User blog comment:IamJakuhoRaikoben/Chapter 454: Flying Dragon Squad and Osprey Squad, Review./@comment-4449950-20150929043128/@comment-3987368-20150929062543

Oh, this just had to be posted while I was stuck in the train, lol. Well, for this overall season, there wasn't that much to talk about cause most of it was pretty meh.

Best: Rokka no Yuusha was definitely the best of the season. It takes a lot for an anime to get away with giving one description of its plot when the content we actually see differs from what you expect. The reason Rokka no Yuusha works so well is because the writers know how to keep the audience interested. It takes a lot to make a person go back and watch a previous episode of the series to confirm facts from another episode, but that's what this anime did. All of the main characters were actually pretty convincing and while some weren't utilized to their fullest effect, there's none whom I actually thought brought down the show. Speaking specifically about the protagonist, think about him as being kind of like a stereotypical wrestler but with the tactics and brain power of Liam Neeson in Taken. It sounds peculiar but it actually works because more than once we see that he is really a lot deeper than we're initially led to believe, which fleshes him out in a way most other main characters in anime don't get. We know what he can do and though he constantly talks about being the strongest, you can even make the argument that he's the weakest of the main cast. Even if you do, this does not hinder his ability to be effective the way that it does characters in other manga and in the end, it's his brain that ultimately solves the issue. The end of this anime was pretty abysmal though. I can get over the rushed explanation of her reasoning for betraying the braves but I feel that the introduction of the cow girl was a completely unnecessary addition from the anime's perspective because it comes off a lot more like a cheap gimmick to keep the viewers interested than the (likely) intention of adding another layer of mystery to the series. Not to mention that her design is just plain ugly even by this series' standards, where we have a character whose power is literally vomiting and creating monsters out of it. We really didn't need her to be introduced at this point and I know it was likely to set up a second season, but I've recently been reading that the Blu-Rays did not sell well in Japan and so we may not even get that second season, which makes this pointless. As Arkada of Glass Reflection consistently says: "The ending to any series is paramount." and when you are releasing shows one season at a time, you better have a good ending each season because in this world, there is no certainty besides death and taxes, and that goes for anime too. Overall though, it's still a decent show and I recommend it if anyone is interested in something a little different. Score: 8/10

Other: Shokugeki no Soma was a manga I've been reading for a while now so I was pretty excited to see the anime make its debut. Its first episode was pretty underwhelming but I would say the show overcame most of its hurdles to produce a pretty good anime overall. I think Soma made a pretty good protagonist by virtue of being skilled but not overtly so that it makes him come off as your typical overpowered protagonist. If you continue the manga after this anime, you'll see a lot more growth in him, particularly after this cooking festival arc ends. As far as the animation of the show goes, there isn't a whole lot to say. The food dishes look good but most of the animation is pretty standard affair. J.C staff hasn't done a whole lot of noteworthy work in terms of excellent animation as of late so I've kinda just lost any interest I may have ever had. Still, it's not bad on the technical aspect either so take this as you will. Overall, I do think this anime is good but at the same time, it doesn't really impress me either. There are a lot of simple fails that the series makes that are easily avoidable and while it does execute itself decently, for 24 episodes, there's nothing you really get in this anime that you won't get in Yakitate!! Ja-Pan in that same length, an anime that is quite similar but focuses on baking. Score: 7/10

Joukamachi no Dandelion: This anime was kind of interesting. At first, I saw that it was just some adaption of a 4-panel Koma manga, or something like that. I didn't really care too much for the first episode but it did make me laugh briefly so I decided I'd continue. I admit, the plot to this anime is really quite ridiculous. I mean, 9 kids (biological siblings, same two parents, 8-9 different hair colors) all competing for the throne of the country via election. Yeah, cause that's totally how monarchy works not that I'd be completely against that though, seeing as I'm an anti-monarchist in real life. So, I did think that I'd be dropping this anime after a while but surprisingly I kept up with it. Some episodes were dumber than others but about half way through, it got mildly serious. Sure, the problems were pretty generic and never actually dealt with in a detailed, mature way but they weren't simply brushed aside either for the most part. In the final episode, we crown the new king of the country (which was the title that, amusingly, every sibling -including the girls- was going for) after a scenario that was legitimately interesting for a few minutes. I didn't think that there would be much to get out of a show which had episodes that were mostly 2-3 shorts of about 8-9 mins each, but this was actually something of a surprise since I did. So, this anime isn't anything special but I guess keeping expectations low once in a while can be a good thing. Score: 6/10

Miss Monochrome: Season 2: Well, the first season aired in 2013 and I watched that so I figured I'd watch this one too. I don't have much to say on it since each episode is only seven and a half minutes though. Everything's pretty generic, but I guess some of the music is decent. Miss Monochrome is voiced by Yui Horie (who does the voice of Carla) and she's a pretty decent singer and the use of her voice to create the robotic voice of Miss Monochrome was kinda cool. If you have an hour and a half to waste, give this is a run. All others needn't apply. Score: 5/10

Worst: Million Doll: Does someone wanna remind me why I watched this anime? 'Cause I sure don't remember. Two episodes in I was already bored as balls with it. Damn, even the CG models in Love Live looked better than this. Whatever though, nothing to waste time on here. Score: 3/10

Anyways, that's the end of Summer 2015. Who has watching plans for this upcoming Fall 2015 Season?