Anime of the Season!
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| The Winner of last season |
The plan is simple. I'm going to list out the animes I've watched (or at least, that I have followed) over this season and give a brief write-up about each one. I won't be mentioning heavy hitters like One Piece or Fairy Tail or series' which I have only seen 1-2 episodes before giving up. I also won't be talking about super short animes like Ooya-san wa Shishunki! or Ojisan to Marshmallow.
1) Boku Dake ga Inai Machi (ERASED)
The story follows Satoru, who has the ability to go back in time moments before a life-threatening event occurs, allowing him to prevent it from happening. When his mother is tragically murdered, he is sent eighteen years into the past, back to elementary school, to stop a kidnapper that claimed the lives of three of his classmates.
I initially watched the first two episodes of this anime before immediately marching into the manga. I liked the tone the anime had set (especially that opening!) and I was looking forward to the story and characters. Unfortunately, the story fell a little flat part way through and the ending was average at best. I read a few chapters before simply skipping to the ending.
Another reason I did not fully consume this anime is because child kidnappings and abuse rub me the wrong way. I do not like it and I feel very frustrated even watching something like this. It's good no doubt, touching on issues like these and sending an important message but I simply feel a little too much emotion from watching it.
2) Musaigen no Phantom World (Myriad Colors Phantom World)
Sometime in the near future, extra-dimensional creatures called Phantoms walk the world. Some humans are born with abilities that can seal these Phantoms and the anime follows the life of Haruhiko and his friends in the Phantom-hunting club of his school, and their everyday lives revolving around various Phantom-related problems.
One big thing to be noted is that this anime was produced by KyoAni. The art and animations are beautiful, no doubt, but the story and characters were very subpar. The anime starts off by placing lots of expectations on your plate but by the end, it cuts off to simply being mediocre. There was a lot of potential but it seemed that all of it was subverted in favour of the idea behind the unique setting, which unfortunately, came off as simply uninspired.
3) Dagashi Kashi
Dagashi Kashi follows Hotaru, a candy-loving eccentric who tries to recruit Yo, an owner of a countryside candy shop, into her father's company. Yo says that he would agree only if his son, Kokonotsu, agrees to take over the family shop. And so, we follow Hotaru and Kokonotsu's daily lives alongside their friends as they deal with various situations which almost always involves a specific type and brand of candy.
This anime had a very lax approach to its story, with each episode revolving around a random problem and a new candy. This would have been way more interesting to me had I cared about candy types that exist in Japan. Though admittedly, even without that, I found the series to be enjoyable. It's one of those animes that you can just watch as you relax with a cup of coffee after a day's work.
4) Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku o! (KonoSuba: God's Blessing on this Wonderful World!)
Kazuma is a NEET who dies unexpectedly due to a tragic but hilarious accident. So the Goddess Aqua, gives him two choices: be reborn into the normal world, or be transported as he is into a fantasy world where he can bring any one thing of his choosing. And so Kazuma decides to bring the horribly insensitive Aqua with him to achieve great things in this new world!
What do I like about KonoSuba? I actually previously made a whole post about this so go read that! What don't I like about KonoSuba? The fact that I can't buy the English translated novels, the current lack of a Megumin figurine and that season 2 is not here yet.
5) Dimension W
Humanity has discovered an infinite source of energy located in a fourth dimension known as Dimension W. New Tesla is a company that has monetised this infinite energy source in the form of coils that can be sold to the masses. Kyoma is an old fashioned man who hunts for illegal coils and with Mira, a humanoid robot powered by a single coil, they discover the mystery and truth behind the coils, Dimension W and New Tesla.
What started off amazing became a chore to watch. They had the characters, world, story and music but they threw it all away for a one-dimensional villain and poorly executed exposition. The first half of the anime had so many strong points but the second half just became a jumbled mess.
6) Koyomimonogatari
Koyomimonogatari! Yet another entry into the Monogatari series. Each episode tells a short story that happened between the time of Koyomi's fateful meeting with Kissshot until his college entrance exams. Each episode is around 10 minutes long with the final episode having an ending that will leave your jaw dropping. I really need the next Monogatari series!
As with every Monogatari series, each episode had a charm of its own with a decent mystery plot and witty, playful conversations. The Monogatari series is very much loved by many people and you don't need me to tell you that if you're a fan, you should be watching this.
7) Durarara!!x2 Ketsu
The continuation and ending to the Durarara series. If you've followed the series up till now, you finally get to see an ending that, admittedly, is pretty satisfying. You see the conclusion to Celty's mark on the city, Mikado's resolve and Izaya's fate. Considering this is the fourth series in the franchise, you should already know what you're getting into. A story full of character, intrigue and mystery with a satisfying ending.
8) Hai to Gensou no Grimgar (Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash)
Our heroes find themselves in Grimgar, a world very much like an MMORPG game with no memories of their previous lives. And so, they party up and venture forth into the world of Grimgar! The show focuses more on character growth and emotion than anything else and as such, can be seen as very slow for some.
With animes like Sword Art Online and Log Horizon, expectations of this genre usually remain on the larger than life scale but Grimgar does the complete opposite. Grimgar grounds its world and handles it in a pseudo-realistic way, giving more emphasis on life and death, resolve and duty and everything else normal people struggle with if they were to be placed in an extraordinary situation.
AND THE WINNER IS...
Most of you probably saw this coming but the winner is KonoSuba!
Considering I already made a post about this before, this doesn't come as a surprise at all. KonoSuba is certainly a great blessing on this world with my only gripe being the slight animation quirks. Very seldom can you rate a purely comedic anime over other genres which involve more emotional stories with higher stakes but in the case of KonoSuba, it would be blasphemy to Goddess Eris if you didn't. Heck, that situation is akin to the whole Axis cult being comprised of even remotely normal people.
Honourable mention: Digimon Adventure Tri - Ketsui
It's Digimon. Of course it deserves an honourable mention. Too bad I can't truly give it a competing chance until the final movie is released. And even then, I might just be completely biased towards my childhood series.
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