Saturday, December 27, 2014

Fall 2014 overview

I'd like to make this a quarterly thing, where I give a brief overview of how the past cour's anime has impacted me; what pleased, what didn't, what amused unintentionally, what surprised, etc. On that note, the Fall 2014 season seemed to have particularly few shows I just “liked”. Most things were terribly mediocre to just terrible, with only a handful being consistently enjoyable. So, without further ado, here's what I watched:

Parasyte: The Maxim

Hands-down my favorite thing of the season, possibly the year; it's not so a question of if I'll buy the eventual release as when. Gorgeous animation, a surprisingly realistic story, and probably the greatest rarity of all for a horror anime: likable, fleshed-out characters. You're not just waiting for a bunch of dumbasses to die in this show, but genuinely interested in how each person responds to each event. Can't wait for more!

Sailor Moon: Crystal

Yeah, everyone knows how poorly-animated and boring this unfortunate reboot is. I was never a mega-hardcore fan of the original (I watched up through R) due to its repetitive monster-of-the-week format, but I'll take it any day of the week over this blandness. Sure, the original had a ton of stupid shit like Usagi trying to lose weight or Tuxedo Melvin, but dammit, at least you got to see a bunch of cartoons butting heads with each other. It's weird to say I miss the Sailor Scouts' infighting, but there's no chemistry between these rebooted versions; they just spout spout exposition and a smattering of “Oh no!”s or “Look out!”s, while Usagi wonders endlessly if these feelings of hers could possibly be...love? Of course I'll watch this to the end, but just to bitch about it.

Mushi-shi Zoku

Really, who expected this of all shows to get a sequel? Possibly the single most relaxing anime ever, this understated show was a great medicine after some of the crap I watched. Like how a simple fireside story would feel right after being bombarded by a loud, obnoxious Hollywood blockbuster. Not much else to say about this one except thank the anime Gods we got more of it; best present I never knew I wanted.

Gundam G-Recon

I took a break from Gundam when Build Fighters started due to being very underwhelmed by Age, then started watching this show for two reasons. First, Unicorn had gotten me pumped again. Second, Tomino was heavily involved, for better or worse. Did I choose poorly? Well, yes and no. Sure, I keep hearing that Build Fighters is an actual fun, engaging show. But at the same time, there's just something about watching the second coming of Garzey's Wing (oh yes, I went there) on a weekly basis. Let's leave it at that for now; I have a feeling I'll have much more to write about once the show wraps up.

Gugure! Kokkuri-san

Picked up this show on a whim because it looked cute, and it was less cute than I'd heard. A hit-and-miss comedy with more hits than misses; the best laughs came because the cast is made up of terrible people, and I wish they'd pushed those aspects to full-on Sabagebu territory. Kind of a waste of my time, to be honest.

Inou Battle wa Nichijou-kei

Not the Trigger show I was expecting after watching Kill la Kill and hearing the premise. It gets much better once you realize the superpowers don't matter a bit and you're barely going to see them, but although lots of people have high praise for this show, I can't bring myself to like it. The cast irritates me. Though all the girls are given some depth so I can sympathize with most on some level, it just rings hollow for me because they're all secretly in love with the main character, one of those guys. You know, the “lovable” fuck-up who irritates you to no end with his borderline autism, until a girl has a crisis and he reveals that he's really smart and sensitive and the best at everything, he just hides it 'cause he doesn't want to make a big deal of it. Frankly, the show's focus on everyone's feelings for him is a little nauseating because all these girls feel less realistic because of their attraction to him. We're not impressed by his ability to cut right to the heart of any emotional matter because so can many people who don't have a plot cramming stupid down their throat. This show may do one or two things differently from the norm, and at least there's effort put into some of the writing, but it all felt way too gimmicky to me.

Chaika the Coffin Princess: Avenging Battle

Much like the first season, nothing revolutionary, just extremely solid fantasy action. I'm kind of impressed with how unambitious this show is in that it isn't trying to sell us a bunch of cute girls to fap to, or bog us down with endless exposition because oh my god this is epic you guys see how epic this is. You care for the characters, you enjoy the plot as it unfolds, you wish there was more of it by the end.

Fate Stay/Night: Unlimited Blade Works

Another show I'll probably write more about later. My limited experience with other Type Moon adaptations has left me with more or less the same impression: decidedly average, with needlessly dense plot and gorgeous action scenes. Not a bad show, but I really can't see why the franchise is so popular; again, I'll likely expand on this in the future.

Sword Art Online II

A solid guilty pleasure by this point, though the season's second half was much weaker than the first in my opinon. I thought the time spent in Gun Gale Online was quite engaging, probably because it shifted away from Kirito's much-lampooned perfection and onto a secondary character who was more interesting. The world was cool, too. By comparison, the following short arcs set back in the fantasy world didn't feel like much was at stake. Still better than season one's mediocrity and occasional creepiness, though.

Terra Formars

I was a bit torn on this show by the end. I mean, it's trash. Dumb, incredibly slow, and way too impressed with itself, it eventually morphs into that typical Japanese male power fantasy we love to hate. You know, where a bunch of uninteresting guys kick ass no matter how much they're hurt because they're just that badass, while the filthy monsters and/or foreigners wish they could be that cool. I can't help but view this as the first of the Attack on Titan piggybackers, with its hoo-rah-let's-fight atmosphere, it's kill-'em-all mindset, and its inclusion of irredeemable monsters with suspicious intelligence and purpose. Still, AOT had layers of subtlety and a plot that doesn't feel like a teenager's handiwork.

Psycho-Pass 2

More fun than I remember it being the first time around. The villain's plan was explained pretty well given that it's a pretty high-minded concept, and there wasn't a metric ton of bullshit like I expected. Sure, with only eleven episodes there's hardly time to go too far off the rails, but with Gen Urobuchi's writing you always wonder; look forward to more Aldnoah Zero on that note. Despite some flaws, this oddly felt like a much more pleasant diversion than that show ever was.

Shirobako

P.A. Works doesn't always deliver a hit for me, but when they do, wow. Despite probably turning off a lot of people with its heavy moe influence, this is the most harsh, unflinching look at the anime industry I've ever seen. It may begin with a group of cute girls who want to be animators, voice actors, etc., but each of them has their own intense, completely relatable struggle that raises interesting questions. What if you land a steady job in your field, but all you can see in your future is grunt work? How do you deal with the constant rejections that are just a part of your industry? How much should you sacrifice your personal style to get the job done? What if, after all the training you've been through, you're just not good enough? This is a seriously underappreciated gem, and I can't recommend it highly enough to anyone who's interested in the anime industry's daily grind.

Ronja, the Robber's Daughter

I feel bad about shitting on this show too much, because it's obviously for kids. If I'm not being entertained by interminably slow, boring episodes, well, tough, because it was never intended for me. I'd like to think that even kids are smart enough to find this show insanely dull and (mostly) creatively bankrupt, but I can only speculate how those creatures think. At least I can guiltlessly shit on the animation. Man, that is some ugly-ass CGI.

And that's it! Did I miss any fantastic shows this season? That Rage of Bahamaut one sounds like it was an unexpected delight, but was it good enough that I should track down the episodes? Want to know anything more specific about the shows I watched? Let me know in the comments!

7 comments:

  1. Sigh... I just tried to post a comment but I lost it. So I will try to rewrite it:
    Sword Art Online was also my guilty pleasure, I looked forward to it every week. I liked the second arc but was crying by the end of it (I'm a crybaby to begin with). I never finished the first Mushishi series but I loved the colors and animation and relaxing atmosphere...
    Great reviews, keep 'em coming! I love looking at animes that someone has recommended. With school and stuff I just don't have enough time to go through them all myself. Thank you!

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  2. *nodsnods* Parasyte is awesome and I've always liked Mushishi ^^; I honestly can't stand Sword arts online ^^;;…and I thought that Psycho pass is okay but my sister really loves it. Have you seen Log Horizon?

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  3. BTW, If you haven't already then I think that you should get an account here: http://myanimelist.net
    and do some reviews there as well :3

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    1. Thanks for the link, I'll have to look into that!
      I haven't seen Log Horizon yet because the description didn't jump out to me at the time; it's an anime where people are in an MMORPG, right? How does it compare to others like Sword Art Online and Accel World (which I liked better)?

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    2. :3
      Yeah, they were getting the new expansion for their game and then suddenly they woke up in the game world looking like their game characters and it's about them trying to figure out what happened and how to deal with it. I have only seen the first episode of Sword Arts Online which I actually liked but then my sister spoiled me and said that the main character marries another character and then they adopt an NPC…which doesn't really sit well with me ^^;. If I watch an anime that is supposed to be action/adventure then I don't want it to be centered around romance. (I watch romance/comedy animes for that) There is very little romance in Log Horizon. (only some of the characters having feels for other characters XD; ). Accel World I haven't seen so I guess I'll have to look that one up :3
      Asked my sister and she said that Log and SAO are pretty similar but if she compares them then Log is a lot more similar to an actual game than SAO is. (she should know, she's a hard core gamer XD; )

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  4. I haven't watched all of those animes (some of which I'm planning to) but there is one amongst those, which I've watched (excluding Sailor Moon: Crystal because I completely fell out of it within the first few episodes):

    Sword Art Online II
    Fuck yes. I love it too. The second season seems a bit more interesting, and the first season seemed to progress a tad too slowly for me...? At first.

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    1. Yeah, I'd have to recommend Shirobako over all the others here, since it's the most consistently awesome. As for Sailor Moon...that's more of an obligation-watch than anything. The music's great, though; sometimes I like to close my eyes and pretend I'm watching a better show.

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