Winter 2014/2015 Anime Season

[darksuzaku]

From what i have seen for now:

Episode 1 of Aldnoah Zero 2nd season confirmed that i was right dropping it ater that end they did for the 1st season. I won't be coming back except to check the OSTs and the OP/ED songs just in case they are as good as the ones for the 1st season (the one they featured on the ed this time was so so)

Absolute Duo is definitely on the same line as all those series with girls with powers and an special guy who happens to be a rare case. Too soon to say if this time they will do things right.

Juuou Majin no Fafnir. Same with this one. And, that thing of having the first encounter going like "guy sees the main girl naked" is too old by now, and also unneeded fanservice.

Junketsu no Maria & Shinmai Maou. Well not much to say for now. Nther gave me a good or bad impression yet.

Tokyo Ghoul S2. Well, 1st episode confirms they really take a bad decision to ed season 1 on such a cliffhanger. I'll keep tuned for it.

mmmm, have already dropped quite a buch of series already. Hope there are still quite a bunch to start.

[Keropi]

Aldnoah Zero S2:

I'm not sure if I'm going to watch the second season or not. The plot twists are a little too crazy for me. Lol

When these "unique skill main character attending battle school" stories were done with these "naked main girl meeting" cliches a couple of years ago, the cliche was not as overused as it is now. The wave is hitting us now because these novel and manga stories started around 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 years ago. The anime adaptions are hitting us now and we will continue to get these for another couple of years at least. Prepare for them.

World Break seems to be combining the "Hero character in the regular world" story along with the "super power battle school type". At least when two of them are being combined like that it's less predictable. There have been a few novel and manga stories about Maous and Hero characters from alternate lives, but they're nowhere near to the number of "special-ability-battle-school" stories and "respawn-into-a-new-life-with-gamer-like-easy-power-up-abilities" stories that are flooding the market right now.

It's too bad that so many of the novel-to-anime adaptions feel like the comedy is overblown compared to the novel/manga. I guess they studios would rather go a little too heavy on the comedy than underplay them. Silly comedy hits you over the head a lot more in anime form compared to when it's in novel or manga form.

[theultimatebrucelee]

I was unpleasantly surprised by Aldnoah Zero's first ep.

WHAAAAAT??!...SERIOUSLY??! I thought for sure they would bring back one, or possibly even two characters back from the dead, but all three of the characters that seemingly gotten knocked off of stage are all back? Whats the whole point of that final part of season 1 then? I

I liked Junketsu no Maria, thought it was kinda different, with good humor blended in. And it doesn't involve the main dude with super power either. Carious how its gonna go.

Soukyuu no Fafner was interesting so far, I would like to see more.

Dropped Sengoku Musou and Absolute Duo, one has pathetic plot and the other loli-attack straight in the face...those female giant head tiny body creatures reminds me of E.T.

Did enjoy Durarara, as expected, looking forward to next ep.

[Keropi]

Boy, there's a lot of hatred coming out on anime message boards for those "unique-ability-main-character-battle-school" anime-adaption stories.

It reminds me of the hatred that came out for them on manga/novel message boards around 6-9 months ago. It was the same thing.

I don't know why the place I normally go doesn't have smaller sized files of Soukyuu no Fafner Exodus. I'll probably just have to get it from somewhere else.

The second episode of Shinmai Maou was less ecchi than I thought. I wonder how much of that scene was cut out and if there will be extra scenes in the BD version? If the TV airing cuts out that much then the TV series is going to be less ecchi than High School DxD. If the TV airings were like the novels then Shinmai Maou would be MORE ecchi than High School DxD and it would be borderline H material.

It's hard to do an acceptable anime with Kantai Collection because there are so many characters. It works better in the manga when they only concentrate on six or less characters. I hope Bismarck will get a scene.

[theultimatebrucelee]

This season is kinda boring so far except on the weekends so I started watching first part of Initial D recently lol ...Surprisingly good though, the graphics can be quite terrible at times when they switch between immature CG style and cel animation during scenes, but that didn't bother me much at all, and to begin with I don't even like car relates that much, goes to show that some good classics are truly timeless.

So far out of the ten or so series I started this season my favor is Durarara, Saenai heroine and Tokyo Ghoul...And continuation wise, Parasite is getting quite good and so is Nanatsu no Taizei, better and better, I wonder who directed the series. Then there is at least one title that I want to follow for the popularity but can't finish an ep without skipping parts...can't name it here though

[Keropi]

Kantai Collection ep 3:

So they actually killed off Kisaragi eh? I didn't think they were going to do that. That makes the show more interesting at least. I like how that scene was handled. Or least...it looks like she died. You never know these days.

Kongou seems to be the most popular character from the game. I want to see that manga where they switched her mind with Arpeggio's Kongou. It sounds hillarious considering how different those two are. They should make an anime short of that joke.

Saekano ep 3:

I liked how that game had Tokimeki Memorial colors and character design similarities. The logo and case look like the one I have.

World Break's action animation looks pretty ugly.

I decided to watch Aldnoah Zero's second season. It's hard for me to care as much about what happens considering how the story has gone, but it still has some amusing moments. You could say they are "unintentionally amusing' to me.

The first episode of Isuca sounds like it's very different from the manga. Oh well. The manga didn't have a strong story to begin with, but at least it made sense and was a little fun. If the anime is worse than the manga then that's...disappointing.



I've run across a few more "respawn" stories in the last three weeks. There's Spirit Migration where the guy's spirit wanders into different fantasy world animals. The first chapter was like Slime Tensei, but the main character is in higher life forms. Being a slime is a little too low and simple for me. Both of them seemed to be trying to communicating with female characters, but I don't know where it's going.

There is Konjiki no Word Master. They guy is summoned to another world along with four classmates. He's not classified as a "Hero" but as an "Innocent Bystander". He does gain a unique ability though.

There was a web novel that I wanted to read, but when it got turned into a regular light novel the editors changed the basic story. The main character was a magician, but he was a secret magician in the regular world. Him and his classmates got transported to another world as summoned characters. The main character in the web novel was happy to deflect attention away from himself and his female friend was in love with his male friend. The three of them got along just fine. There were no hidden, rivalries or problems between the three of them. The light novel editors changed the story so that the main character had a regular love interest. That change just made the story a lot more similar to other fantasy shounen/seinen stories. It's too bad.

There were other respawn stories I ran across lately besides these, but I got tired of writing all of them down. There are too many of them.

[AR-99]

Due to my schedule, just 2 pickups this season, Assassination Classroom and Kan Colle. Been able to keep current on Kan Colle but already behind on AC. Still haven't finished Space Dandy 2, haven't started Parasyte yet, and also behind on the Twintail anime.

Kan Colle has been OK so far. Have not played the game. WW II is one of my top military history fields, so it's given some more exposure, although indirect, to the ships of the IJN. I still like Girls und Panzer more though, at least the premise of that series is more plausible.

[Keropi]

Yeah, it's kind of weird watching the girls gliding over the water in Kantai Collection, but I guess that's the nature of the browser game. They couldn't really do it any differently because that's how the game was. I'd still like to see Bismarck though. Maybe she can make a cameo somewhere. I'm learning more about Japanese World War II ships from researching the anime. That Battlestations Pacific game I played was pretty fun. I'd like to see the American ships in the Arpeggio manga. That would be interesting.

This anime season is not blowing me away. I don't think that anything that I'm watching from this season is compelling me to watch the new episodes right away. Next season should be much better than this one.



I've been reading two more web novels that come from the ever popular "I'm starting my new life with a new ability advantage" genre category.

There is "World Teacher":
http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index ... ld_Teacher
http://ncode.syosetu.com/n4237cd/

and the "Konjiki no Wordmaster" web novel:
https://yoraikun.wordpress.com/knw-chapters/

I like World Teacher because it's about an older man that wants to teach others. It's not translated very far though. Some people don't like characters that start out already powerful however. It's kind of nice having an older character as the main character. Mentally he's sixty years old, but physically he's only a kid.

I think he fights too well for a three year old though. That was too hard to for me to believe.

Konjiki no Wordmaster I liked until he started traveling around. It got less interesting for me after that. I got tired of the main character acting like a jerk all the time. I didn't mind him at first, but after reading thirty chapters I wish he would tone it down a bit. Cut it in half at least. Not sure if I'm going to read any more of it.

[darksuzaku]

There's no real good series this season for me. My favorite watch is still Parasyte from last season by far.
Junketsu no Maria is probably the one from this season that i could call "best of season".



mmmm, isn't that "World Teacher"'s premise the same as Mushoku Tensei?

[Keropi]

mmmm, isn't that "World Teacher"'s premise the same as Mushoku Tensei?

Yeah, there is a similarity to it in the beginning.

Some Lesser Spoilers for World Teacher and Mushoku Tensei:

The main character reincarnates as an infant in a fantasy world. He has the mind of an adult in a babies body so he tries not to scare the adults that are around him. He studies magic at a young age so that he can become more powerful as an adult. Training as a young child makes you more likely to be stronger. If you trained as an adult you wouldn't improve as much. He learns new abilities. In World Teacher he has to fight some discrimination because he's classified as a "no color" person. Nearly everyone in his world has a dominant ability in ?three types of magic. He's not good in any of those so he has to master the "no color" skill magic on his own. His advantage is that he's not from that world so he can think outside of the box so he's not so limited in his way of thinking. Later he attends a magic school. That part is a bit like Mushoku Tensei too.

Big Spoiler for World Teacher and Mushoku Tensei Here:

If I read it correctly he also gets three wives in the future.

Moderate Word Teacher and Mushoku Tensei Spoilers:

The main character also has problems with his relatives. They are future antagonists and need to be dealt with. The main characters are both very powerful. The main character of World Teacher might be the strongest person in his world. I think the difference with World Teacher is that the main character doesn't have a long term nemesis. His long term story is about exploring the world and helping his students. So it's almost like a self-enlightenment kind of a thing. I'm sure that'll bore a number of readers.

By the way...how are Mushoku Tensei and Arifureta going?

[Keropi]

It seems that I like the odd numbered Kancolle episodes the most -- episodes 3, 5 and 7 (not so much episode 1). I wonder if I won't like episode 8 then.

I've seen some dark Kantai Collection H-doujin stories out there. I guess that's due to the nature of the story. You take the darkest story rumors and run full bore to the dark side with it. It can get very creepy.

I liked this Abyssal artwork someone did. I thought it was pretty neat:
http://danbooru.donmai.us/data/863de8c2 ... d75908.png

I don't know if the picture link is going to work or not.

[Keropi]

I rather enjoyed episode 8 Kantai Collection with the Yamato in it.

I don't know if anyone has seen this article on this World War II Japanese navy veteran and Kantai Collection:

http://sgcafe.com/2014/01/original-batt ... unterpart/

Kind of a fun article there.

I'm really falling behind on my anime viewing. I've been playing this new free H-browser game "Lord of Valkyrie" the last four days. I haven't gotten any H-scenes. It's pretty normal so far. You have to go a ways before running across them. If their games turn out to be a success (and that's a big if), it still sounds like it's unlikely that the company would be able to acquire the rights for an English version of Kantai Collection. Supposedly other companies have tried to see if they could license Kantai Collection and have been unsuccessful.

World War II Japanese ships are not exactly are not exactly the best subject for a game that you want to license it outside of Japan. Some people are going to be annoyed with that.

I wonder how Fafnir Exodus is doing. I've only skimmed it.

[Keropi]

Alright! One-Punch Man is going to get an anime adaption:
http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?t=131131

This could be pretty exciting. I don't expect the anime's artwork to look as good as Murata's redone artwork manga, but it could still be pretty good. The mangas are good superhero parodies, but they also have some cool fighting scenes too.

[theultimatebrucelee]

Pretty much done with this season except for Rolling Girls.

I was able to finish:
Shinmai Maou no Keiyakusha.....this was good at first, then it became ok, and after halfway its just an obligation to finish after watching so much.
Seiken Tsukai no World Break.....cliche as heck, sometimes I would lol at scenes for its corniness, its got material that would attract maybe elementary kids at best but also suggestive stuff.
Isuca......another not so good title, not to mention it ending at nowhere, what kept me going was the main vailliness, I like how bent on revenge she is.


Was able to enjoy:
Aldnoah.Zero 2......First impression on this along with first season is this would be a quality anime, although it had its good moments, went into wrong direction I think. Its also got a few good cliffhangers, especially the one at end of ep23. But it came too late with one ep left they couldn't really pull off anything. Also they focused too much on Inaho and Slaine. While Slaine might be worthy, Inaho isn't because his a low level front line solider. Its a waste a time to compete the Micro with the Macro. To spend time on their rivalry takes away time that they could use to focus on the direction of war overall. Overall the show is still enjoyable to me, much more so the first season though.

Death Parade......Its got a lot more screen time to actually tell a story compared to earlier ova. And its a nice story, especially at the very end, ending was kinda emotional I think.
Junketsu no Maria......This one is pretty original, a fun watch.
Yuri Kuma Arashi......The plot actually is quite interesting, and I really liked the way it unfolded, although they could take away some of the repetitive ritual stuff that's in every single ep.
Parasite......This was slow around the first 1/3 but plot really picked up, I really liked how they spend a lot of time on the interaction between the two protagonists to create the mood. The actions in this is also quite nice and fast paced.

My favors of the season:
Durarara!!x2 Shou......can't wait for the second part.
Saenai Heroine no Sodate-kata......this and Durarara both had really excellent and fast pace narrating. I have to consistently pause to be able to read subtitles.
Tokyo Ghoul √A......that last fight was able to keep me on the edge of my seat. The only disappointment I had was the ending, hopefully see a continuation soon.
Garo......great action, very interesting monster design and nice plot, looking forward to the next season.
Cross Ange......This is my favorite of the past two seasons. Tons of overused elements from other Sunrise titles as well as megatons of fanservice. Main cast of 2 guys and 10+chicks?? come on, thats much too good to be true! And it worked just great in this show unlike nearly every other ones I've seen. I don't usually like main characters much because they usually follow a mundane behavior pattern and tend to do whats "right". Its quite refreshing to see someone that always puts herself first and give no concern to other characters, and watch her grow through out the series.
Nanatsu no Taizai......this is just plain awesome in every way. Also In this kind of series I usually look for how much the demonstration of strength level of protagonists vs. antagonists would match my anticipation, this one does it just right and is able to make both parties awesome.

[Keropi]

Boy, you sure watched a lot this from season.

I've been wondering how some of the shows from last season turned out. I didn't complete anything. It's pretty sad. I've been playing the game all day. I had to try to speed up my manga reading by not clicking as many titles. I'm not sure what I'm missing, but I think I'm still keeping up with most of the titles that I'm most interested in.

I stopped getting a lot of shows because it was too time consuming to get them. The only shows I intend to completely get are Log Horizon, Aikatsu, Folktales from Japan, Cross Ange, Maria Witch, Saekano, Absolute Duo, Military, Parasyte, Kantai Collection, Juuou Fafnir, Fafnir Exodus, Idolmaster Cinderella, Jojo's Egypt, World Break, Isuca and Aldnoah Zero. Well, I guess that's still kind of a lot, but it's not very much compared to before. I think I was getting like 28-35 shows a week before. That's too many...especially when I'm not even watching any of it.

Aldnoah Zero Ending:

So it was more of like a realistic type of ending eh? It was a little bittersweet I suppose. Some good things happened and some bad things happened.

So you understood the plot of "Yuri Kuma Arashi"?

Cross Ange:

So what happened at the end?