User blog comment:Ultraprime2/Fairy Tail Wiki - Anime vol. 3: Spring 2016/@comment-4449950-20160707050612

Late too, but here nonetheless.

I rather liked this last season. What's been happening mostly in past seasons this year and last year is that I'd watch a nice number of shows and 50% would turn out to be rubbish or I'd drop them. The other 50% would be pretty mediocre and maybe one would stand out, but not get a 9 or 10 typically. This season I actually liked everything I watched. None were amazing, but all were decent and I have none to complain greatly about. As such (and because they all got rather similar scores) rather than listing best and worst, I'll just give a short impression of everything I watched :)

Bungou Stray Dogs

Ah, BSD, the anime I went into thinking would be my anime of the season. Alas, I came out a little disappointed.

To say there is anything wrong with BSD would be incorrect imo, because there's nothing wrong; however, there's nothing amazing about it either. The plot started out intriguing and cool, but lost itself when the anime instead focused on a variety of side stories to introduce the characters. I don't mind this set-up at the start of an anime if it leads into something more later and helps explains the characters and their motivations, but these side episodes did little to flesh them out properly, only really revealing a bit about their personality (no backstory) and their powers. It was annoying, and made the later more serious plots have far less impact than they could have.

The flat plot aside, the characters are what kept me going through this - and boy was I in love with the cast. They were goofy and serious and touching and I really just enjoyed watching them faff about. Dazai in particular was one of my three males of the season (because I couldn't pick between them) and every scene he was in way gold - his VA also did a stellar performance.

I can't say the same for most of the bad guys though. The main one for this arc seemed dull and flat and I didn't like his motivation even when it was revealed. Most of the others too fell flat and were kind of neat at best. Only one stood out, but his absolute lack of screen-time let him down.

BSD is not an anime I would likely rewatch unless it was just to pick out hilarious Dazai scenes. I will be watching the second core in the hopes that the plot picks up (kind of like I did for Akagami) but I have my doubts. Even though I was truly entertained, I don't think I can recommend this to anyone looking for some late watches from this season, because aside from the funny and quite unique-in-an-odd-way cast, this anime has very little to offer so far.

Final Score: 6.7/10, mainly boosted by the cast and animation alone.

Kiznaiver

*sighs* This is an odd series to talk about. I feel like it had all of the right ingredients to be an amazing series, but failed to mix them in the right order and got the measurements wrong, so the final product came out under-cooked and lacking.

The strongest point of this show (like BSD) is the cast, and I can say that I liked the mix of characters and how they changed over the course of only 12 episodes. There was genuine character development here, and I even ended up not minding the lifeless, stoic main character who has the personality type I typically loathe. The motivation for many of the characters was great, so I do give a thumbs up to the writers for that. Voice acting was also on-point.

So, why a lower score then? Well, mainly because of the pacing of the plot. The show starts out unbelievably slow and has a very childish tone to it. It takes a serious idea, but ruins it in a way by throwing in odd comedy and disturbing any sort of deep emotion you can have for the characters and their situation. This DEFINITELY changes in the later half when the comedy during the serious scenes is abandoned, and this really, REALLY improves the overall tone of the show. However, the first half can't be ignored, and I got a "too little too late" feeling about it. To add to this, the last episode, though nicely executed, is slightly underwhelming. That being said, the places the characters end up in are genuinely great. The characters really do keep this show together.

Another nit-pick is the way the comedy is done. In most shows I can ignore the comedy if it really starts to irk me because usually a show splits the comedy and the story, or the story itself is the comedy. Here, the comedy and plot can't be split. For example: these weird, goofy creatures threaten the cast a lot at the start of the series. They've got a real "Minions" vibe about them and I think(?) they're meant to be funny, but I just found them distracting, unneeded and odd. However, because they actually interact with the cast and move them at times from A->B they cannot be split from the story, or ignored. They are needed for the plot and that's really annoying, because if they had been a serious threat, or not to tied to events, I might have enjoyed the story more than I did.

Still, this is an interesting watch with lovely animation to boot, so (unlike BSD) I would recommend it to anyone who reads the synopsis and is intrigued. You will have to wait for the plot to kick in, but it's a neat concept that I do think is worth the wait.

Final Score: 7.1/10

Boku no Hero Academia

I don't know what to say about BnHA tbh, because I just enjoyed it. That's about it really :P It's got the typical shounen vibe to it and the main character and some others reflect this especially, but the way the story is set up is intelligent and leaves room for lots of exciting things to come. In this sense, I'm pointing to All Might (my second of three males of the season) and everything to do with All For One. I thought this was an intelligent way to have our main character start his hero journey, but have to remain secretive about his powers: not for himself, but for another. Midoriya in general is a nice character, and more enjoyable to watch than other shounen leads *glances at Natsu*

There are some great side characters too, though I must admit the large cast is (at the moment at least) a slight drawback, as there're so many people to fit in and we hardly know anything about them. I'll assume this'll be helped though with season 2.

So... why not a higher score? Well, to that all I can say is: Kacchan. He's the rival character and is seriously so poorly written I wish he was removed altogether. I just... arg, his motivation, personality, VA... everything just pissed me off to no end. He did start to get some development, but the issue I have here is that it seems like he was written into the place of needing this development purely for having a character like him in the story: for the sake of a rival, I mean. Like, really, you get so pissed off at a kid "below you" when that kid does something nice because...????? He has this retarded "the weak should never show any form of strength" mentality, and it's fucking pathetic and annoying imo. I just hated him whenever he appeared on screen and he seriously dragged the anime down for me due to the episodes dedicated to him being an asshole (and an over-the-top one at that) for no real reason.

Still, this was a fun watch, and I will be watching S2 when it arrives.

Final Score: 7.9/10

AssClass S2

Not much to say on this... the manga is waaay better and the anime cut a lot to finish everything up this season. The directing was also really poor imo, and that's saying something because usually I don't notice such things. Maybe because I read the source content and then saw the anime? Not sure, but episodes ended at weird places, split content in ways I didn't like and generally took away from the feel and intensity of the manga imo. A different director might have done the series more good.

Despite this, AssClass' heart is still there. It still ends as the manga does and the warming message is felt throughout. It's not the best adaptation, but it manages to get the main message across. And AssClass' message is one I adore, so I came out happy with the series as a whole.

Final Score: 8.3/10

Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu

Meh, I dunno, I enjoy this series but at the same time there's something I can't put my finger on that just pisses me off about it too. Not sure .-.

It has a neat concept and the characters are all likeable in some way, but I don't adore any of them either. Emilia is probably my favourite, but even then she's just okay I guess. Subaru's attitude irks me sometimes and especially in the last episodes I hate that he feels the need to butt into everyone's business despite the fact that he hasn't bothered to learn everything about the world he's in or even practice holding his tongue despite it getting Emilia in trouble. Glad she called him out for that shit, because it was cringe-worthy, really.

Yeah, all in all I'm not sure about this. I like the concept and stuff, but I guess I just want a bit more. Any mystery, what little there is, is easy enough to predict, and due to the time travel twist any urgency is kind of lost to me because I know the main character will just jump back until it's okay. I get that the enjoyment is meant to come from seeing how he gets through everything rather than if, but maybe I'm just not into this sort of thing. It's a good series, but I wouldn't say it's amazing, ground-breaking and stunning as I hear others say.

Final Score: N/A/10 - I don't score unfinished shows

Koutetsujou no Kabaneri

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE damn it... this show started off SO GOOD and then an unfortunate bad guy decision just dragged it down at the end.

I loved the concept (even if it was, as many say, comparable to AoT) and the art style and just everything - heck, I didn't even find the main character that annoying either. I got a real AoT x Snowpiercer vibe throughout, and the first episodes really did a great job of setting up the world and characters. There were some neat ideas too, and a great cast, all which I love (unlike AoT, which, in the anime at least, has a shit cast).

That being said, then the main bad guy came in. I was hoping he'd be interesting, but the writers made him your typical "I have daddy issues that went unresolved -> let's kill everyone in the world for some apparently metaphysical(not!) reason" sort of guy. Sufficed to say the ending went downhill after this, even if Biba was nothing short of fabulous.

Still, I was expecting the ending to be a complete wreck due to this piss-poor villain, but was astounded when it... well, wasn't. It wasn't amazing, but the story actually dealt with all of its elements quite well, and I found myself enjoying it.

So, yeah, take out Biba and this could have been a really great, well-animated zombie anime with a great cast. Alas, the second half was a let-down.

This being said, Kurusu gets my third male of the season award for his awesome level-headedness and bravery, and Ayame my female of the season award for also being intelligent and loyal despite being set up as a cliche princess to be used and abused.

Because of the way the series ended, I would actually like another season~

Final Score: 7/10

Fairy Tail OVA

...was shit. That's all I have to say for the inappropriate added fanservice, the stupid nonsense (that was meant to be funny, I think??) that would only entertain a 4-year-old that they added to the script, and the poor animation. Would not recommend. Hopefully the others have more taste than this did. (and before anyone asks, no, I actually didn't mind the omake it was based on)

Final Score (for this OVA only): 2/10

Best OP: Bungou Stray Dogs. T'was great and catchy. Kudos to BnHA as well, that one was also pretty good.

Best ED: Re:Zero, no question. Such a pretty song. Kabaneri's ED was also nice as well :)

This season:

I'm definitely watching Souma S2 (which so far seems rushed), Orange (which so far seems a little boring), Love Live Sunshine (which so far seems to give me a headache), Handa-kun (which I don't think will entertain me as much as Barakamon) and 91 Days (which I hope isn't a let down). I also checked out Sweetness and Lightning episode 1 because people recommended it, but unfortunately Gray's VA voices the main male and Shirayuki's VA voices the main female. And no offence to them, but I dislike their voices because they sound the same in every fucking anime they work on. Omg, they do and it annoys me to hear the same voices everywhere. Still, if it's a nice plot, I'll likely continue anyhow.

So, yep, that's my take on things :)