darksampson
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Gonna get my final thoughts for Winter 2016 shows and Fall 2015 leftovers done with before I forget. I'll try to have clearer/more expanded thoughts this time around.
Fall 2015 leftovers
Garo: Guren no Tsuki
Far weaker than the first season. It was nothing to do with the theme, even the animation was not that much of a downgrade, infact the final episode had some really fantastic animation. It was more or less all to do with the characters and my lack of investment in them. In theory this anime should have done great it had an interesting plot twist, the basic archetypes of the characters were not bad, but the execution was lacking. At least we have the movie for the first season to look forward to.
Lupin III (2015)
Fantastic, great rebirth to the Lupin III franchise. This one was a lot more lighthearted and fun/comedic compared to the 2012 series, but still really enjoyable. Some some very enjoyable episodes and especially some that were reminiscent of the original series. Great soundtrack too, loving the jazz.
Osomatsu-san
Really underrated series, some of the humor is hit or miss, but when it hit, it hit really hard. I loved the variety of the series. I loved how the animation style changed someties and how the brothers still had different personalities despite being sextuplets. Just a really unique and fun comedy show. Also Jyushimatsu is best Matsu.
Utawarerumono: Itsuwari no Kamen
One of the most disappointing sequels I've ever seen. Everything about the original Utawarerumono is lost in this. The first half of the show is wasted with pointless slice of life scenes and build up and the second half has the most unfitting plot twists, which just cause complete whiplash in terms of atmosphere. Tonnes of needless exposition and some really terrible characters overall. Yeah just a real disappointment ends in a cliffhanger too.
Winter 2016
Boku Dake Ga Inai Machi
A lot of hype around this, but I can't say I was the biggest fan. The show did do a lot of things right. Some great cinematography especially in the first half. Good visual storytelling and the plot was kind of intriguing. It was fairly obvious who the culprit was though and I feel like the show suffered in the second half. It wasn't a bad show by any means, but I feel like it wasn't as great as everyone makes it out to be.
Dagashi Kashi
Pretty average. Pretty much a typical SoL romcom aside from the candy thing. The various gags around candy did get kind of old to be honest. The main character Hotaru had to really carry the show on her own, considering the rest of the cast was kind of boring.
Ajin
I do feel like the cgi hindered the show a bit. Kei's personality was kind of a surprise compared to more anime protagonists and the Ajin were an interesting concept. Some of it did feel kind of cliche though and the villains were not really well developed IMO, I guess Satou was alright though. I didn't really get much of a horror vibe from it though, considering the color palette.
Dimension W
I really liked the first 3 eps, but I feel like it started going downhill from there. The episodic format felt kind of weird especially when they decided to focus on the easter island plot after some of those throwaway episodic episodes. I didn't care for the dozen or so new characters they introduced near the end and even Loo and Salva didn't really feel that familiar. Haruka got introduced way too late into the series as well IMO. Yeah a bit disappointed, but it's not a bad show, just average in my opinion
Durarara!!×2 Ketsu
A decent conclusion to this series. We got a lot of pay off for some of the questions and things we've wanted answered for a long time. I did feel like some of the previous arcs were kinda unnecessary, introducing all these new characters only to not have them be a big part of the series in the end. There were some plot lines left without a conclusion, but this is the last season as far as a I know and I'm fairly satisfied with the ending
KonoSuba
I didn't really consider this worth watching at first, but I was proven sorely wrong. This is a legitimately hilarious show. A good parody of the "trapped in a MMO" genre and just some really solid and unconventional humor that isn't afraid to get really crazy and raunchy. Main character is a great balance between a selfish jerk, while still having a good moral compass and still being likable.
Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu (really long and spoilers)
spoiler:
This show... AOTS it completely trumped all my expectations and came out on top. There was just so much to love about this show. The final episode gave us some closure on Kiku's arc and we moved a little into the present timeline and got teased for a second season, which is now confirmed. I gotta say the 4th wall beak (which I know happens in anime a lot, but in this case it was actually animated and directed very much towards the viewer) was brilliant. I can't wait to see more of this story. My only fear is that the next season will not be able to live up to the extraordinarily high bar set by the first
As for the anime in general. The strongest part by far is the characters and it really goes to show, even if your plot is not super intricate or you don't have amazing flashy animation or fanservice, characters makes the difference between a show that is mediocre and one that is superb. The characters were handled extremely well. They felt like real people, the development was so organic. From the first episode with the long Rakugo performance the show hooks you in and just never lets go. There was not a single bad episode of this anime. Sometimes I tend to multi-task or get distracted while watching anime, but I was always fully engaged when watching this show.
The emotional scenes had a strong impact, cause we actually cared about the characters, the timeskips were handled really well, the relationships felt real and many of the rakugo performances were very entertaining and usually helped to expand on a characters thoughts and feelings as well. Overall I loved it. The only nitpicky complaint I have is that sometimes the animation, background etc. were not super fluid or detailed. The production in general was not top notch, but it wasn't bad either. The music in particular was fantastic, love that Jazz OST, Op and Ed. Also the cliffhanger/sequel hook at the end. Very very small complaints though.
< Message edited by darksampson -- 4/14/2016 18:28:05 >
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