User blog comment:TheCarrotSaysYumYum/Fairy Tail Wiki Winter 2016 Animeh Review Blog/@comment-4829046-20160331072501/@comment-4829046-20160331090103

Ok... now for the big one.... Jesus....

1. Ao no Kanata four rhythm This is only beaten by BokuDake imo. Honestly, this blew my mind. You know it's background? An eroge Visual novel... Basically a romance with sports elements. The anime had NONE OF THAT. Holy crap! For once in a VN adaptation, they didn't go the brain-dead harem route and kept to the themes of friendship, rivalry and general sportsmanship rather than waste time on some forced attempt to make a romantic plotline that would have taken away the sports focus. I wrote so many episode reviews on it because each episode stunned me.(reviews were not shared btw XD) I only had one gripe but it quickly disappeared since the series decided to tackle it in not just the shounen way, but in a very beautifully animated shounen way. When I decided to watch it last year, I didn't expect it to be this good. I only expected it to 'look' good, but it had all the elements to keep me hooked. Amazing. (Note that this gets a long one only coz I was so awed by it XP)

2. Akagami no Shirayukihime Well what can I say? I absolutely love this series. They adapted the manga rather well and made sure to cut in random events of the manga to make sure that they didn't shorten a major arc. It kept the flow and was very moving to watch. Still suffered the issue of 'death vs. KO' but even AkaYona was guilty of that in such matters, though it did have a lot more death than AkaShira. That's all really. If you enjoyed the first part, then this is just as good. But hey, I'm a fanboy so I'm biased :P

3. Assassination Classroom 2 Still airing of course, but I must mention the PV for part 2. Damn... that was amazeballs... I felt strangely proud that Kayano got a PV to herself. Bit spoilery for anionly but hey, it was beautiful. I felt S2 paced itself much better than S1 because they are confident on a complete run this time, but hey, as an adaptation of a shounen manga, it is doing much better than Nanatsu no Taizai(which is still good) and for that, it has my appreciation.

4. Dagashi Kashi Still not over, but since I read the manga, it doesn't really matter. I have to say that they did the ridiculously short slapstick manga justice. I knew exactly what I was getting into(unlike some others maybe...) and actually got more than I bargained for. I have to say that Coconuts is bland, but this series is entirely for promotional merit so the fact that he still has so much personality should be applauded. It's the other 3, or more specifically Saya that kept my interest going though. I knew that Saya appearing would mean some fresh content each time.

5. Durarara X2 Ketsu Well... I didn't actually watch this properly, but at least it had more high points than some other sections of the franchise. It was mostly the OP that made it for me though. Very nice touch having the semi-recap in the middle of the OP. The ending was pretty satisfactory too. Still, this is only for those that have dedicated time to the Durarara franchise. The world is too complicated for just a casual watch.

6. Fairy Tail Zero I've already said everything on the epsiode blogs ;P

7. GATE(part 2) I'm pretty conflicted about GATE due to the differences between the LN, manga and anime stories. For now I'll ignore the other mediums and focus on anime. Well.... it was good. Many things felt anti-climactic tbh but overall, it was enjoyable and the ending gave a good sense of conclusion just in case a season 2 doesn't come about. Again, while it is a very beautiful anime, I think it requires some dedication.

8. God Eater(finale) Technically this started a long time ago but only finished after restarting mid-season. I have to say that the first episode after the break in the season, was unfair. That was too heart-wrenching and uncut for a random flashback episode. Then it is followed by the big ones leading to the finale... The finale felt incomplete, but since this is an adaptation of what is basically a modern rip-off of Monster hunter, it suffices I suppose. Ufotable kinda went overboard with the gore in this one and maybe tried too hard with the storytelling. The suspension of disbelief during fight scenes was sometimes excessive.

9. Hai to Gensou no Grimgar People kept going on about how it was an SAO ripoff and a terrible anime. What? It's clearly trying to be something else and taking a very different approach into that kind of storytelling. Just get off the comparison chair and view it as a character-driven story. I can't say it was 'amazing' because there were some inconsistencies, but the series handled said matters by pushing a very personal approach to characterization. I wanted to know more about characters because of their flaws rather than just their general appeal. I expected more fan service given the first episode but instead got some pretty raw emotions. Definitely a very different show. Props to the anime team for the effort, and for improving the art as well coz the original LN art is... well....

10. Haikyuu S2 I honestly didn't have time for this one and I apologize. ( _ _) From what I saw, it will once again rake immense DVD/BD sales like S1 so season 3 in October has pretty good prospects. :D

11. HaruChika Meh, wasn't compelled to follow this. Just gonna say that it didn't really improve too much since episode 1. Might just be me though.

12. KonoSuba Well this is a weird one.... It has a very inspiring history behind it and the anime was rather well received, especially by those that desperately wanted a true parody of that overused genre of getting trapped in a fantasy world. As a parody, it is regarded as a masterpiece. Truth be told though, I found the anime far too distracting to tolerate. It just isn't for me sadly. I'm reading the manga though so maybe I might revise my opinion.

13. Mobile Suite Gundam Iron-blooded Orphans Meh, if one likes Gundam, one will probably watch this regardless of what I say so I'll just say that it didn't feel like anything new in terms of storytelling ( ._.)

14. Prince of Stride Alternative The first Otome game(game for girls) adaptation I've seen but I didn't know that until I noticed the heavy bishounen aspect in episode 2. Overall, it was a pretty high quality adaptation and caught the effect of parkour extremely well. Can't say I'd recommend it to anyone though... While I wouldn't categorize the boys(yes, boys, coz the girl is supposed to be the player character in the game) into any particular stereotypes, it is easy to do so and the bromance is quite strong. Well.. .that's all really...

15. Saijaku Muhai no Bahamut I expected a copy-paste fantasy-mecha harem school life dense-protagonist fest. Well.... I got it... but... didn't? This is now surprisingly one of my favourites in this overused LN genre. The OP was damn good and the usual annoyances were a lot less infuriating. I checked out the LNs to confirm some things and was very happy with what I saw. For once, the harem MC actually has something more going for him than just being the only guy in a girl's school. Easily beats Infinite Stratos, the placeholder for the genre. The characters weren't 'too' complex but at least had more going for them than other examples of the genre. I found them all immensely enjoyable especially when they made fun of tropes.

16. Utawarerumono Uh.... can't say much about this either. I feel like it just fitted into the slot left by Arslan Senki, but since it is based on a sequel story to an Eroge adaptation, it took a very interesting route. I don't wanna spoil, but if you are into the medieval type setting and liked things like Arslan Senki, well.... go for it.

17. Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu Still not over till episode 13, but deserves special mention for its courage. How many high quality anime are adaptations of manga that have nothing but the realistic portrayal of a tradition and how the main characters grow and interact with said tradition. It has so much appeal it is unbelievable. The voice acting is what sells it. You just can't make this kind of show without the utmost dedication from VAs. Every line feels like music to the ears. So much attention to detail. It is sad that not many can appreciate this, especially since the setting goes waaaay back to World War era and beyond with very little anime faffery.

18. Heavy Object I pray no one has to sit through this kind of show.... not even gonna bother saying anything. At it is a pretty anime and has a more or less decent ending for an incomplete LN adaption.

19. She and Her Cat This just popped into the season out of nowhere for 4 episodes and was like a punch to the gut while you are watching all those other series. It's short, but damn personal. It's one of those you just play in the background after a long day. :'(

20. Dimension W Can't really add anything to what you said. I only downloaded it coz I knew my friend, that is a diehard fan of the gangsta manga, was praising it. I felt the pacing was a bit wonky at times. Should watch properly and see.

21 & 22 The other two were short episode ones that don't really need mentioning.

Not even gonna bother with Musaigen no Phantom World since you mentioned anything and everything. >_>