Winter 2016 Anime Season Wrap-up
Warning: The following post may contain spoilers from the shows I watched from the Winter 2016 anime season. 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 thought this would be a good one considering that I watched this show this season, and that its perfectly themed.
So with that said, let's get started:
This season of anime was a bit busier for me. Not only was there school to keep me busy, along with various things in the online world, but there was also so many good choices of series that I wanted to follow, and that looks to kind of be the same next season. This is pretty cool.
Overall, I followed 3 anime series this season (one mainly involved catch-up after a few weeks), and I'm thinking of watching a few more in the upcoming months. I know at least one I'm watching next out of the series I watch in my free time.
Again, there were no dropped series in this bunch, though I did check out the first episode of Undefeated Bahamut Chronicle to see how much it failed. Good news: it didn't suck as much as I thought it was going to. Bad news: I'm not going to watch anymore of it because it's still going to be cliche.
But, let me give myself another high five for not dropping anything this season!
Before we go into the shows that I'll be discussing, please note that these are my own opinions, and you may disagree with me. I don't really mind if you do, but just don't be rude about it if you decide to leave a comment.
Let's talk about the show from the fall that I managed to watch recently. And that'd be One Punch Man!
I'm sure the most of you know how huge this show was when it started. Heck, before it even started. If there's one anime that has been hyped to the moon and back in recent years, it'd be this. Well, also Attack On Titan and Sword Art Online.
As a whole, I thought this series was well deserving of the hype. Though I did have some problems with it overall, you can find out more when the review is released, as it's still being written. I'm doing a collab review with Luke on this, and let's just say it's taking a while.Luke is lazy.
Let's now move on to the shows I followed during the season. This time, we have 3, as opposed to 2. What are they? Well ,you know one, but what about the other two?
Dagashi Kashi, Prince of Stride: Alternative, and Snow White with the Red Hair's 2nd season.
Overall, I liked all 3 of these anime series. I'm not necessarily caught up with one show (Snow White with the Red Hair), though I'm almost done. And Dagashi Kashi isn't done airing yet at the time of this post (though again, it's almost done), but Prince of Stride: Alternative just wrapped up. Let's talk about the shows very quickly.
Dagashi Kashi is a very funny slice-of-life comedy with a focus on all things sweet. Compared to Jitsu wa Watashi wa, it doesn't decline in its laughs towards the middle, and remains consistently engaging and hilarious. Though one character isn't really focused on as much as I'd like, it's still pretty strong overall, and it might appeal to those who like Japanese culture.
Prince of Stride: Alternative is another adaptation of an otome game, but this time with a sports plotline. It focuses on the fictional sport of Stride, which in turn is based on parkour. The Stride races are all pretty nice (well, besides the last two), and the story progression is also very good, as is the animation. The show did stumble with its characters though, as most of them were kind of boring. Let's not forget the really bad melodrama and angst focused on Riku too.
Snow White with the Red Hair's 2nd season is really good so far. Do you remember all those times where Shirayuki got in "danger" in Season 1 (one was only serious)? Well, guess what? This time, she actually gets into a situation that is actually threatening *gasps*. I won't tell you what, but let's just say it definitely ups the stakes at the halfpoint. The animation has serious drops this time around, but it's still nice. The OST is still really boring, but some of the pieces have grown on me. Also, #OTP2015 is still growing, and it's growing strong. Though I am starting to ship Shirayuki with Obi as well (Obi growth!)
Reviews on all of these shows will be out in the following weeks, so make sure to stay tuned!
Now onto the shows that I'm curious on watching from this season:
Divine Gate.
This was actually one of the first shows I heard about that was going to be airing this season. Based off a smartphone game that came out in 2013, the director behind Bleach, Tokyo Mew Mew, and Black Butler: Book of Circus and Pierrot have presented this series to us.
Though it hasn't have had the best reception (Anime News Network writers pretty much s**ted on the first episode on the Winter Preview Guide), I'm still looking forward to watching it. I mean, there's characters who have element abilities. That basically sounds tailor made for me.
Also, there's one iconic character that I know is going to be great:
See what I mean? XD
KonoSuba.
I first heard about this series a year ago when the anime adaption was confirmed. For the record, this sounds a bit cliche and honestly like other shows I've heard about. But it seems like this series is taking a more comical approach to it all, and it may work in the end.
This series looks to be very hilarious, and when I eventually sit down to watch it, I hope it's good. I did lose a bit of interest when the anime cast was confirmed and didn't have as much strength compared to the drama CD's, but that's me being a bit nitpicky.
Luck & Logic.
I'm not exactly sure why this series interested me when I looked at it? Maybe because this shares some of the cast with the MLP Japanese dub (which I really like), but also because I think this could end up being a cool concept. The characters looks great design wise, and this series has some potential.
Also, a card game for this is coming out in the US this summer. I'm probably not going to buy it (though I did collect trading cards back when I was 8), but color me intrigued.
Myriad Colors Phantom World.
When I saw that Kyoto Animation was behind animation production and the voice cast for this anime, I felt like I needed to watch this anime eventually. Though it hasn't been received highly as well, I think this may be enjoyable to me despite some of the fanservice I've seen in places.
Also, there looks to be some weird stuff in it. I'm up to weird sometimes. It looks like my kind of weird too.
Norn9.
Yup! More reverse harem shows for me! I remember stumbling upon this game one day on Wikipedia and going, "Wouldn't be surprising if this got an anime adaption in the future." And look what we have here. ;)
I actually haven't heard a lot about this one, besides a friend telling me the art in this was absolutely beautiful. Also, Nagi Yanagi sings the opening and slays, as per usual. She's also in the show as well, so it'll be nice hearing her as a character rather than through an opening or ending. And it was up for free on Hulu right off the bat too. So that's good news!
Rainbow Days.
This sounds like it would be a ball to watch. It's a slice of life comedy that's in short form (episodes are 13 minutes long), and the premise just makes me crack a smile every time I look at it. This is also going to have 24 episodes, which I hope doesn't work against the show, but could as well. But in the end, I think this would be a fun show to watch right alongside Ai Tenchi Muyo (I also haven't seen that either, but I really want to).
On to the FUNimation Broadcast Dubs topic, they produced 8 dubs for show that aired this series. I've checked out a bit for Prince of Stride: Alternative and Dagashi Kashi, though I am planning on watching more of the former. Snow White with the Red Hair's still being looked at, but I already have my thoughts on it thanks to seeing some of Season 1. You'll find out in the Season 2 review (probably a collab with Luke again).
And that just about does it for the first season wrap-up of the year. What shows did you like out of this season, and which ones were you not fond of? Do you share similar opinions on the shows I watched?
Overall, I followed 3 anime series this season (one mainly involved catch-up after a few weeks), and I'm thinking of watching a few more in the upcoming months. I know at least one I'm watching next out of the series I watch in my free time.
Again, there were no dropped series in this bunch, though I did check out the first episode of Undefeated Bahamut Chronicle to see how much it failed. Good news: it didn't suck as much as I thought it was going to. Bad news: I'm not going to watch anymore of it because it's still going to be cliche.
But, let me give myself another high five for not dropping anything this season!
Before we go into the shows that I'll be discussing, please note that these are my own opinions, and you may disagree with me. I don't really mind if you do, but just don't be rude about it if you decide to leave a comment.
Let's talk about the show from the fall that I managed to watch recently. And that'd be One Punch Man!
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I'm sure the most of you know how huge this show was when it started. Heck, before it even started. If there's one anime that has been hyped to the moon and back in recent years, it'd be this. Well, also Attack On Titan and Sword Art Online.
As a whole, I thought this series was well deserving of the hype. Though I did have some problems with it overall, you can find out more when the review is released, as it's still being written. I'm doing a collab review with Luke on this, and let's just say it's taking a while.
Let's now move on to the shows I followed during the season. This time, we have 3, as opposed to 2. What are they? Well ,you know one, but what about the other two?
Dagashi Kashi, Prince of Stride: Alternative, and Snow White with the Red Hair's 2nd season.
Overall, I liked all 3 of these anime series. I'm not necessarily caught up with one show (Snow White with the Red Hair), though I'm almost done. And Dagashi Kashi isn't done airing yet at the time of this post (though again, it's almost done), but Prince of Stride: Alternative just wrapped up. Let's talk about the shows very quickly.
Dagashi Kashi is a very funny slice-of-life comedy with a focus on all things sweet. Compared to Jitsu wa Watashi wa, it doesn't decline in its laughs towards the middle, and remains consistently engaging and hilarious. Though one character isn't really focused on as much as I'd like, it's still pretty strong overall, and it might appeal to those who like Japanese culture.
Prince of Stride: Alternative is another adaptation of an otome game, but this time with a sports plotline. It focuses on the fictional sport of Stride, which in turn is based on parkour. The Stride races are all pretty nice (well, besides the last two), and the story progression is also very good, as is the animation. The show did stumble with its characters though, as most of them were kind of boring. Let's not forget the really bad melodrama and angst focused on Riku too.
Snow White with the Red Hair's 2nd season is really good so far. Do you remember all those times where Shirayuki got in "danger" in Season 1 (one was only serious)? Well, guess what? This time, she actually gets into a situation that is actually threatening *gasps*. I won't tell you what, but let's just say it definitely ups the stakes at the halfpoint. The animation has serious drops this time around, but it's still nice. The OST is still really boring, but some of the pieces have grown on me. Also, #OTP2015 is still growing, and it's growing strong. Though I am starting to ship Shirayuki with Obi as well (Obi growth!)
Reviews on all of these shows will be out in the following weeks, so make sure to stay tuned!
Now onto the shows that I'm curious on watching from this season:
Divine Gate.
This was actually one of the first shows I heard about that was going to be airing this season. Based off a smartphone game that came out in 2013, the director behind Bleach, Tokyo Mew Mew, and Black Butler: Book of Circus and Pierrot have presented this series to us.
Though it hasn't have had the best reception (Anime News Network writers pretty much s**ted on the first episode on the Winter Preview Guide), I'm still looking forward to watching it. I mean, there's characters who have element abilities. That basically sounds tailor made for me.
Also, there's one iconic character that I know is going to be great:
See what I mean? XD
KonoSuba.
I first heard about this series a year ago when the anime adaption was confirmed. For the record, this sounds a bit cliche and honestly like other shows I've heard about. But it seems like this series is taking a more comical approach to it all, and it may work in the end.
This series looks to be very hilarious, and when I eventually sit down to watch it, I hope it's good. I did lose a bit of interest when the anime cast was confirmed and didn't have as much strength compared to the drama CD's, but that's me being a bit nitpicky.
I'm not exactly sure why this series interested me when I looked at it? Maybe because this shares some of the cast with the MLP Japanese dub (which I really like), but also because I think this could end up being a cool concept. The characters looks great design wise, and this series has some potential.
Also, a card game for this is coming out in the US this summer. I'm probably not going to buy it (though I did collect trading cards back when I was 8), but color me intrigued.
Myriad Colors Phantom World.
When I saw that Kyoto Animation was behind animation production and the voice cast for this anime, I felt like I needed to watch this anime eventually. Though it hasn't been received highly as well, I think this may be enjoyable to me despite some of the fanservice I've seen in places.
Also, there looks to be some weird stuff in it. I'm up to weird sometimes. It looks like my kind of weird too.
Norn9.
Yup! More reverse harem shows for me! I remember stumbling upon this game one day on Wikipedia and going, "Wouldn't be surprising if this got an anime adaption in the future." And look what we have here. ;)
I actually haven't heard a lot about this one, besides a friend telling me the art in this was absolutely beautiful. Also, Nagi Yanagi sings the opening and slays, as per usual. She's also in the show as well, so it'll be nice hearing her as a character rather than through an opening or ending. And it was up for free on Hulu right off the bat too. So that's good news!
Rainbow Days.
This sounds like it would be a ball to watch. It's a slice of life comedy that's in short form (episodes are 13 minutes long), and the premise just makes me crack a smile every time I look at it. This is also going to have 24 episodes, which I hope doesn't work against the show, but could as well. But in the end, I think this would be a fun show to watch right alongside Ai Tenchi Muyo (I also haven't seen that either, but I really want to).
On to the FUNimation Broadcast Dubs topic, they produced 8 dubs for show that aired this series. I've checked out a bit for Prince of Stride: Alternative and Dagashi Kashi, though I am planning on watching more of the former. Snow White with the Red Hair's still being looked at, but I already have my thoughts on it thanks to seeing some of Season 1. You'll find out in the Season 2 review (probably a collab with Luke again).
And that just about does it for the first season wrap-up of the year. What shows did you like out of this season, and which ones were you not fond of? Do you share similar opinions on the shows I watched?