Mid-Autumn 2015 Anime Ranking

One Punch Man 05
01. ONE PUNCH MAN (ep. 1-10) – Well, I don’t know where to start. This super hero anime is simply really good. The humour is great, the action is great. I love Saitama and Genos and their interactions with each other. There are lots of great characters with distinct and amusing personalities.

If you want, it’s possible to read into the material some social commentary about work culture, the way institutions evaluate individuals, and what it means to be a hero. But you don’t have to think about any of that stuff. Above all else, OPM is just super fun to watch.
(streaming at DAISUKI)

Gundam Iron blooded orphans 04
02. Mobile Suit GUNDAM: IRON-BLOODED ORPHANS (Tekketsu no Orphans) (ep. 1-10) – As expected from GUNDAM, the newest series features a complex narrative which develops on multiple levels. The pacing is good and there is some nice mecha action, of course. Beyond that, what I really appreciate is how well the characters are written. Even minor supporting players have clearly defined personalities and the antagonists are not simple villain types, either.

Recently, we’ve started to see some of Orga’s insecurities and vulnerabilities, whereas previously, he seemed so smart and confident in his role as leader of Tekkadan. It really brings home just how young he and his gang all are.
(streaming at DAISUKI, Crunchyroll, and FUNimation!)

Seraph 2 Guren Shinya
03. Seraph of the End: VAMPIRE REIGN (Owari no Seraph) (ep. 13-21, or BATTLE IN NAGOYA ep. 1-9) – This second season started off a bit slow, but the momentum is definitely building up now. Things are getting complicated; it’s still a mystery how Guren, Kureto, Ferid, and Krul figure into the plot and what their motives are.

Previously, I criticized the poor action animation of the first season. Let me just say I have no complaints this time around. Episode 21 in particular was stunning! I do think it would have been easier for Mika (and Seraph’s animators) if he had decided to attack the Demon Army group from behind; but if he had done that, we would have missed out on a spectacular fight sequence!
(streaming at FUNimation)

Noragami aragoto 06
04. NORAGAMI (ep. 13-22, or ARAGOTO ep. 1-10) – I am one of those people who wasn’t really a huge fan of NORAGAMI when it first aired in 2014. But, I’ve been pretty impressed with this sequel.

The principles that were laid down in the first season explaining the complicated relationship between Yato, a god, and his human regalia, Yukine come to fruition here. In this installment, those same ideas are applied to a very different god, Bishamon, in a way that thoughtfully explores the complexity of her situation and the consequences of her actions. Along the way, we also learn the source of her conflict with Yato. Bishamon’s arc is terrific.

The second half of the cour is taking another dark turn, with Yato regressing to his toxic roots with Nora. It’s still good, but ultimately, I think I was more interested in Bishamon than in the Yato/Ebisu story and Yato/Hiyori’s relationship.
(streaming at FUNimation)

STARMYU 06
05. STARMYU High School Star Musical (ep. 1-10) – Well, there’s no shortage of otome trash titles this season, and God help us, we’re watching all of them! The best of the bunch is STARMYU, about a group of cute boys enrolled in a musical academy. It has been likened to Uta-Pri, except with fewer (haha) female characters.

At first the cast seemed pretty unlikeable, but gradually their personalities have gotten fleshed out and their rapport with each other is good. And yes, this is actually a musical, so there are performances and the guys will regularly just break out in song, which is awesome.
(streaming at FUNimation and DAISUKI)

06. Mr. Osomatsu (Osomatsu-san) (ep. 1-9) – A new gag anime based on the Osomatsu-kun manga from the 60s, which last had an anime adaptation more than 25 years ago. The identical sextuplets are under-employed adults in this iteration, with A-list seiyuu providing their voices. Honestly, I still have trouble telling the brothers apart, but that doesn’t keep me from enjoying the random, subversive humour of the show.

You might expect Osomatsu-san to be old-school and innocent, but it has turned out to be the most scandalous show of the year. The first episode has been removed and will be completely remade for the home video release as a result of making unauthorized references to various other anime. Episode 3 also caused a stir (and necessitated revision) over a particularly vulgar parody of Anpanman. Who knows what trouble they’ll get into next? Watch it while you can!
(streaming at Crunchyroll)

07. Ace of Diamond (Diamond no Ace) SECOND SEASON (ep. 26-35) – Not much new to say at this point. If you’ve been enjoying Ace of Diamond so far, as I have, you won’t be disappointed by the current offering.

Seido is facing Seiko in the current arc. Their strange but talented relief pitcher, who sometimes sings the Anpanman song while on the mound, is putting the brakes on Seido’s offence. Meanwhile, Furuya and Sawamura are feeling the heat from Seiko’s powerful batters.
(streaming at Crunchyroll)

K RETURN OF KINGS 09
08. K: RETURN OF KINGS (ep. 1-11) – It’s rewarding the way RETURN OF KINGS has built upon the ideas presented in the first season and in the “MISSING KINGS” movie. Because of that, I’m enjoying this sequel even though I was not a big fan of the original series.

My biggest complaint overall is that there are really only 3 female characters among the rather large cast; and the 2 of them who aren’t children seem to exist almost solely for fanservice, with boobs and butts randomly plastered in front of the camera at every opportunity. Fortunately, this isn’t all the time, since they are so vastly outnumbered by the guys.

For me, the highlight so far was ep. 9. I loved seeing Awashima and Kusanagi all dressed up. Okay, so I like this kind of fanservice; it’s nice to see regular characters wearing clothes and hairstyles so different from their usual. Plus, there was plot development, foreshadowing, and get this: a break dance/gunfight in an elevator! Colour me impressed.

09. Haikyuu!! Second Season (ep. 1-9) – The Karasuno guys are finding that they can learn new things by practising with other teams.

The production quality remains high with this sequel. Manager trainee Yachi is a great addition to the cast. I only wish Asahi would stop wearing his hairband like that; it’s weird and doesn’t look comfortable at all. He should take a hint from his coach – there’s a guy right in front of him who knows how to rock a hairband!
(streaming at Crunchyroll)

Dance with Devils
10. Dance with Devils (ep. 1-10) – The second of 3 shows in our Otome Trash lineup, Dance with Devils is yet another musical. Ritsuka, who is surprisingly smart and strong-willed for a protagonist in this type of anime, finds herself targeted by vampires and devils (in the Student Council) because of her family’s connection to the coveted Grimoire.

While the first episode greatly exceeded my expectations, the characters’ songs since then have been laughable for the most part. Not to be missed: the Pomeranian gets his turn to sing in ep. 7; and in the latest episode, the Student Council members collaborate to accuse their President of being an “Emo Liar”!

Just so we’re clear, I’m not saying the show isn’t good. On the contrary, I think it’s pretty fabulous.
(streaming at FUNimation and DAISUKI)

AoT Jr High
11. Attack on Titan: Junior High (Shingeki! Kyojin Chuugakkou) (ep. 1-8) – If you go into this expecting new insight on the Attack on Titan story, you will be disappointed. This half-length spin-off is basically a self-parody of the series. The setting is completely changed, but the jokes are all just exaggerated takes on the original material, and they’re not even that funny. The main thing that sells this? Cuteness. The characters appear in chibi form and they are ridiculously cute.

Unfortunately, I will be putting this on hold as of now since the content seems to have veered into possible spoiler territory for the main series.
(streaming at FUNimation)

12. Subete ga F ni Naru: The Perfect Insider (ep. 1-9) – A murder takes place in a research facility on a remote island. Nishinosono and her mentor Saikawa happen to be visiting when it occurs.

This is a dark, locked-door mystery, but sometimes I have trouble taking it seriously. Everyone seems to just take things in stride and come and go as they please even though there’s been murder! And the killer is almost certainly on the premises! No one’s suspicious of our protagonists, either, despite the fact that they just happened to show up on the night of the crime.

It’s kind of unfortunate that other shows this season have inadvertently served as parodies of this particular story; Osomatsu-san especially (the “Calming Detective” segment of ep. 8 was hilarious), and also some parts of Beautiful Bones (the uncanny parallels between the 6th episodes of each series).
(streaming at Crunchyroll)

13. Chivalry of a Failed Knight (Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry) (ep. 1-10) – The basic premise of this anime sounds like any number of other magic school shows where the hero is branded as weak but in actuality is very strong, and all the girls desire him. Think: Mahouka (The irregular at magic high school). Fortunately, this show seems to be a bit more self-aware and operates with a modicum of restraint.

It helps that even though there is obviously a harem set-up, the romance is mainly with just one girl. And that girl isn’t the protagonist’s sister! Of course, that doesn’t mean Ikki’s sister isn’t in love with him; naturally a show like this has to have an incestuously-inclined little sister. Naturally. Even I have to admit that it is somewhat amusing as satire. Nevertheless, the brocon stuff is still not actually very funny.

There are times when I’ll be rolling my eyes at the fanservice and contrivances, but then the anime will just as often turn things around and show its good sense. For instance, I had started to feel apprehensive of the misunderstanding between Ikki and Stella in ep. 5, but to my surprise, the two of them actually hashed things out honestly and resolved the issue by episode’s end! That’s pretty unprecedented!
(streaming at Viewster)

GARO CRIMSON MOON Seimei 07
14. GARO: CRIMSON MOON (Guren no Tsuki) (ep. 1-9) – This is the second anime of the GARO franchise and it has virtually nothing in common with the first series. Here we have a whole new set of characters and a new Heian-era Japanese setting, which I thought was a unique idea. Unfortunately, CRIMSON MOON is also a whole new beast in terms of depth of character, narrative flow, and maturity in subject matter; those elements do not measure up to GARO THE ANIMATION at all.

The storytelling is rather slow and strangely episodic; it’s taken a long time to reveal the overall plot. I can appreciate what they were trying to do in re-imagining classic tales from the Heian period and tying them in to the Garo world. Unfortunately, the way these stories get connected to the main characters is kind of amateurish and contrived.

Seimei is actually an interesting and eccentric person and I’m relieved that we are finally getting to see some of her story. I’m glad that both of her companions will call her out on her questionable behaviour at times as well.

One thing I still like about this production is the eclectic musical choices, which I also mentioned in my (unrelated) review of “Miss Hokusai” earlier. The artwork is often quite pretty too.
(streaming at FUNimation)

15. Beautiful Bones –Sakurako’s Investigation- (Sakurako-san no Ashimoto ni wa Shitai ga Umatteiru) (ep. 1-9) – Another show featuring a beautiful and eccentric leading lady with a taste for bizarre collectibles. This one has a young male sidekick too. The topic here is modern day mysteries, with a leaning toward forensics.

It bothers me how much this series relies on contrived coincidences to connect the main characters to the cases and often to solve the mysteries too. Sakurako is somehow more knowledgeable than police detectives, microbiologists, and physicians. I can be convinced that she might be well-studied and have an amazing memory, but there’s no way she can know absolutely everything – even what people she doesn’t know were thinking!

Objectively, Beautiful Bones looks great and it’s not a terrible show, not worse than GARO: CRIMSON MOON, anyway. But more and more I’m feeling bored and cynical toward it, while at the same time GARO has been trending up a bit at last.
(streaming at Crunchyroll)

16. Utawarerumono: The False Faces (Itsuwari no Kamen) (ep. 1-9) – The show got off to a decent start by introducing the 2 main characters and having their community face the truly terrifying threat of giant centipedes and super-giant centipedes (shudder). As the cast expanded, though, I found myself losing interest fast. Episodes 5-7 felt like a slog. It’s true I have not seen the first series, but I suspect that wouldn’t have made much difference aside from recognizing a few recurring characters who appear in ep. 6.

All the females in this anime look the same to me! And there are so many of them now. I’m sitting here staring at the screen thinking, “Who are these girls again? Please let there not be a test!”
(streaming at Crunchyroll)

DIABOLIK LOVERS MORE BLOOD 07
17. DIABOLIK LOVERS II: MORE,BLOOD (ep. 1-9) – I’ll never understand what’s so good about this rapey piece of trash anime, the final and definitive title in our Otome Trash lineup. But somehow, the franchise has been successful enough to warrant a second anime season, and furthermore, I’m watching it! What the heck.

There is another family, consisting of 4 brothers, that takes Yui captive this time around. They have been added to the cast in order to further torment our brainless heroine. I think I harboured a tiny shred of hope that at least one of them would turn out to not be another abusive asshole. Ah, what was I smoking?
(streaming at Crunchyroll)

Attack on Titan: Part 1

attack-on-titan-part-1-movie

3 stars (out of 4)

Released 2015

This live-action version of Attack on Titan is only very loosely based on the original manga. Truckloads of liberties have been taken with the plot as well as the characters. You can pretty much think of it as a whole new story, except with some familiar character names.

The visual and sound effects were really good and definitely emphasized the horror of the Titan invasion. Those who are weak of stomach should be forewarned that the violence is quite bone-crushingly, flesh-tearingly graphic.

In my opinion, the actors were reasonably well-cast for their parts. I had seen Haruma Miura and Kiko Mizuhara in other movies before and didn’t like them that much; however they were fine here. Because there were not many quiet, emotional scenes, the opportunities for bad acting were relatively few anyway.

Being a huge fan of the anime, I was well-aware of the need to check my baggage, all of it, at the door before watching this film. In doing so, I think I was able to enjoy the movie for what it is, an action-filled blockbuster which uses romance as an easy emotional anchor to engage (or enrage, as the case may be) its audience.