Hello friends! Back with another discussion blog about the recent anime. I believe I've missed the previous season, but since I don't even remember what I watched in Winter, it was probably quite a bad season, so I won't even go out of my way to find out what aired then. However, feel free to mention your picks from Winter 2017 as well, perhaps there was some hidden gem I've missed. ;o
Moving onto Spring 2017... (Not?) surprisingly enough, I'm actually following only two anime series this season!
- Attack on Titan Season 2
- It took four years for the biggest hit of the recent anime times to come back. And I'm here asking, why?! I will never understand the decisions of the production committees, I'm just gonna assume that there are people sitting around a round table having as much idea about what they're doing as my ability to perform a surgery. Because not only it took four years, the staff, once again, ended up battling against time, money and resources. Truly, the anime industry is a strange place. But no more about that, if you're up for reading about such things, I definitely, definitely recommend reading the articles in the following blog: Sakugabooru. A lot of interesting insights into certain anime series, as well as anime in general.
- Production issues - and some parts or even entire episodes' animation suffering as a result aside, the only other slight issue I have is, as crazy as that sounds, the soundtrack. Perhaps I was waaay too overhyped, but I was slightly disappointed with the lack of new tracks in the S2 OST album, however, there is still a lot of great stuff in the album. My favorites are Barricades, APETITAN, ERENthe標, Call of Silence, AOTs2M他1 and ESPECIALLY YouSeeBIGGIRL/T:T, which is like the best thing since sliced bread. O hey, that's actually quite a few of tracks. :P
- As far as the content of the season goes, AoT S2 has ended up to be of much better pacing, not leaving things out anymore (some minor stuff in the last episode aside) and ending pretty much every episode with a cliffhanger. ( ._.) However, I totally loved how they adapted major points of the arc and it was a pretty thrilling watch, even though I'm also reading the manga so I know what's up. In a way, that makes the season even more interesting, just from another point of view: I'm picking up on all the hints thrown in here and there.
- So what can I say? If you're not familiar with the series (lol), and you're up for some blood, thrills and mystery, check out the first season. But the BluRay version please, as it has a lot of animation fixed. Season 3 is already announced for 2018, and it looks like it will cover the next 2 major arcs, so two cours are expected this time!
- My Hero Academia S2
- Yep, sequels are becoming the only anime I've been watching in the last several seasons, so here we go with Hero Aca! Boy, Bones are doing absolutely spectacular job with this series! I can't even begin to explain how much I've been enjoying this season. This is simply a shounen done right, starting from the original source and ending with the great adaption that the staff of Bones has been delivering. The highlight has, so far, been the fight between Deku and Todoroki (obviously). Really fun stuff, with a message to deliver at the same time. If you're up for some Naruto (back when it was still good, obviously) x X-Men stuff, this is the anime you should pick up.
- Dragon Ball Super
- I did say I followed only two anime, but mid-post I remembered that this thing existed. However, this arc has been such a fucking meme that I haven't watched a single episode since the recruiting of 17. Rip. ( ._.)
- Koe no Katachi (Movie)
- Abort, abort! There is actually one more thing I watched, and that being the Silent Voice movie. I feel I can't really talk about it without spoiling a lot of things, so I'm just going to say that this movie is a beautiful (as ironic as that may sound) representation of people going through anxiety, depression and bullying. Definitely worth a watch. I also ended up reading the manga that this movie is based on and I have no regrets
except when the movie almost made me cry.
- Abort, abort! There is actually one more thing I watched, and that being the Silent Voice movie. I feel I can't really talk about it without spoiling a lot of things, so I'm just going to say that this movie is a beautiful (as ironic as that may sound) representation of people going through anxiety, depression and bullying. Definitely worth a watch. I also ended up reading the manga that this movie is based on and I have no regrets
So a few paragraphs later, I seem to be done. Not sure if it's just me (it's not), but each season, each year, is getting progressively worse. The upcoming Summer season has literally nothing to offer as far as I'm concerned, so it looks like I'll end up following the second cour of Hero Aca only. God bless that series, tbh. I also remember reading several manga chapters of this upcoming anime and it seemed kinda crazy, but I might still check it out.
Anyways, do share your thoughts, everyone! What are/were you watching? Any good music/OP/ED you'd like to share? Your to-watch list? Comment away~