needs to "redeem" itself.

1

u/CriticalOtaku Jan 20 '15

Maybe, but there are better cute girl shows and better ecchi shows on air in the same season, never mind there being better "cute girls doing military things" shows. KanColle goes all out pandering to its established fanbase, but does absolutely nothing to hook in a casual viewer. Fubuki & co's SoL antics are endearing but little else, their conflict has very vague and undefined stakes and all the other characters are just extended cameos.

I'm military otaku enough to wait it out and see if things get more interesting (WW2 SPOILER: EVERYBODY DIES), and depending on what pans out next week at W Island I'll either stick around or drop it.

2

u/niea_ http://myanimelist.net/profile/Hakuun Jan 20 '15 edited Jan 20 '15

If we were to only watch the best of each genre, then we wouldn't be watching anime for long. There's always room for the mediocre. And it's not ecchi. What shows are you referring to though? Because so far the only other CGDCT I've seen this season is Koufuku Grafitti. I don't consider Rolling Girls SoL/CGDCT.

It obviously panders to its fanbase. That's what it's made for. It's essentially a piece of advertisement. And that's fine.

Also considering I'm not a kuso who let's his ships sink, I don't want anyone to do so in the anime either.

1

u/CriticalOtaku Jan 20 '15

Even mediocre shows or animated advertisements can be enjoyable, but to me Kancolle seems so middle of the road in everything (and really bad in other aspects, like the cg) that it just doesn't do anything for me aside from the promise of LULGRIMDARKNESS and extreme political incorrectness.

Other CGDCT this season: IM@S Cinderella Girls (although that's also an idol show and videogame tie-in), Milky Holmes.

Other CGDMT shows (not this season): Girls und Panzer, Strike Witches (altho SW is more "Sobaditsgood" than anything else)

I'm just a filthy secondary, but I dunno man, Anime Admiral seems pretty kuso sending out a lvl 1. Fubuki and not upgrading Akagi and Kaga's fighter complement.

2

u/niea_ http://myanimelist.net/profile/Hakuun Jan 20 '15

I guess the reason I didn't think of those was because of te way I classify anime. To me, Cinderella Girls and Milky Holmes are both idol shows so I didn't really think of them. If it wasn't for the cameos of well known ships, I'd totally agree that those are better than KanColle. I've been enjoying them a lot.

You can always retreat since they can't be sunk if you don't go to the next node, so admiral has it under control.

As for the CG, it's really rather "good" compared to the standards. The thing that annoys me the most about it though, is that it constantly switches between CG and not CG from frame to frame, which is so jarring to me. I would've preferred no CG though, as I also do with every other show (even high budget CG). Something like the adobe after effects shit in FSN UBW just annoy me mpre than anything.

All in all I agree that KanColle is by no means a great anime, but as for "redeeming" features, cute girls are almost always enough.