STATUS: SEMI-ACTIVE. Also, gave up prettying my profile so now it looks like some hybrid between Frankenstein and Darth Sidious Can you read between the lines? INFO ABOUT MYSELF
University student killing time by watching anime, especially during Winter when it's too cold to want to go out and the sun sets at fucking 4pm.
If I'm not watching Anime or reading Manga, reading books serves as my alternative for keeping myself entertained. Recent favourites include the Red Rising Trilogy by Pierce Brown and 'The Goblin Emperor' by Sarah Monette
How'd you find me? :O... Regarding Friend Requests
Simple. I need to have exchanged messages or held some meaningful discussion on the forums before adding anyone.
Can we just be clear that Einstein never failed math in school. So no, you can't use him as an excuse to prove you're a genius. MY STAND ON ANIME/MANGA
I'm usually quite picky about what I choose to watch since I have limited time. More often than not, I'm picking shows I'm confident have a decent chance of entertaining me. And seriously, Vaccines don't cause autism
This is probably the reason why my average ratings are still somewhat high.
At the moment, I'm just looking for popular/famous manga or anime that are good reads from as many genres as possible and from as many different authors/mangakas/directors etc as possible.
*note, I really hate unsatisfying endings. Endings like that in mahou sensei negima, the manga, really pissed me off and left me with bitter feelings towards the manga. Conversely, great endings are pretty important to me, thus Code Geass R2 was one of my ultimate favourite animes even though it got rather messed up in the middle because the ending was EPIC
I used to think this was a neat little trick but nobody ever did realise I wrote something in white... haiz... whatever I have no more time to write blogs T.T ARCHIVES
I honestly haven't watched enough anime or read enough manga to have a proper rating system, but here is my attempt to organise how I rate things.
10- Masterpiece. I give this score when an anime/manga has impressed me both technically and personally. These are all personal favourites eg Steins;Gate, Fate/Zero
9- Either they impressed me a lot technically, but did not become a personal favourite eg Lone Wolf and Cub manga, Cowboy Bebop, or they proved to be personal favourites that unfortunately failed noticeably in some technical aspects eg Code Geass, Lovely Complex
8- Solid anime/manga with good entertainment. Uusally not personal favourites. Did well to entertain and impress me overall, but did not wow me enough to warrant a 9 eg Girlz und Panzer.
7- Good anime/manga, with some noticeable flaws. Usually have several good, sometimes great moments, however some other parts or aspects pull it down, or did not do well enough eg Naruto, Blame! manga Sometimes, the show was solid but did not entertain me as much as others eg NHK ni Youkoso
6- Almost mediocre, but has some redeeming qualities. eg Air Gear manga(great art pulled it up), Kanon (2006) (good animation and some nice moments)
5- Mediocre- Nothing special, but not too bad either. eg Naruto Movie 1 (below avg story with good animation) Sometimes, a good series that had several painful faults eg. Kimi no Iru Machi manga
4. Bad- Poor in several aspects. May have a couple things worth watching/reading, but in general provided an unsatisfactory watch/read eg Diabolik Lovers (had some potential but was unpleasant overall)
3- Very Bad- Poor in most areas. Not worth watching. It does attempt to try being good, but fails
2- Horrible. Bad in everything. But made me finish because it was short enough or just hilariously bad eg Mars of Destruction
1. Dropped. Bad from the beginning to the end with absolutely no positive aspects. Thankfully have not yet encountered one
You know, the fear tha MSG is an excitotoxin was based on a study where they overdosed rats by injection. There's no human study that says MSG is more harmful than average table salt
My Extended Favourite Anime/Manga List Anime
Of course, the 5 in my list are obviously (in no particular order)(explained in detail in my blog post xp):
1. Shinsekai Yori
2. Fate/Zero
3. Clannad/Clannad: AS
4. Code Geass (both seasons)
5. Steins;gate
And then, the rest (with comments):
6. Naruto
- Oh, Naruto. Was the first manga I ever read, and became one of the first anime I watched when I started getting into anime. Tbh, I consider the canon episodes of Naruto and about all the canon episodes of Naruto Shippuden before the Ninja War Arc (about episode 280 or something?) to be a masterpiece. I've had really really great moments from the anime and some of the really epic scenes including
Rock Lee vs Gaara (young), Zabuza's death, Chouji's epic transformation when hunting down sasuke, Naruto discovering Rasengan etc in Naruto, in Shippuden, Asuma and Jiraiya's deaths, Itachi's death, Sakura vs Sasori, Hinata facing off Pain, Naruto's parent's past etc.
Unfortunately, the last 100 episodes or so and the last 150+ chapters in the manga have been pretty disappointing, but Naruto's earlier chapters of absolute glory still remain my favourite scenes in all anime and puts Naruto firmly as one of my top favourite anime ever
7. Angel Beats
- One of my earlier anime too... in fact, this introduced me to Key works which led to me watching Clannad. Honestly, I feel this show had some wasted potential. It was just too short. But I really enjoyed it, and I loved the humour. It was crazy and had lots of whacky moments, but I loved it
8. Sidonia no Kishi
- A controversial anime for some because of its use of CGI and apparent bastardisation of the manga. I nvr read the manga, but I really love the world and the dark, sci-fi dystopian setting and story. And, really, the CGI looks awesome in loads of the sequences. It's a great nod towards the potential of CGI in anime
9. Barakamon
- AWWWW!!! Loved this series. Naru and Sensei's relationship is one of the most pleasant relationship I've ever seen. One of the best SoL anime out there, imo.
10. Parasyte
- One of the most thrilling anime ever. Had one of the best pacing and developments in any anime I'd seen. Unfortunately, I haven't finished the ending, but regardless of how great or shit it ended, I definitely put it as one of the top on my list
Hi I watched Shinsekai after seeing it on your favourites list (I had to choose a users favourite for the 2016 anime challenge) I'm actually left quite speechless by how amazing this anime is. I just wanted to thank you haha
Have you ever heard about World Trigger mangá? They say that it could be the new Naruto and, honestly, I love it. Maybe you can think that its boring in the very beggining, but its just 'cuz they try to explain the manga's universe.
How is he not a broken person? Everyone tells him what he does is abnormal. Archer and Rin have both tried to tell him.
You can see just how messed up he is in Fate when he saves someone the scene is even called 'distortion (I).
When Shirou runs up to save Saber in episode 3 when he could be blasted away by Archer is called Distortion (II).
The scene where Caster has Tiaga is Distortion (III).
The scene where Shirou yells at Gil before Illya dies is Distortion (IV).
I'm sure Rin will have something to say about his antics at the castle.
When you find out another major reason why he's like this you'll realize he has to be broken as hell for that to be his logic.
Why do you hate Shirou? He just wants to save people, even the people who can't be saved (and this is his downfall atm). He is self aware of the fact that he will run into situations and basically suicide while not being able to do anything. The anime kind of skips this part of his character for whatever reason (the common excuse is visual story telling).
Yes I like Shirou overall as a character, especially UBW Shirou. Fate Shirou is good, don't care all that much for HF Shirou.
Ooh, it's nice to get some actual feedback on my entry this time. Thank you. ^^
Incoming wall of text.
Oh, shit, I really should have taken more time to QC this. You see, for my initial go-through I'll look at MAL for the staff listing. MAL won't always have the entire staff listed for an anime before it airs. AniDB is a pain to navigate, but they are significantly faster than MAL when it comes to staff listing. What you see for the individual staff listing for Amagi is from MAL, but I forgot to go back and edit that part, and only changed the final score once I looked through AniDB's staff list.
I think the chances of Amagi doing well are substantially high. For the composition work, they'll have Shimo Fumihiko, and she is easily one of my favorite anime script/scenario writers. If you look at her previous works, she has a damn near flawless resume. Seriously, for her most recent work in Mikakunin, I had nothing but admiration for the scenario writing in that series. She's great when it comes to writing fun stuff, and seriously nails it for tearjerkers.
Nishikiori is an interesting director. Although his work for the Index series was a bit lackluster, I can understand why given how complex the LN is. The movie was definitely his shining point though. That and he's done work like Azumanga Daioh, which is something that even my IRL friends hype (I really need to watch that). As for series composition, Yoshino is really inconsistent, but he's great when he doesn't suck. He's good enough to get 6, but his drawbacks pull him down to a 4. The series also boasts a great seiyuu cast, a solid PV, and an interesting premise. As for my score on the source material, it's mostly based on popularity, rating, and reviewer rating. If the manga isn't that popular, and has a high score, it'll most likely be a result of a skew due to lack of diversity in interests. I understand popularity won't always equate with quality, but it's better to go off that than anything else. Otherwise, this anime has several indications that dictate it'll be good, so it most likely will be. However, the inconsistency of the staff may bring this down, so it probably will be best to wait.
I felt the same way about Terra Formers in terms of premise, and the PV did seem lackluster. But there's a reason why I put so little value in those. I can't remember which series specifically, but I remember watching quite a few anime that have been much better than their PV's indicated. And yeah, a lot of the score for that series will come from Steins;Gate's director. A really good chunk of the score comes from Yasukawa as well. I'm not familiar with his other works, but I do have to give this guy props for the script he wrote for Henneko. Although the general fansubber TL for it may not have been anything great, it still comes off as impressive when you analyze the intent of the script, and the one for this series fit really well. And that's saying a lot when you consider how bizarre and complex Henneko is. That's the main reason I gave him a 5. But if his scenario writing isn't as good as his script writing, I'll be sure to take a note of that. This writer seems like he does better when his work is good early on, so it'll most likely be worth watching if people are hyping it after 3-4 weeks.
I have a lot of confidence in Sora no Method's turn-out. This story is being written by the same person who wrote the main scenario of Kanon. While I strongly believe that Maeda Jun's side stories were significantly better (which is an unfair comparison to make), I still felt like Hisaya did a really solid job with Kanon's main story. It's a shame he left Key, I really liked him. Not to mention, when the original writer works on the script for a series, it's pretty phenomenal. One of the biggest weaknesses of anime adaptions is that they have a hard time capturing the intent of the original to the full extent. But when you have well-known writers like Maeda Jun and Gen Urobuchi working on anime originals like Angel Beats and Madoka, and you can feel the intent of writing being captured perfectly. That said, I don't consider Angel Beats to be Maeda's best, but it was still refreshing to be able to experience his writing directly in anime. That's the kind of thing I'm anticipating from Sora no Method, and I think it has a very strong chance of being good.
Dude, Hosoda directed Shuffle, which is easily my favorite harem romance of all time. A lot of people like to claim that the Shuffle anime was actually better than the VN too. It's a fairly decently-rated work on VNDB, and it's actually a little popular for a VN that hasn't had an anime yet. The +5 on series composition is a combination of Murai, and the fact that there's 1 other script writer. Series tend to be better off when there's more than one person working on a script and there's a diversity in the cast.
No matter how good the manga is, the director will have a strong influence on the turn-out of the anime. Even if the source is good, the adaption may not be. Even if the PV looks good, the series can still be a let-down. And you already know my stand on production studios. That said, I completely forgot to include that series on my list of unknown staff, so thanks for pointing that out. Not sure why, but Madhouse is really bad when it comes to announcing their staff within a decent time-frame. We may very well have to wait until they roll the credits to find out the director and scenario writer.
Not on the blog, no, but they are on my profile. I suppose I should include a section for sequels, but I do plan on finishing Psycho Pass and starting Log Horizon. The only reason I put PP on hold was because I was getting tired of anime at the time, and that particular series was in its build-up phase. In fact, I had White Album 2 on hold for a little while as well, but decided to finish it as soon as UTW released a BD batch. It was a fantastic series that I thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish, but, again, I was tired of anime at that time as well. I almost decided to put this season's lineup on hold as well, but there were a couple shows (namely Free and Zankyou no Terror) that actually kept me going.
I'd watch Garo, but directors who don't have more experience than in-between or key animation have high potential to fail. Heck, even production studios would be hesitant to put in a director with no directorial experience. The composition writer is definitely fantastic, but that could be an indicator that the series will shine from a writing standpoint rather than a presentation one. I can definitely appreciate a well-written anime, but only if it's complimented with good presentation.
The director for Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso has directed an anime that doesn't have any fansub groups working on it. It's a show intended for adults too. I'll pass for now. Not seeing a director for Akatsuki no Yona.
Actually, UBW's a bit of a gamble right now. It has a director that has only worked on one movie, and it could possibly be a controversial one. Most people didn't like the movie he directed, but it's part of the Kara no Kyoukai series, so I'm not gonna trust their judgment. That said, it seems his work for that movie was accepted by a good number of people, and yet there were still quite a few that didn't like it, so I'll give a +5 for now. The only way I'll ever give lower than a 5 is if I know the director well enough, and if he's serious inconsistent. Also, why did I give a +5 for seiyuu? My max is suppose to be 3. Guess I just let the seiyuu hype get to me. XD Fate has some amazing voice actors. Since this is part of a franchise I love so much, the +5 to original writer gives it a very significant score improvement, and, of course, my love for Fate's universe will give it a +1 on premise. And Ufotable's animation for the PV was astounding. The only thing that could seal the deal for me is a good and consistent composition writer. Also, I understand Nasu will have some role in the production in this anime, but the specific role is yet to be determined. He could be the one writing the script, or he may just be there to QC. Would be amazing if he was writing the script (seriously, this guy's a genius in terms of storytelling).
Actually got quite a bit on my watching list this season. It really looks promising. The 3 I'm mainly looking forward to will be Amagi Brilliant Park, Trinity Seven, and FSN UBW.
Oh yeah, it has been a while. Sorry for not replying to your last comment, I get sidetracked too easily. >.<
Better than I expected, but still kinda mediocre. The two highlights of the season for me are Free: Eternal Summer and Zankyou no Terror. Ao Haru Ride and Barakamon were also really nice to read. ^^ Hanayamata's not too bad either, it's really jumpy and cute. :3 Didn't like SAO II nearly as much as the first. Illya 2wei didn't turn out to be what I anticipated it to be either, but it was still good in some sense. Akame ga Kill's my least favorite due to excessive shounen tropes and a lackluster plot. I do appreciate White Fox trying to make it least somewhat bearable on their end to make it more entertaining as an anime, but I just don't like these kinds of series. >.<
Oh, I see. I'll definitely be getting to my blog sometime today for this upcoming season. I suppose there isn't that much time left before it starts, and a lot of my friends have their PVs started already. XD
I am actually neutral on the adaptation as for now, what I'm saying is it's clear that the show itself is not trying to fully be serious. It has serious parts but there are so many comedic moments spread out in between that it's obviously done deliberately. Which is why I said there's nothing wrong with it pretending to have a dark setting. It really isn't pretending, they just aren't being super serious about it.
Oh damn, I hate when that happens. It's happened to me a few times as well. >.<
Ending felt too smooth? Lol, well, usually that's a good thing for emotional works. I personally prefer it when sad stories have a happy ending. Leaves a sweet aftertaste. I am definitely looking forward to finishing that though. Only thing I'm waiting on for Nagi is a full BD release. The series looks great enough to warrant that kind of quality, so I'll be putting off until it's out.
Oh yeah. Sunrise has had a really wide array of good quality anime, so it's definitely something I'd recommend prioritizing.
From what I've seen so far, this is probably the best overall lineup I've seen for Summer. Not saying much since Summer is typically the worst season of the year, but this one in particular is actually not too bad at all.
Well, for the "it'll get better soon" shows, it's usually safe to assume that if an anime does at least a few things right, it's opportunity to get better will be significantly higher than others. One thing that gives a clear indicator for Akame ga Kill is its character cast. They have a lot of life to them, the central cast is large, the animation is smooth, and the entertainment value overall is not below average, and it hasn't has any serious flaws to its writing. This is the kind of thing Steins;Gate had going for it. It didn't do anything amazing in the first half, but it didn't do anything bad either, and it became one of the most exciting anime I've had the pleasure to come across. Then there are series that are so bad that they have no hope at all of getting better. Mahou Sensou's the first thing that comes to mind. >.> I seriously should have dropped that by episode 1, but I waited it out until 3 because this is the type of anime I wanted to see get better, but it was horrendously boring.
Ya know, I think I will pick up Zankyou no Terror. I've been keeping tabs on the show with this forum I've been frequenting lately and they've all had some things to say that made it seem promising. I still don't like the fact that there aren't any famous seiyuu, but they can always make a turn around at some point in their career (I've seen it happen before). The anonymity of the writer is still bothersome, but I suppose he/she has his/her reasons.
Good call. Unless a series does something to make it an easy recommendation (like ZnT), I'd prefer to not hear about it. I follow enough "decent" anime as it is already, lol. I'm only looking for awesome series that don't make it on my radar.
Don't worry. I don't mind lengthy comments. They may take a little bit of time to get to, but I like have long conversations over short ones. They tend to have more meaning to them and are more fun to reply to. :)
Oh yeah, no problem. It really does have a nice thing going for it when you aren't too busy looking at it superficially. I still don't get where the yaoi thing comes into play. Free has slight yaoi undertones at best.
I think that's understandable given that you only have a few anime and manga that are completed. Once your list grows, I bet that our compatibility will dwindle.
I really like your blog about your summer Anime thoughts and ratings! Always thought to do something similiar like this for myself since I intend to give a show a rating after I finished it and always have the feeling that it is based only on the ending of the show, but not for the whole thing.
It's pretty rare for me to write a comment so I'm a little embarresd but I really like your way of keeping track of your ratings and impressions! Just thought I let you know :3 Sorry for bothering you.
Yeah, no joke on the bumpy record. She can write brilliant works like Asukara and Toradora, and she's also capable of writing train-wrecks like Black Rock Shooter and Aquarion Evol. She's a very talented writer, but extremely inconsistent. I've gotten better at anticipating her writing style though, so I'm now able to tell within 2-3 episodes whether her work will be worth finishing or not. I had a hunch that the M3 anime that aired last season wouldn't be good, and it doesn't seem like I'm off on that mark. Her best writing is with SoL and romance. Turns out she's capable of churning out plotsy stuff with anime like WIXOSS as well (which is a first for her).
Lovely Complex, eh? I've heard that one mentioned a few times. Seems like a nice shoujo read. I like shoujos. ^^ Soredemo had some occasions where it did really well and wrote the characters in ways that were not badly executed, yet I can't help but feel like it didn't really do anything that set itself apart from the rest. The anime never did anything to help me anticipate the next episode, nor did it try to be engaging with its plot. The characters (namely the Sun King) were funny and some of the jokes were pretty well-played, but that's pretty much it. The simplicity of the characters is probably what killed it most for me. With the development being too predictable, it was hard to appreciate the times for when it did focus on the romance. This anime takes itself way too seriously, and I prefer the cutesy kind of romance.
Put in one hour per day, and you'll have it covered in a month! That's how I did it starting out, and then I did one hell of a marathon. Once I hit 76, I went through the remaining 150-ish episodes in less than a week. You can pace yourself a little more once you've hit 26, just don't expect to marathon it. One of the biggest weaknesses with Sunrise is that they will sometimes handle their anime very sloppily in the beginning. They've done it for Gintama, Code Geass R2, Accel World, and Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere. But if you look at my blog entry for it, you'll notice that they're all in my top 20. They may start off weak, but they do eventually pick up.
Yeah. It'd be great if writers and directors could be more consistent. Might just be because of how anime is being marketed nowadays. The medium is a lot more popular than it use to be, so you may not see as much of the charm that you use to from it regardless of the staff on board. Staff lists are still a good utility for looking at anime, it's just not a perfect one.
Speaking of which, seems like most of the shows I've looked at before the season started are lining up really well with my expectations. The only reason Akame ga Kill is at the bottom of my list is because of how its set up to be a hypey anime. Usually, these shows will need 2-3 episodes before they start getting better, but it has everything it needs to jump to the top of my list. Surprisingly enough.
Hanayamata exceeded my expectations. I was expecting light-heartedness and a heavy emphasis on cuteness. The girls are adorable, but it's a little more jumpy than it is light-hearted. I actually do not mind that at all since it's a different change of pace from the usual.
Remember what I said about series writers being essential and not announcing one usually leads to downfall? Well, I took a glance at Barakamon, regardless, and it would seem like this is falling in the rare exceptions category. That's the thing too, you have to really know the director in order to expect anything from him in terms of writing. Because of the way .hack//Quantum was handled, I was actually expecting a little more from Tachibana when directing Barakamon, and his style works well enough to make up for a less renown writer. But yeah, turns out the series writer has only ever worked on Bottom Biting Bug, Chikasugi Idol, and Glass Mask shorts. Kinema Citrus is a very new studio, so it's not unusual to see them using up-and-coming writers for their anime, and that's the main reason I made an exception for this series. But as to whether or not this writer does well on his work is yet to be determined. He shows promise, let's hope he can follow up on it. The main thing you want to look for with anime writers when analyzing a non-plot anime is character complexity, pacing, and scenario transition. If the anime does poorly in that regard, but has a great atmosphere, then it's basically the director making up for the incompetency of the writer.
Say what you want about it's bishounen qualities, but Free is a damn good sports anime. The two central characters (Haru and Rin) are written very well and both have a fantastic backstory for their childhoods. The development at the end was very touching, and it's refreshing to see how they interact with each other in this sequel.
I don't usually have a life I promise hahaha
I normally sit at my laptop all day, and if I want to spice things up I'll crawl over to my PS3... haha.
Paris was lovely! I visited a lot of the landmarks and went into La Louvre... and I went to the Pokemon Centre too, which was only there for 3 weeks.
The hotel was just really dirty and in a creepy area. There were cockroaches in the bathroom and I didn't want to shower there because they were all right beside the shower. :c There was also a bug on the bed... I only saw one, but still... gross.
Hahaha oh no, that's awful! Sorry you went through that. :( I don't think I've ever had food poisoning... I just tend to get sick when I'm stressed, I think. Stupid immune system.
It used to be just because of anime, but now it's also because I want to visit Japan and possibly work there one day. Plus I'm generally quite interested in languages because I like to be able to communicate with people. When I was younger and went abroad, I didn't know any other languages so I felt really nervous and unsure, so now I try to know at least the basics before I travel.
The Shire does seem comparable to Britain, at least the countrysides! But I don't think English people are cheery enough to be hobbits... but then again, both hobbits and English people like to keep to themselves, haha.
It's so difficult to start things for some reason... but you're right, I need to clear my PTW list too.
That's true, I really should stop being lazy about it. XD I've often read the mangas of a lot of animes I've watched, so I normally read shounen stuff... but I've also read some shoujo manga, although I rarely watch shoujo anime.
I just really like fighting/martial arts and fantasy sort of stuff.
Oh, I didn't know that! I plan to read Claymore, so it'll be interesting to see how they compare.
I like xxxHOLiC. I don't like CLAMP's art style, but I think the story makes up for it. I'd say give it a try, although it's a little strange or underwhelming in places.
I agree, Nagi no Asukara is definitely one of the most beautiful anime I have ever watched. They had so many great plot twists and development.
I haven't watched all that I wanted to watch yet for the summer season, but I'm pretty satisfied so far from what I watched. Same with you, I have high hopes for Aldnoah Zero and Akame ga Kill.
Hopefully KanColle will be released soon, it's one of my most highly anticipated series to watch. And yeah, I do plan to watch all but I don't know if I can, let's see how it all plays out.
For my top five, it would be Sidonia no Kishi, No Game No Life, Black Bullet, Isshuukan Friends, and Gokukoku no Brynhildr. The different series you have at your top are also also pretty good, I especially enjoyed Soredemo Sekai wa Utsukushii for the music and romance and Bokura wa Minna Kawaisou for the comedy and animations.
I admit, there are some shows that I don't like, but sometimes I'm still generous giving those scores since many people put lots of effort bringing the anime to the audience so at least they should be credited somewhat.
All Comments (57) Comments
You can see just how messed up he is in Fate when he saves someone the scene is even called 'distortion (I).
When Shirou runs up to save Saber in episode 3 when he could be blasted away by Archer is called Distortion (II).
The scene where Caster has Tiaga is Distortion (III).
The scene where Shirou yells at Gil before Illya dies is Distortion (IV).
I'm sure Rin will have something to say about his antics at the castle.
When you find out another major reason why he's like this you'll realize he has to be broken as hell for that to be his logic.
Why do you hate Shirou? He just wants to save people, even the people who can't be saved (and this is his downfall atm). He is self aware of the fact that he will run into situations and basically suicide while not being able to do anything. The anime kind of skips this part of his character for whatever reason (the common excuse is visual story telling).
Yes I like Shirou overall as a character, especially UBW Shirou. Fate Shirou is good, don't care all that much for HF Shirou.
This is something cut from the 1st episode: http://imgur.com/a/bTzk6
This is what he thinks before he goes out to scream this episode: http://imgur.com/8tzE9Vw
This is what he thinks before he jumps down to save Rin earlier in the show: http://i.imgur.com/G5ZceLB.jpg
This is him thinking about his ideal (this monologue was heavily butchered in episode 9 of the show): http://i.imgur.com/0ilQS3v.png
Incoming wall of text.
Actually got quite a bit on my watching list this season. It really looks promising. The 3 I'm mainly looking forward to will be Amagi Brilliant Park, Trinity Seven, and FSN UBW.
Better than I expected, but still kinda mediocre. The two highlights of the season for me are Free: Eternal Summer and Zankyou no Terror. Ao Haru Ride and Barakamon were also really nice to read. ^^ Hanayamata's not too bad either, it's really jumpy and cute. :3 Didn't like SAO II nearly as much as the first. Illya 2wei didn't turn out to be what I anticipated it to be either, but it was still good in some sense. Akame ga Kill's my least favorite due to excessive shounen tropes and a lackluster plot. I do appreciate White Fox trying to make it least somewhat bearable on their end to make it more entertaining as an anime, but I just don't like these kinds of series. >.<
Oh, I see. I'll definitely be getting to my blog sometime today for this upcoming season. I suppose there isn't that much time left before it starts, and a lot of my friends have their PVs started already. XD
Better late than never. Thanks! :)
Ending felt too smooth? Lol, well, usually that's a good thing for emotional works. I personally prefer it when sad stories have a happy ending. Leaves a sweet aftertaste. I am definitely looking forward to finishing that though. Only thing I'm waiting on for Nagi is a full BD release. The series looks great enough to warrant that kind of quality, so I'll be putting off until it's out.
Oh yeah. Sunrise has had a really wide array of good quality anime, so it's definitely something I'd recommend prioritizing.
From what I've seen so far, this is probably the best overall lineup I've seen for Summer. Not saying much since Summer is typically the worst season of the year, but this one in particular is actually not too bad at all.
Well, for the "it'll get better soon" shows, it's usually safe to assume that if an anime does at least a few things right, it's opportunity to get better will be significantly higher than others. One thing that gives a clear indicator for Akame ga Kill is its character cast. They have a lot of life to them, the central cast is large, the animation is smooth, and the entertainment value overall is not below average, and it hasn't has any serious flaws to its writing. This is the kind of thing Steins;Gate had going for it. It didn't do anything amazing in the first half, but it didn't do anything bad either, and it became one of the most exciting anime I've had the pleasure to come across. Then there are series that are so bad that they have no hope at all of getting better. Mahou Sensou's the first thing that comes to mind. >.> I seriously should have dropped that by episode 1, but I waited it out until 3 because this is the type of anime I wanted to see get better, but it was horrendously boring.
Ya know, I think I will pick up Zankyou no Terror. I've been keeping tabs on the show with this forum I've been frequenting lately and they've all had some things to say that made it seem promising. I still don't like the fact that there aren't any famous seiyuu, but they can always make a turn around at some point in their career (I've seen it happen before). The anonymity of the writer is still bothersome, but I suppose he/she has his/her reasons.
Good call. Unless a series does something to make it an easy recommendation (like ZnT), I'd prefer to not hear about it. I follow enough "decent" anime as it is already, lol. I'm only looking for awesome series that don't make it on my radar.
Don't worry. I don't mind lengthy comments. They may take a little bit of time to get to, but I like have long conversations over short ones. They tend to have more meaning to them and are more fun to reply to. :)
Oh yeah, no problem. It really does have a nice thing going for it when you aren't too busy looking at it superficially. I still don't get where the yaoi thing comes into play. Free has slight yaoi undertones at best.
It's pretty rare for me to write a comment so I'm a little embarresd but I really like your way of keeping track of your ratings and impressions! Just thought I let you know :3 Sorry for bothering you.
Lovely Complex, eh? I've heard that one mentioned a few times. Seems like a nice shoujo read. I like shoujos. ^^ Soredemo had some occasions where it did really well and wrote the characters in ways that were not badly executed, yet I can't help but feel like it didn't really do anything that set itself apart from the rest. The anime never did anything to help me anticipate the next episode, nor did it try to be engaging with its plot. The characters (namely the Sun King) were funny and some of the jokes were pretty well-played, but that's pretty much it. The simplicity of the characters is probably what killed it most for me. With the development being too predictable, it was hard to appreciate the times for when it did focus on the romance. This anime takes itself way too seriously, and I prefer the cutesy kind of romance.
Put in one hour per day, and you'll have it covered in a month! That's how I did it starting out, and then I did one hell of a marathon. Once I hit 76, I went through the remaining 150-ish episodes in less than a week. You can pace yourself a little more once you've hit 26, just don't expect to marathon it. One of the biggest weaknesses with Sunrise is that they will sometimes handle their anime very sloppily in the beginning. They've done it for Gintama, Code Geass R2, Accel World, and Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere. But if you look at my blog entry for it, you'll notice that they're all in my top 20. They may start off weak, but they do eventually pick up.
Yeah. It'd be great if writers and directors could be more consistent. Might just be because of how anime is being marketed nowadays. The medium is a lot more popular than it use to be, so you may not see as much of the charm that you use to from it regardless of the staff on board. Staff lists are still a good utility for looking at anime, it's just not a perfect one.
Speaking of which, seems like most of the shows I've looked at before the season started are lining up really well with my expectations. The only reason Akame ga Kill is at the bottom of my list is because of how its set up to be a hypey anime. Usually, these shows will need 2-3 episodes before they start getting better, but it has everything it needs to jump to the top of my list. Surprisingly enough.
Hanayamata exceeded my expectations. I was expecting light-heartedness and a heavy emphasis on cuteness. The girls are adorable, but it's a little more jumpy than it is light-hearted. I actually do not mind that at all since it's a different change of pace from the usual.
Remember what I said about series writers being essential and not announcing one usually leads to downfall? Well, I took a glance at Barakamon, regardless, and it would seem like this is falling in the rare exceptions category. That's the thing too, you have to really know the director in order to expect anything from him in terms of writing. Because of the way .hack//Quantum was handled, I was actually expecting a little more from Tachibana when directing Barakamon, and his style works well enough to make up for a less renown writer. But yeah, turns out the series writer has only ever worked on Bottom Biting Bug, Chikasugi Idol, and Glass Mask shorts. Kinema Citrus is a very new studio, so it's not unusual to see them using up-and-coming writers for their anime, and that's the main reason I made an exception for this series. But as to whether or not this writer does well on his work is yet to be determined. He shows promise, let's hope he can follow up on it. The main thing you want to look for with anime writers when analyzing a non-plot anime is character complexity, pacing, and scenario transition. If the anime does poorly in that regard, but has a great atmosphere, then it's basically the director making up for the incompetency of the writer.
Say what you want about it's bishounen qualities, but Free is a damn good sports anime. The two central characters (Haru and Rin) are written very well and both have a fantastic backstory for their childhoods. The development at the end was very touching, and it's refreshing to see how they interact with each other in this sequel.
I normally sit at my laptop all day, and if I want to spice things up I'll crawl over to my PS3... haha.
Paris was lovely! I visited a lot of the landmarks and went into La Louvre... and I went to the Pokemon Centre too, which was only there for 3 weeks.
The hotel was just really dirty and in a creepy area. There were cockroaches in the bathroom and I didn't want to shower there because they were all right beside the shower. :c There was also a bug on the bed... I only saw one, but still... gross.
Hahaha oh no, that's awful! Sorry you went through that. :( I don't think I've ever had food poisoning... I just tend to get sick when I'm stressed, I think. Stupid immune system.
It used to be just because of anime, but now it's also because I want to visit Japan and possibly work there one day. Plus I'm generally quite interested in languages because I like to be able to communicate with people. When I was younger and went abroad, I didn't know any other languages so I felt really nervous and unsure, so now I try to know at least the basics before I travel.
It's so difficult to start things for some reason... but you're right, I need to clear my PTW list too.
That's true, I really should stop being lazy about it. XD I've often read the mangas of a lot of animes I've watched, so I normally read shounen stuff... but I've also read some shoujo manga, although I rarely watch shoujo anime.
I just really like fighting/martial arts and fantasy sort of stuff.
Oh, I didn't know that! I plan to read Claymore, so it'll be interesting to see how they compare.
I like xxxHOLiC. I don't like CLAMP's art style, but I think the story makes up for it. I'd say give it a try, although it's a little strange or underwhelming in places.
I haven't watched all that I wanted to watch yet for the summer season, but I'm pretty satisfied so far from what I watched. Same with you, I have high hopes for Aldnoah Zero and Akame ga Kill.
For my top five, it would be Sidonia no Kishi, No Game No Life, Black Bullet, Isshuukan Friends, and Gokukoku no Brynhildr. The different series you have at your top are also also pretty good, I especially enjoyed Soredemo Sekai wa Utsukushii for the music and romance and Bokura wa Minna Kawaisou for the comedy and animations.
I admit, there are some shows that I don't like, but sometimes I'm still generous giving those scores since many people put lots of effort bringing the anime to the audience so at least they should be credited somewhat.