Spring 2016 Anime Season Wrap-up
Warning: The following post may contain spoilers from the shows I watched from the Summer Spring 2016 anime season (since I've been calling it that far too many times then I've liked to. I'm catching an early wind). If you wish not to know some plot details in the stories, or simply don't wish to find out what happens in the series that are mentioned, please exit the tab, and come join me once you've watched the first few episodes. But than again, if you don't mind spoilers, feel free to stay put.
Also, the pictures for my special posts are chosen at random. I'm still obsessed with Rangetsu's fanart for C.C. (that's never going to change), and this photo looked super cute when I was browsing through my collection, so I chose it.
So with that said, let's get started:
The Spring season got busy for me again. Not only due to Mary Poppins at school for the musical this year (I was involved in it on props) plus other school work to wind down the year, I decided to tackle most of the shows that I was immediately interested in that were airing this season. It was a risk that I've been interested in taking for a while now, and I think it managed to pay off.
Overall, there were 4 shows that I followed this anime season (half were followed as they aired, and 2 were mainly caught up with before starting to go week by week), and there's still a couple left that I could potentially check out in the future.
For the 3rd season in a row, I didn't drop any shows that were currently airing, nor check out a show to find out that it was exactly what I thought it was going to be or worse. I'm really hoping that this trend continues, considering how crazy it's gone for me in the past (winter 2015 comes to mind).
Before we move on though, I'll note like I typically do that the following opinions of these anime are my own. I don't mind if you have a different opinion, and if you disagree with me on them, please don't be rude if you decide to comment. I'd prefer discussions rather than arguments.
Much like with last season (Winter 2016), I managed to watch a show from the previous season after it was finished airing. That being Divine Gate:
Overall, there were 4 shows that I followed this anime season (half were followed as they aired, and 2 were mainly caught up with before starting to go week by week), and there's still a couple left that I could potentially check out in the future.
For the 3rd season in a row, I didn't drop any shows that were currently airing, nor check out a show to find out that it was exactly what I thought it was going to be or worse. I'm really hoping that this trend continues, considering how crazy it's gone for me in the past (winter 2015 comes to mind).
Before we move on though, I'll note like I typically do that the following opinions of these anime are my own. I don't mind if you have a different opinion, and if you disagree with me on them, please don't be rude if you decide to comment. I'd prefer discussions rather than arguments.
Much like with last season (Winter 2016), I managed to watch a show from the previous season after it was finished airing. That being Divine Gate:
But to make a long story short, despite the fact that I was well hyped for this anime series, it did not live up to it entirely. The story and characters were the main reasons why this show fell apart, but as to why, well, you're just going to have to see the review for yourself. ;)
Let's now discuss the 4 shows that I managed to watch while they were airing this season:
Bungo Stray Dogs, Gakusen Toshi Asterisk's 2nd season, Kiznavier, and the 3rd arc of Sailor Moon Crystal (technically its 3rd season).
I was able to get both Sailor Moon Crystal's season 3 and Gakusen Toshi Asterisk's 2nd cour caught up with after a few weeks (one I'm already done with, since it finished airing recently at the time of this post), but I was able to follow both Bungo Stray Dogs and Kiznaiver as new episodes were coming out week by week. I'm going to go over each show very briefly.
Bungo Stray Dogs reminded me of Karneval when I first heard about it, and is based off of a manga where the characters are named after famous Japanese writers, and later, authors from overseas come into the mix as well. Though the show's tonal shifts aren't always the best, and the OPness that seems to come out of nowhere for our main character that ends up going away an episode later is pointless, the show itself is actually very fun and exciting, and I really enjoyed most of the show. I'm also excited to talk about Atsushi Nakajima, the main protagonist, otherwise known as:
So yeah, basically like Nai, but he can become badass when he needs to be. ;)
Asterisk's 2nd season wasn't as good as the first, mainly due to animation inconsistencies and the Phoenix Festa taking too long that I ended up losing interest in it halfway through the show, but it's still one of the better "entity" animes that I've seen. Most of the standards from its last cour are still in place, and some of the world building is improved upon. Yes, some with info-dumps, but hey! They still took time to at least do something.
Kiznavier is a very interesting series coming from the mind of Mari Okada, a writer most known for writing some very dramatic anime and for pissing a lot of anime viewers off. This show was my first anime original project from her (Black Butler's first season doesn't count), and it did go fairly well. The story may be disjointed, but the show itself is interesting enough, even if the characters aren't properly developed equally and the animation becomes something akin to stick figures on paper at points, but still has an amazing budget overall. It's also running away as of right now with Best Score of the Year, because OMG!
Being one of the few people who actually liked Sailor Moon Crystal's first 2 story arcs as a whole, I was really interested to see if Season 3 would be up to par, or better, especially with new staff announcements. And good news was that it was better than the first 2 seasons, but also SO. MUCH. BETTER.
The animation improves, the story becomes more interesting (even though I liked both of the previous seasons), the Inner Senshi have more depth to them now, and the intense feelings are all real when battles occur. I can't really talk about it coherently without bursting into a puddle of fanboying, because this is what the viewers who weren't big fans of Crystal at the beginning wanted from the get go, so I'm happy to see that coming true for the people who wanted to still continue onward.
Reviews on all 4 of these anime series will be coming within the next few weeks/months, so make sure to keep an eye open for them!
Bungo Stray Dogs reminded me of Karneval when I first heard about it, and is based off of a manga where the characters are named after famous Japanese writers, and later, authors from overseas come into the mix as well. Though the show's tonal shifts aren't always the best, and the OPness that seems to come out of nowhere for our main character that ends up going away an episode later is pointless, the show itself is actually very fun and exciting, and I really enjoyed most of the show. I'm also excited to talk about Atsushi Nakajima, the main protagonist, otherwise known as:
So yeah, basically like Nai, but he can become badass when he needs to be. ;)
Asterisk's 2nd season wasn't as good as the first, mainly due to animation inconsistencies and the Phoenix Festa taking too long that I ended up losing interest in it halfway through the show, but it's still one of the better "entity" animes that I've seen. Most of the standards from its last cour are still in place, and some of the world building is improved upon. Yes, some with info-dumps, but hey! They still took time to at least do something.
Kiznavier is a very interesting series coming from the mind of Mari Okada, a writer most known for writing some very dramatic anime and for pissing a lot of anime viewers off. This show was my first anime original project from her (Black Butler's first season doesn't count), and it did go fairly well. The story may be disjointed, but the show itself is interesting enough, even if the characters aren't properly developed equally and the animation becomes something akin to stick figures on paper at points, but still has an amazing budget overall. It's also running away as of right now with Best Score of the Year, because OMG!
Being one of the few people who actually liked Sailor Moon Crystal's first 2 story arcs as a whole, I was really interested to see if Season 3 would be up to par, or better, especially with new staff announcements. And good news was that it was better than the first 2 seasons, but also SO. MUCH. BETTER.
The animation improves, the story becomes more interesting (even though I liked both of the previous seasons), the Inner Senshi have more depth to them now, and the intense feelings are all real when battles occur. I can't really talk about it coherently without bursting into a puddle of fanboying, because this is what the viewers who weren't big fans of Crystal at the beginning wanted from the get go, so I'm happy to see that coming true for the people who wanted to still continue onward.
Reviews on all 4 of these anime series will be coming within the next few weeks/months, so make sure to keep an eye open for them!
Let's move on to the shows I'm interested in watching in the future:
Haven't You Heard? I'm Sakamoto!
I first heard about this series when the anime adaptation was confirmed right when the manga was announced to be ending, and the summary instantly intrigued me. Wouldn't you just love to be someone who can put up with no crap, no matter how much it's handed to you? That's what Sakamoto seems to do, And from what I've seen from clips, the show looks to be hysterical. Hopefully once the final episode manages to come out on DVD in Japan, I'll be able to start this series and manage to finish it, as it seems right up my alley.
I first heard about this series when the anime adaptation was confirmed right when the manga was announced to be ending, and the summary instantly intrigued me. Wouldn't you just love to be someone who can put up with no crap, no matter how much it's handed to you? That's what Sakamoto seems to do, And from what I've seen from clips, the show looks to be hysterical. Hopefully once the final episode manages to come out on DVD in Japan, I'll be able to start this series and manage to finish it, as it seems right up my alley.
Super Lovers.
Though some of the anime this season seems to be calling for me to see them, I don't think I have as much of an attachment to them as I do to this one. However, I think that's because for some reason, I have this feeling that I'm going to hate this anime.
From the premise that sounds somewhat incestuous, to the leading man sounding like a sleaze at various moments (though he's voiced by Tomoaki Maeno, who I've grown to like despite starting off on bad footing in Karneval), to the insta-love, and the fact that the director for this series directed Fairy Tail. I don't know why, but I feel like these could be the perfect ingredients for a recipe called disaster. I'm looking forward to see how well this show fails at being a yaoi, even though yaoi can be a big guilty pleasure of mine.
Now moving to the Broadcast Dubs FUNimation produced this season. And what a surprise! All of them are for shows that I'm uninterested in! Which is kind of a shame, since I'm definitely not touching 3 out of the 5 new ones, but the other 2 could have a chance in the future. But you'll just have to wait and see for yourselves.
That's a wrap on the second wrap-up this year in terms of new anime. What shows did you guys like out of this season, and which ones were you not so fond of? Any shared opinions with mine that I gave?
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