Lurker > Robazoid

(Sorry for posting this one so late, it was a busy day for me and there were technically five write-ups today. This anime was also airing this season but thankfully it has already ended.)

166. Phantom of the Idol
https://myanimelist.net/anime/50470/Kami_Kuzu%E2%98%86Idol
Summer 2022 (10 episodes)
My Score: 4/10, MAL Score: 6.79/10
Best Character: Mogami Asahi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFNp4BWgJEU

Premise: Niyoda Yuuya became an idol hoping for easy money, but it turns out to be a lot of work. Luckily, he meets the ghost of famous idol Mogami Asahi, and she can possess his body.

The Good: I inherently like the premise of in Phantom of the Idol, which I think makes me give it more credit than it deserves. I like the idea of an incredibly lazy idol, and I like the idea of the ghost of an idol possessing them to do all the actual work. I went into this hoping itd be more character-focused and delve into Asahis early death at the peak of her career. Sadly, it never really goes there. This is just a low-budget idol anime with a comedic focus. About a third of the runtime is dedicated to Niyodas fans, a trio of hilariously over-the-top fangirls who go nuts for this lazy idol. Those were my favorite parts.

The Bad: I mentioned above that Phantom of the Idol never really delves into the potentially interesting story of Asahi being an unfulfilled ghost. I guess it isnt fair to fault the anime for that, though. That simply wasnt the type of story it was trying to be. However, I can fault it for having terrible CGI during the songs, and for being repetitive. Niyoda is lazy, Asahi isnt lazy and loves being an idol but she also wants to convince Niyoda to enjoy the work more so she refuses to possess him all the time. They keep having the same conversations about that over and over. It got old after awhile.

Overall: I enjoy idol anime and I enjoy anime about ghosts, so I liked Phantom of the Idol for combining them. However, even I have to admit it was a mediocre anime in every regard, and it only ranked this high because it appealed to me. Asahi is a fun character and I enjoy her dynamic with Niyoda, but it was just too repetitive and the idol segments were stunningly low quality.

COMING UP TOMORROW:
165: This anime forgot it doesnt know how to sing.
164: This anime was betrayed by the person it loved most.
163: This anime is leaving to sail the stars.

MacArrowny posted...

Roba why have you not watched Macross

There are lots of anime I haven't seen! If Macross is about wartime idols, though, then that's pretty cool. It also doesn't appear to be streaming anywhere.

Two more mini write-ups for airing anime. These are only placeholder rankings and I'll finalize them once they finish.

168: Luminous Witches
This is the second spinoff from Strike Witches after Brave Witches, and obviously I'm enjoying it a lot more than either one of those. So far it has almost nothing to do with the war against the Neuroi. It's basically just an idol show. The Luminous Witches are ones who weren't any good at fighting so they formed a band to help morale instead. I may hate the Neuroi and find the WW2 ripoff setting uninspired, but idols raising the peoples spirits during a war is a fresh idea. The magic of the witches allows for some new things in an idol performance, too. The characters aren't super deep, but I'm liking them all well enough so far. I might end up raising this once it's over, but for now I'm still wary that the Neuroi will find a way to come back into focus and ruin it.

167: Shine Post
This is another idol anime, but a far more standard one than Luminous Witches. Three girls in an unpopular idol unit get a new manager. The twist here is that the manager can tell when people are lying, which... isn't the greatest twist and hasn't been used for much so far. Most of the lies have obvious context clues, he really shouldn't need a magical aura to tell. Other than that, it's a typical idol anime. They practice, overcome their doubts, grow closer, perform in shows, etc. The production is surprisingly competent. I just don't see Shine Post as being anything special yet. I'm the sort of person who enjoys even the most generic idol anime, but this is as high as it can go in my ranking unless the second half can convince me it has some heart.

That's officially the end of my, uh, limited experience in anime movies. A 1/10, a 2/10 series, two 4/10s, and a 5/10. I'm glad Kiki's Delivery Service was recommended to me, it's a solid 7/10 and easily the best anime movie I've seen. Crunchyroll has added a few movies recently that sound interesting, and I'll watch them eventually when I get time. For now, though, I still have a boatload of old favorites to rewatch and new recommendations to get through.

Since this is the end of the movie portion of the ranking, I can officially move Kiki's Delivery Service over and give it an official ranking. It's number one with absolutely no competition!

MOVIES
1- Kiki's Delivery Service
2- Bubble
3- Starlight Promises
4- Expelled from Paradise
5- The Garden of Sinners
6- Calamity of the Zombie Girl

1 (Movie). Bubble
https://myanimelist.net/anime/50549/Bubble
Spring 2022 (1 movie)
My Score: 5/10, MAL Score: 7.30/10
Best Character: Uta

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5PpoIMXtcw

Premise: Years after bubbles rained down on the world and began messing with gravity, many people live in the flooded ruins of Tokyo doing parkour races. Then one runner, Hibiki, meets a strange girl named Uta.

The Good: Bubble is a beautiful looking anime. The art direction is top-notch, really managing to sell the ruined Tokyo with damaged buildings and water everywhere and bubbles or bits of debris spiraling through the air in pockets of altered gravity. The animation is great too. The parkour scenes are an excellent way to show all of this off. Theres one four-minute sequence in the middle of the movie during a race that I can only describe as epic. Even now, months after I watched it, I still sometimes rewatch that part on Youtube. The movies soundtrack is also good.

The Bad: The writing is where Bubble suffers. I wouldnt say its bad enough to ruin the movie, I still had a good time watching it for the production values, but it makes me sad that such pretty visuals are held back by a story thats confusing at best and infuriating at worst. Cynically, I feel like the whole setting and story was put together based on flimsy excuses. Someone wanted to do a parkour movie, and they wanted it to have weird gravity effects, so they half-assed this whole bubble plot to explain it. For example, one character is a scientist whos in Tokyo to research the bubbles. She meets a girl whose hand appears to be turning into bubbles. And the scientists reaction is to give the girl a glove to cover it up. No curiosity, no questions, nothing. The plot of the movie makes no sense, and it felt like the writers themselves barely cared about it.

Overall: Bubble is really nice to look at, and in my opinion its worth watching for the visuals alone. Even the lowest points of the story still have scenes of people doing parkour through a unique environment filled with weird gravity and pretty bubbles. The characters and especially the story are unsatisfying, however, so this movie is still below average overall.

I remember enjoying the first three Magus Bride episodes released that I think were set wherever the manga was at the time, but then the actual series went back to the beginning and turned Chise into one of the most boring characters ever and I hated it. Maybe this new season will finally get back to the point where Chise has a personality.

(We'll start with the movies today. And no this isn't really a movie, it's an ONA or whatever, but it's one episode that's only an hour long so it isn't a series. I just counted it with the movies)

2 (Movie). Starlight Promises
https://myanimelist.net/anime/37970/Yakusoku_no_Nanaya_Matsuri
Summer 2018 (1 movie)
My Score: 4/10, MAL Score: 6.71/10
Best Character: Shoma Mihara

(This has no OP or ED and the only trailers I could find all had French subtitles)

Premise: Shoma Mihara receives a message from a friend he hasnt heard from in years inviting him to a festival. He heads to a village in the mountains and finds more than hed ever imagined.

The Good: Starlight Promises isnt a great movie, a fact that Ill try to convey in the bad section. Still, for its short runtime (barely over an hour), I thought it had a lot of heart. The animation was pretty, and the main characters at least had a nice story. Im a sucker for stories about old friends.

The Bad: All the action scenes in Starlight Promises felt like a huge waste of time. It didnt really detract from anything, but they didnt contribute to the characters or the themes and they werent impressive enough visually to stand on their own either. Starlight Promises was so short to begin with that every minute wasted on the action hurt it a lot. The story was also predictable, which I didnt mind because it still appealed to me but Im guessing it would but most people.

Overall: I thought Starlight Promises was a nice little story with some good emotion. For as short as it was, especially given how much time it wasted on a pointless action subplot, and for how predictable it was, I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. I still ranked it a 4/10 so obviously its below average, but thats not a bad ranking from me for a standalone anime movie!

MacArrowny posted...

I never thought of the show as being particularly fanservicey, haha.

It had a ton of shots focusing on the girls' bodies and lots of sexual situations. I googled 'Haganai imgur' and easily found this picture of Sena bending over about to read out loud a hardcore sex scene from the VN she's playing >_>

https://imgur.com/sr2SOzT

Whoops I forgot that was the last write-up today. I could edit these into the other post but I'll do a new one so people don't miss them.

COMING UP TOMORROW:
(168: Airing anime placeholder)
M2: This movie is heading to an abandoned village in the mountains.
(167: Airing anime placeholder)
M1: This movie hurt itself trying to do parkour.
166: This anime is getting possessed by a ghost.

As you can see, tomorrow is airing anime day and the last of the movies (or at least what I classify as movies because they don't fit anywhere else).

(I finally watched the second season of this yesterday! There will still be a few anime later in the ranking that I haven't finished, but at least I'm done this one.)

169. Haganai
https://myanimelist.net/anime/10719/Boku_wa_Tomodachi_ga_Sukunai
Fall 2011 (12 episodes), Winter 2013 (12 episodes) plus 1 OVA
My Score: 4/10, MAL Score: 7.18/10 S1, 7.31/10 S2
Best Character: Takayama Maria

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qPVrGJzRyI

Premise: Hasegawa Kodaka frightens most of his classmates with his blonde hair. Then he finds Mikazuki Yozora talking to an imaginary friend, and the two form the Neighbors Club in the hopes of finding real friends.

The Good: Haganai is partly a club anime and it has hints of romance, but mostly its a comedy with lots of fanservice. I like that Kodaka isnt a typical generic main dude, he has his own fun character traits and background characters being afraid of him is humorous. The clubs various female members are still basically his harem. My favorites were Kobato, Kodakas chuuni little sister, and the little kid nun Maria. Maria in particular has the same voice actress as Index from A Certain Magical Index, and they both have silver hair and they share some mannerisms. Maria is basically a tiny Index and I love her. She has a great dynamic with Kobato too.

The Bad: I dont mind fanservice, but sometimes Haganai goes in a weird direction with it. Even the Crunchyroll version has uncensored naked Kobato, who is thirteen, never mind the lewdness from the older girls. I didnt dislike anyone, but I wasnt a huge fan of Yozora, Sena, or Rika. Yozora and Sena spent most of their time fighting each other, it got old after awhile. Rika often went uncomfortably far with her innuendos.

Overall: Haganai has a lot of funny jokes from these friendless weirdos coming together, and I love Maria and Kobato. The other major characters arent anywhere near as good as those two, however. It used a lot of fanservice, with some of it verging on uncomfortable. I also really hated the end of the second season, but at least it wasnt the kind of ending that ruined everything that came before it.

Sceptilesolar posted...

The exact count of anime is certainly well under your 275 though once you start combining seasons.

Well, you already have me beaten on total episodes! I've just watched a ton of 12 episode one-season anime.

I sent you a friend request, in case you don't mind accepting. I like to see what scores my friends gave when I look up shows

captaincanadian posted...

you got it

@Mobilezoid I can get rinoa H2 or cancel next round if you prefer

H2 is fine

Ok this is close enough to a new page, stop here

What if the next page shows that some of my favorite characters are still unsafe, though

Will you guys save them?

(I absolutely love that the MAL ranking for this anime is effectively 69. Also, I might not be able to post my second write-up for today until way later tonight.)

170. Monster Musume
https://myanimelist.net/anime/30307/Monster_Musume_no_Iru_Nichijou
Summer 2015 (12 episodes)
My Score: 4/10, MAL Score: 6.99/10
Best Character: Miia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K--QO3MQfmE

Premise: In an alternate universe where non-human creatures exist, Kurisu Kimihito is forced to house Miia, a lamia. His home is soon taken over by various other sexy monster girls.

The Good: Monster Musume is a fanservice harem anime, which I know some people are put off by. Im neutral towards it. Fanservice can get uncomfortable depending on the ages of those involved and the situations theyre in, but in general I dont mind some healthy horniness, and I dont recall anything overly questionable in this anime. Monster Musume features several sexy monster girls living with a generic main dude, and they all desperately want to have sex with him. The catch is, due to laws in this world, its illegal for him to sleep with any of them. Most of the humor comes from Kurisu trying to survive their presence, like the lamia girl constricting him, getting carried off by the harpy girl, or nearly drowning after falling into the slime girl. I enjoyed the variety of different monsters who kept showing up. Miia the lamia was my favorite, but as an arachnophobe I also need to mention the terrifying spider girl.

The Bad: As I mentioned above, Im neutral on fanservice. It doesnt ruin an anime for me, but lewdness can only raise it so far on its own. Other than being a specific type of monster and being super horny, none of the girls had much characterization to make me care about them.

Overall: As long as you arent put off by blatant fanservice, Monster Musume is a fun anime with some neat monster girls and some good jokes about them all living in a house together. There just isnt a whole lot else going on other than fanservice, so theres nothing to elevate it.

Rinoa

Emet

I'm sad that Prima Doll appears to have absolutely bombed. It didn't end up being as good as I thought it would, but it's still my second favorite of the season with a gigantic gap between it and the third. I lurk the anime subreddit sometimes and they have this weekly ranking of what's getting the most upvotes. Prima Doll isn't even on it! The one where the guy wants to bang his stepsister is number 11 but Prima Doll couldn't even reach the top 30 of the season, wtf

https://i.redd.it/qlyudtadagk91.png

No one is talking about airing anime in here this season. I guess I can't blame anyone, though. This season sucks. Something is terribly wrong when Phantom of the Idol is my person fifth-best of the season. I just finished it, it only had ten episodes. It's lucky I inherently liked the idea of a lazy idol working with an idol ghost, because that premise had to carry it. The animation wasn't anything special, and the CGI during the songs was downright bad. The writing also left a lot to be desired. The best part was the frequent cutaways to the fans. They were all such over-the-top fangirls who went nuts over a lazy idol, that was fun. I liked Asahi too but the story didn't have the talent or the courage to truly explore the emotions of a dead idol who isn't ready to move on yet. Ah well.

171. Endro~!
https://myanimelist.net/anime/38062/Endro
Winter 2019 (12 episodes)
My Score: 4/10, MAL Score: 6.92/10
Best Character: Mao

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ri4OiC3v-DM

Premise: The heroes defeated the demon lord, but a spell gone awry sent them all back in time. With only the demons memories intact, Mao infiltrates the adventurer school to sabotage them.

The Good: Endro is a mixture of a cute girls anime and a fantasy anime. While the heroes are ostensibly training to take down a dangerous demon lord, the focus is more on the jokes and slice-of-life aspects. I enjoyed the little girl demon lord, Mao, quite a lot. Her situation of being the only one who knows how things played out in the first timeline was interesting. I liked her comical attempts to sabotage the heroes.

The Bad: The four main characters are all very generic. Fai Fai was the worst, but thats just my inherent dislike for characters who are the hungry girl and have zero other traits. The other three at least have one fun thing going for them, like Yulia being super lucky or Meis obsession with the card game Cartado. It just wasnt enough to raise the anime to anything other than fine.

Overall: Endro isnt a bad anime, but for something with such a neat premise it shouldnt have felt this boring and generic. I enjoyed Mao almost every time she was onscreen. The four main characters were where the focus was most of the time, however, and none of them were great.

COMING UP TOMORROW:
170: This anime is getting constricted by a lamia.
169: The only person this anime talks to is imaginary.

172. Three Leaves, Three Colors
https://myanimelist.net/anime/31564/Sansha_Sanyou
Spring 2016 (12 episodes)
My Score: 4/10, MAL Score: 7.10/10
Best Character: Nishikawa Youko

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qj-6P-jMT_g

Premise: After the bankruptcy of her fathers company, Nishikawa Youko went from rich to poor. She struggles to make friends at school due to her princess-like personality.

The Good: I really like the premise of Three Leaves, Three Colors. The rich girl archetype is always fun, so taking that but making her poor puts a new spin on various jokes. The premise isnt used as well as it could be, sadly, but Ill cover that below. It was still a good idea, and the few times it was used for jokes were funny. Youko was my favorite because of that, but I also enjoyed the side characters from her former staff. Shino the former maid was great.

The Bad: Considering how much I loved the premise, Three Leaves, Three Colors turning out to be a generic cute girls slice-of-life anime was so disappointing. Everyone acts like Youko is this haughty, arrogant princess, and I wish that she was! Most of the time shes normal and sweet, so everyone reacting like shes some stereotypical rich girl makes the jokes fall flat. The same goes for the supposedly black-hearted class rep, Teru. The way everyone reacts to her, youd think she was a demon. Only, outside of a few gags, shes mostly normal and sweet too. Futaba is the stereotypical hungry girl, and they actually make her a hungry girl so thats good. Its just too bad that hungry girl is one of the most boring archetypes there is.

Overall: I honestly dont know whats going on with the writing in Three Leaves, Three Colors. They have solid character ideas, a poor rich girl and an evil class rep, and most of the time its like they forgot those are supposed to be their character traits. Youko and Teru are normal way more often than theyre haughty or meanspirited. That turned Three Leaves, Three Colors into a generic cute girls anime in spite of its solid premise. It still wasnt bad, I mean I like generic cute girls anime, but this shouldve been so much better.

Roughly a week until our next async, assuming September 10th still works for people. Time for sign-ups!

1- Robazoid (Hollow Knight)

Rinoa

173. Slow Start
https://myanimelist.net/anime/35540/Slow_Start
Winter 2018 (12 episodes)
My Score: 4/10, MAL Score: 7.02/10
Best Character: Momochi Tamate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_Q4QD1Qn_c

Premise: Ichinose Hana is finally starting high school after a year off. Shes terrified of anyone learning about her shameful slow start even as she begins making friends.

The Good: Slow Start is a cute girls slice-of-life anime, and it definitely nails the comedic laid-back atmosphere those should strive for. Not all of the characters are great, but I dont dislike any of them. Tamate was my favorite for being so high-energy and having a playfully lewd sense of humor. I also didnt mind the flirty interactions between Eiko and their teacher, it somehow managed to seem sweet rather than creepy. The animation in this was very good as well.

The Bad: Ultimately, I dont recall Slow Start being much more than a super generic cute girls anime. I blame that on the premise. As hooks go, the main character starting school a year later than everyone else is one of the lamest Ive ever seen. I guess that must be a big deal in Japan because Hana moved to a whole new school district where no one will know her and its a constant source of anxiety. It sours a lot of scenes that shes in because I just dont care. Hana was so boring. I also didnt love Kamuri. Her whole gimmick was being small and sleepy and I feel like Ive seen her exact character a dozen times before.

Overall: Slow Start is a fine cute girls slice-of-life. There are just so many other ones with better characters and better hooks that I cant call this anything special. Tama and Eiko are great, but Kamuri and especially the main character Hana are boring.

Celes

I think Martin said he'd come back in the top 25 or 20 or something, but maybe now that he's out he'd rather just be completely free.

Rinoa

177. Hakumei and Mikochi
https://myanimelist.net/anime/36094/Hakumei_to_Mikochi
Winter 2018 (12 episodes)
My Score: 4/10, MAL Score: 7.68/10
Best Character: Sen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hr4e3BPDZoo

Premise: Hakumei and Mikochi are tiny people only a few inches tall who live together in a house built into a tree. They spend their days in a forest thats much bigger than they are.

The Good: This is a fantasy slice-of-life about the relaxing adventures of the titular characters. I always enjoy a good relaxing anime, and theres a lot of nice moments in Hakumei and Mikochi. My favorite stuff was all the little details that fleshed out the world. One episode dealt with fixing a wall in town. Even though it was only made of a few small rocks, for the tiny people in this world that was a massive construction undertaking. Sen was my favorite character. Her animated skeletons were cool and unique. Hakumei and Mikochi themselves were also fine.

The Bad: Out of all the genres, relaxing anime like this are probably my default favorite. No sadness, no drama, just cuteness and lighthearted fun. Thats why Im always disappointed when one doesnt resonate with me. Theres nothing wrong with Hakumei and Mikochi, and I can easily think of lots of little things I enjoyed. Im usually a sucker for light fantasy slice-of-life. It was just missing something, some spark that wouldve helped it resonate with me more. I dont know what that was exactly. All I know it, by the end of it, I felt more ambivalent than anything.

Overall: I may have only given Hakumei and Mikochi a 4/10, but that doesnt mean I disliked it. Its a cute, relaxing anime about tiny people in a big forest. For one reason or another, it simply didnt resonate for me. Im always glad to give anime like this a shot, though Its impossible to know which will have all the right elements to become a personal favorite without trying them.

Looks like a yaoi romance, honestly.

Weird that they're adding a BanG Dream movie when that series is mostly on HiDIVE, but I'll take it! I'm interested in the girl who leapt through time one too.

(Another anime I haven't finished. That's right, this is getting 4/10 based off the beloved first season, not the iffy second season!)

180. One Punch Man
https://myanimelist.net/anime/30276/One_Punch_Man
Fall 2015 (12 episodes), Spring 2019 (0/12 episodes, unfinished)
My Score: 4/10, MAL Score: 8.51/10 S1, 7.47/10 S2
Best Character: Tatsumaki

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kErJOepkDQk

Premise: Saitama followed his dream of becoming a hero, but he trained so hard that he can beat any enemy in one punch now. Unable to experience the thrill of battle, Saitama is growing bored.

The Good: One Punch Man has a fun premise. It takes anime power levels to the most insane extreme that they can go. The animation was always impressive (Ive only seen the first season, and from what Ive heard this isnt true in the second). Just because Saitama can win in one punch doesnt mean the battles arent fun to watch! The enemies are all creative, and any battle that doesnt involve Saitama still has stakes. My favorite character was sassy lost child Tornado.

The Bad: By the end of the first season, One Punch Man started feeling repetitive. I classify this as action and comedy, and both those aspects began running into trouble. Once the novelty of the concept wore off, I got bored with the battles because they were just flashy distractions until Saitama threw a punch. A lot of the jokes got stale too, like none of the heroes realizing how strong Saitama was when it shouldve been incredibly obvious.

Overall: One Punch Man was fun to watch for one season. By the end of it, though, I was tired of the premise. The whole point of the anime is that Saitama can win in one punch, so I cant say it did anything wrong or that it should change anything to win be back. It just turned out that this wasnt enough to carry a whole anime, at least for me.

183. Konosuba: Gods Blessing on this Wonderful World
https://myanimelist.net/anime/30831/Kono_Subarashii_Sekai_ni_Shukufuku_wo
Winter 2016 (10 episodes), Winter 2017 (10 episodes)
My Score: 4/10, MAL Score: 8.12/10 S1, 8.28/10 S2
Best Character: Darkness

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpG3BPNQepY

Premise: Satou Kazuma dies a pathetic death and, when given the option, he reincarnates in a fantasy world. Hes allowed to take any item with him to aid in his quest, and Kazuma chooses Aqua, the obnoxious goddess who gave him the choice in the first place!

The Good: Despite what my 4/10 score might imply, I enjoyed Konosuba. This is a comedy anime, so the focus was always on jokes rather than a grandiose plot or character arcs. Because of that, it avoids a lot of things that bug me about the isekai genre, which was nice. Darkness was my favorite of the main cast. I liked how shes a masochist who only became an adventurer to get hurt. Megumins explosive magic was another standout that led to fun gags. Kazuma and Aqua werent as good, but they rounded out the dynamic and I didnt dislike them.

The Bad: Konosuba is comedy anime where the sense of humor wasnt my thing. I saw the jokes, and I knew why others would find them funny. I just personally rarely found them funny. The comedic styles it focused on (mean-spirited humor against Kazuma, Aqua being haughty yet useless, etc) arent usually my favorites. That doesnt mean I hated those jokes, and Im sure there are examples of other anime that use those styles that I enjoyed. Konosuba simply never came together for me as anything other than fine.

Overall: Konosuba excels at a certain brand of comedy. That style didnt appeal to me much, however, and the anime didnt have a whole lot else going on to make up for that. It was still an enjoyable watch, but I rarely found it laugh-out-loud funny like I know a lot of other people did.

Video games starting with the letter C

I don't know what the deal is with the title of this series. It was Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash when I watched it, and when I checked on Crunchyroll it still had that title in the image used for the series, but the title itself has changed to this almost everywhere I looked. I guess I'll use the new one.

186. Grimgar: Ashes and Illusions
https://myanimelist.net/anime/31859/Hai_to_Gensou_no_Grimgar
Winter 2016 (12 episodes)
My Score: 4/10, MAL Score: 7.65/10
Best Character: Yume

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Yu4sgN8ru4

Premise: Dozens of people are summoned into a fantasy world. The strongest among them soon team up, forcing the weaker fighters to come together and struggle to survive as well.

The Good: Unlike most isekai anime, Grimgar doesnt have super overpowered protagonists. Even basic goblins are a deadly challenge. They need to proceed carefully and strategically. I really enjoyed that aspect of it. Most anime fights consist of the hero swinging their sword and the monster splitting in half. The realism in this was interesting. They needed to watch out for ambushes and avoid getting overwhelmed even by stereotypically weak enemies.

The Bad: While I praise Grimgar for being slow and methodical, at the same time it was a bit too slow. I dont remember a whole lot happening in this season outside of one or two standout moments. The characters were also a major weak point. They werent overpowered like most isekai protagonists, but they sure were bland like some of the worst isekai protagonists.

Overall: Grimgar came out a few years before Goblin Slayer, but the two anime still feel like companion pieces to me. Goblin Slayer opens with an adventuring party taking the titular monsters lightly and paying dearly for it. The adventurers from Grimgar couldve easily shared the same fate if they werent careful and aware of their limitations. I enjoyed it for that, I just felt that the characters themselves were boring and the story didnt really go anywhere.

187. Sankarea
https://myanimelist.net/anime/11499/Sankarea
Spring 2012 (12 episodes)
My Score: 4/10, MAL Score: 7.30/10
Best Character: Sanka Rea

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17J2Ws9AUGY

Premise: Furuyu Chihiro has always been obsessed with zombies, to the point of even wanting a zombie girlfriend. Then a rich girl named Sanka Rea gets reanimated by a potion Chihiro made.

The Good: I enjoy zombie media (if not to the, uh extent that Chihiro does) so it was neat seeing what it meant to be a zombie in this setting. Rea didnt become mindless or anything, but there were still some fun quirks after her reanimation. I liked most of the characters, including the zombie grandpa and especially the zombie cat. Sanka Rea herself was still my favorite. Her backstory managed to draw me in, which is impressive considering how many elements it had that I would usually hate.

The Bad: There are several elements in Sankarea that I found offputting. The whole thing with her father having an uncomfortable fixation on her was a bit much for me. I know it was meant to be creepy, and it succeeded in that, it just wasnt my thing. Im also not the biggest fan of gore or heavy fanservice (though both of those aspects were censored in the version I watched, which in a way just made it more awkward). However, more than anything, I remember feeling disappointed when the season ended without anything resembling a conclusion.

Overall: This was one of the first anime I ever watched, and I didnt enjoy it enough to want to rewatch it so my memory is hazy. Still, I remember being disappointed when it ended. By now Im used to anime only telling part of the sources story, but at the time it was jarring just how many things this left open. I considered ranking it down with Red Data Girl and Nanana, but it wasnt quite as disappointing as those. The ending just left me wanting more, and not in a good way.

COMING UP TOMORROW:
186: This anime struggled to fight goblins.
185: This anime is getting relentlessly bullied.
184: This anime didnt earn enough candies.

Tidus

MZero posted...

Trade Tidus auto

For Rinoa

Trading for Rinoa auto, can't get Barret

I feel the need to say that we are now firmly in the realm of "I often feel like I should rank this higher, but any time I look at it I realize I like the stuff above it better". Also, just because I'm giving an anime a mediocre score doesn't mean I disagree with the message it sends! A 4/10 from me isn't even necessarily a bad thing.

188. Wandering Son
https://myanimelist.net/anime/8426/Hourou_Musuko
Winter 2011 (11 episodes)
My Score: 4/10, MAL Score: 7.71/10
Best Character: Takatsuki Yoshino

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQK8Ve14A34

Premise: Nitori Shuuichi, who is biologically male but feels more like a girl, befriends Takatsuki Yoshino, a female who does not identify as a girl. They struggle to understand their true selves.

The Good: I think Wandering Son is an important story. It explores questions of gender identity with a lot of care and nuance. I liked the characters for the most part, and they were all given nice little slice-of-life moments. I also liked the art. It was a muted style that felt unique.

The Bad: My understanding is that the anime only covers the middle portion of the manga, so it isnt a complete story. Plenty of anime only cover parts of the source material, but only doing the middle like that is still odd. The characters also felt like they were constructed to explore gender identity rather than that being just one facet of a more complete personality. I hope that makes sense and that Im not offending anyone. Its all still well-written, it was just so focused on one thing that the main characters seemed like they had nothing beyond it.

Overall: I feel bad for ranking Wandering Son as low as I do. There isnt anything wrong with it, and Im glad it exists. Something like this coming out of a conservative country like Japan over a decade ago makes me glad. It just didnt resonate much with me. Still, I can easily see this being meaningful for others. I mean, as someone who grew up with social anxiety, I felt so understood when I saw Watamote for the first time, and that was explored through the lens of cringe comedy! Wandering Son is a serious examination of gender identity and Im glad I watched it.

MacArrowny posted...

shame on you for misspelling Misaka's name, Roba

Whoops. I looked it up once on my phone while doing the write-up and then I kept making the mistake every single time after that. She should've had an English name like Index, no way I'd screw that up!

You guys also clearly know a lot more about Index/Railgun than I do. What I remember is mostly some of the bigger arcs (Accelerator arc and such) plus the little moments I enjoyed (Index biting Touma, Misaka getting a frog keychain, etc). I ranked Railgun a 4/10 years ago right after watching it, so I'm not worried about it being in the wrong spot, but I'm no index (heh) of character names or smaller arcs. Clearly I do need to rewatch the series before continuing.

Still, I will stand by my love of Index and try to explain it when she (ranking spoilers) gets a top 100 character write-up.

I wouldn't call Touma stellar, but Index certainly is! She's one of the characters I own a figure for.

Mikasa was at her best in Index when she regularly interacted with Touma, imo. In her own series I just didn't find her as compelling.

KommunistKoala posted...

Railgun doesnt have Index (much) so its automatically much much better

I counter this undeserved Index hate with the best gif of Index biting Touma that I could find
https://c.tenor.com/oB3wRz5yrjYAAAAC/index-nom-index-chomp.gif

pyresword posted...

one of the biggest problems with Index is that no matter what's going on or what powers and strategies the enemy has, Touma just solves things by running up and punching it.

I dunno, I always found it interesting trying to figure out how he'd use his arm to nullify the enemy powers. Reaching them in order to punch them wasn't always simple!

Whoops I forgot to post the tomorrow shows.

COMING UP TOMORROW:
188: This anime is still struggling to figure out its identity.
187: Maybe I'll find this anime more attractive after it returns from the dead.

188 was tough to hint for.

This is another anime I haven't seen everything in. I was caught up for a long time but then a bunch more came out. Index S3, Railgun S3, Accelerator... it's a daunting series to fall behind in! I'd probably need to rewatch it from the start at this point, but I don't feel like doing that any time soon.

189. A Certain Scientific Railgun
https://myanimelist.net/anime/6213/Toaru_Kagaku_no_Railgun
Fall 2009 (24 episodes), Spring 2013 (24 episodes), Winter 2020 (0/25 episodes, unfinished)
My Score: 4/10, MAL Score: 7.68/10 S1, 8.03/10 S2, 8.19/10 S3
Best Character: Mikasa Mikoto

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nK2Djnb4fMA

Premise: A spinoff series from A Certain Magical Index. Academy City is home to espers, and one of the most powerful among them is Mikasa Mikoto, known as the Railgun.

The Good: I enjoyed the Index series, so it was nice spending more time in that world. A Certain Scientific Railgun didnt match up to the original, sadly, but it still wasnt bad. Mikasa is a good character, and its always fun seeing her railgun ability in action. That said, the parts of Railgun that I liked best were the arcs already mostly covered in Index. The new stories werent as good.

The Bad: The main thing holding Railgun back is the characters. I loved Touma and Index in the original series. Mikasa was fine, but of the main three she was a distant third. One of my favorite things from Index was Toumas power-nullifying ability and seeing how hed use it to solve conflicts. Mikasas railgun is far more powerful but also more limited in what it can do. She couldnt carry a spinoff on her own, and the three other major characters dont help much either. Saten and Uiharu were boring. Kuroko, meanwhile, is basically the same horny fangirl as she was in Index. That was fine when she was a supporting character, but here shes the secondary main and it just wasnt enough. Its odd, too. Kuroko got a small arc in Index that I liked way more than anything she did in Railgun where shes supposed to be a major character.

Overall: A Certain Scientific Railgun wasnt bad, but I didnt enjoy it anywhere near as much as Index. Mikasa wasnt a strong enough character to carry it on her own, and the other major characters didnt help much either. Theres a third season I havent seen yet, however, and I wonder if thats when Railgun finally comes into its own.

Top 25 Year of Parents update, 7 dads 3 moms (added Emet in edit)

Cecil
Galuf
Barret
Vivi
Sazh
Emet
Dad

Terra
Rinoa
Venat

Kirito is definitely not my favorite thing about SAO! We'll talk about it when we reach that write-up, but the only arc I really loved from the original series was the one he was barely in. I don't find him offensive like a lot of people seem to, though. He kind of became the template for a lot of boring anime protagonists who came after, and I saw some of those anime before SAO so to me he just felt like "another one of those". I'm probably just missing the context for why so many people hate him.

This is one of the anime I remember the least out of all that I've seen. This write-up isn't great as a result.

190. Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online
https://myanimelist.net/anime/36475/Sword_Art_Online_Alternative__Gun_Gale_Online
Spring 2018 (12 episodes)
My Score: 4/10, MAL Score: 7.00/10
Best Character: Shinohara Miyu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tULaW49codU

Premise: Kohiruimaki Karen is a shy college student in real life. In the Gun Gale Online virtual reality game, though, shes LLENN, and known as the Pink Devil for her skill at killing players.

The Good: I dont hate Sword Art Online like a lot of people do (though I do hate one arc). I like the setting quite a bit, so it was nice seeing GGO from a new perspective without any of the life-threatening drama the original series always had. LLENN is a fun character and there are decent action scenes. I also like the concept that most of the season follows a tournament.

The Bad: I hated how a few of the characters were written, particularly Pito. She sucked a lot of the joy out of the season for me. Otherwise, I just dont have a whole lot to say about this anime. I remember when it was airing that a lot of people thought it was much better than the original. I found large parts of it to be boring and pointless. Ill admit that I dont remember it very well anymore, though. I also have zero desire to rewatch it ever again.

Overall: SAO Alternative is much better than the fairy arc from the original Sword Art Online, but Id rank it below every other arc from the original without much thought. Its a fine way to kill a few hours watching fun gun battles, but for me it never reached greatness.

191. Phantom in the Twilight
https://myanimelist.net/anime/37598/Phantom_in_the_Twilight
Summer 2018 (12 episodes)
My Score: 4/10, MAL Score: 6.41/10
Best Character: Ton Baileu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jhp0nWpL5X8

Premise: Ton Baileu and her friend Shinyao move to London for college. After theyre mugged by a goblin, Ton is helped by a vampire, a wolfman, and a jiangshi who work in a caf.

The Good: Phantom in the Twilight isnt the greatest anime ever, but its still better than it has any right to be. It feels like a reverse harem at times since Ton is always surrounded by hunky monster boys. It really isnt, though. Its mostly an action anime, and the battles are what it does best. The animation is solid, if nothing special, and the characters all have unique abilities that make the fights interesting to watch. The jiangshi can materialize firearms, Ton can pull weapons from shadows, and so on. I also like Ton quite a bit. I rewatched this hoping shed be in my top 100 characters, and she didnt quite make it, but shes still proactive and fun.

The Bad: The story in Phantom in the Twilight is easily its weakest aspect. Mostly it feels kind of generic. Theres only very few unique ideas, like Van Helsing being the CEO of a massive corporation. However, it falls apart by just how repetitive the arcs are. Over the course of twelve episodes, Shinyao gets kidnapped seven different times! The friendship between her and Ton is supposed to be the driving emotional force but theyre barely ever in the same place together.

Overall: Phantom in the Twilight managed to rise above the low expectations I had for it, but only barely. The characters and the fights were solid, but the overall story was boring and the individual arcs were laughably repetitive.

I hope this MAL link works, I can't seem to paste the strange characters any other way.

193. Marchen Madchen
https://myanimelist.net/anime/35997/M%C3%A4rchen_M%C3%A4dchen
Winter 2018 (10 episodes) plus 2 OVAs
My Score: 4/10, MAL Score: 5.39/10
Best Character: Kagimura Hazuki

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xk3esD5VsIo

Premise: Kagimura Hazuki is socially awkward and always found solace in reading books. Then one day she finds a mysterious book in her bag, and it takes her into a fantastical world.

The Good: Marchen Madchen had an impressively awful production. It started merely mediocre and then steadily fell apart the longer it went on. The last two episodes wound up being delayed a year, and they still didnt look good when finally released. Why am I saying all this in section on good stuff, you ask? Because watching this while it was airing really made me root for it. I got the sense that the people working on it were trying their absolute best to bring this story to life. They just couldnt do a very good job. Characters looked like they were literally melting as they awkwardly moved around it had a certain charm. Looking past the production snafus, this honestly wasnt a bad story. Its about girls of different nationalities taking on the power of famous stories and battling each other in a tournament. I really liked Hazuki. She was cute, and it was fun watching her make friends and explore a magical world.

The Bad: As much as I found the bad production charming, it was still a bad production. I mean, even the OP reused a few scenes, and I don't think it was an artistic choice!

Overall: Marchen Madchen tried its absolute best, and the results were bad. But I still respect that a hell of a lot more than, for example, The Junji Ito Collection from the same season. That anime felt like no one who was making it cared. Marchen Madchen felt like they cared, they just couldnt do a very good job. The only other thing I want to mention is that one of the teams in this was Russian. I dont think you could get away with having goofy yet good-hearted Russians in the modern political climate. Anyway, this was Marchen Madchen, the anime that fell apart.

https://i.imgur.com/1Hxhl29.png

(This is the only baseball anime I have seen.)

195. Cinderella Nine
https://myanimelist.net/anime/38091/Hachigatsu_no_Cinderella_Nine_TV
Spring 2019 (12 episodes)
My Score: 4/10, MAL Score: 6.12/10
Best Character: Arihara Tsubasa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RlTGSkm_N8

Premise: Aihara Tsubasa creates a girls baseball team at her high school, which offers no support aside from an overgrown field to play on. Now she needs to get to work building a team.

The Good: For all the flaws Cinderella Nine has, I enjoyed watching cute girls play baseball. Some of the characters had a fun gimmick, like the shy one or the chunibyo one. Theres also a sense of progression. I enjoyed scenes like them weeding the field so they have somewhere to play. I inherently like the trope of misfits coming together, both as teammates and as friends.

The Bad: The production quality in Cinderella Nine is weak, and the characters are shallow aside from their one-note gimmicks. A few episodes near the end were dedicated to some especially pointless drama. This also only exists to advertise a mobile game, so there isnt much depth in the story and it doesnt really go anywhere in the end.

Overall: Cinderella Nine isnt a very good anime. The animation is weak, the characters are gacha advertisements, and the baseball isnt exactly riveting. Despite all of that, though, I had fun while I was watching it. Seeing the girls decide their positions, practice, and overcome their own insecurities, all of that was great. Cinderella Nine had a lot of little moments that I liked. Sadly, they werent enough for it to overcome the mediocrity of its production and writing.