Winter 2015 Anime Reviews Some Other Stuff

I'm gonna get the other stuff out of the way first. I'm still planning on working on Infection, but my classes and work are taking up a lot of my time so I don't think I'm going to be able to really write anything until after my graduation (Yes, I'm graduating, which means a bit more free time for writing). I don't know what exactly is going to happen to me right after that, but you'll hopefully see the next chapter/episode/whatever some time in June or July if my editor's not busy. Other than that, not much going on.

Aldnoah.Zero S2

(Spoilers)
Oh, this did not disappoint. After the ending to the first season I had no idea how they were going to do a season two, but the route they took was very interesting after they revealed everything that happened after the fight in the Landing Castle. There was deffinite evolution to all the main characters returning from season one, the fights were both faster and more intense, which makes sense as the war had been escalating in the time skip.

It's not like I don't have my complaints with it, which mostly come from a few unanswered questions concerning the ending. What happaened to Lemrina? Did Harklight and company die in that final assault? The analytical engine had formed enough of a self that just removing it and leaving it at that feels kinda hollow. These are all minor nitpicks that don't really ruin anything else in the story for me. The biggest issue I have is Inaho and Seylum's relationship during the last three episodes. They see each other for the first time in years, both admit to loving each other, and then never apparently see each other again. I get why they did it, I really do, but I wish that part had a bit of a better conclusion to it than what they gave us, even with the Empress being in a political marriage. Just them seeing each other at the end again would have been nice.

On to the finale, it was an excellent three episodes, packed with suspense. The fights in the final episode were great, and the last battle loadout on the trainer was really cool, especially since it could go toe-to-toe with an Aldnoah Kataphrat. In the end, it feels like the show believed that it really didn't matter what happened to everyone, since we're never going to see the rest of their ficticious lives, anyways.

This is a very well written anime that I could not put down. I'd like to get one of the models their making for the trainer, but it's kinda pricy and not in my scale. Maybe if they do the final loadout I'll pick it up, 9.5/10

Dog Days S3

I watched season one, and I watched season two, so that's why I watched season three. And it was ok. I feel like a lot of the problems spawn from the fact that there are just too many characters in this show and no one can really get adaquate evolution within that time frame anymore since they have to divide their attention so many different ways. We did learn a bit more about how Flonyarde works, and its best episode by far was the episode where we learn the history of the Hero King. Animation wasn't the best, but I expect that from this show. They also pushed forward a few more romantic subplots, but did not touch on the one I always want them to. I'm happy Gaul's got a girl he likes, but can't we see a bit more about Shinku and Millhi? I feel like they've actually progressed really far off screen and they just drop subtle hints about how far it is every now and again.

Finale was ok. I appreciate it for introducing humanoid demons and fish people. Also, three story crazy leopard miko lady. Not much else to say on the ending since it was pretty standard fair, except Millhi's creepily in-depth knowledge of her main potential love rival's childhood. That honestly had me doing eyebrows at the end.

(Spoilers)
Now this isn't something I normally do, but this has been buggin' me ever since the Hero King's story. Cou always brags about how she's Adel's, the Hero King's, descendant. And I didn't really pay much mind to it until after the story. I didn't really put it together until after they finish talking about Fi, the young queen who ruled the land when Adel first arrived. Fi is the spitting image of Cou, and their both squirrels, so I just without really thinking about it put them together as being related. However, Fi dies at a very young age, before having any children, so Cou really is, in fact, Adel's descendant because there is no other option. What's wrong with this? Well, Adel is a human from Earth, and Cou is a Squirrel Human from Flonyarde, plus, like I said, she's the spitting image of Adels' best friend, Fi. So how does that work? Well, in the story they also reveal that the reoccurring character introduced in season two, Demon King Valerie, is Fi's older brother. And a Squirrel, which we weren't sure of until that point since he's kinda grey and wolfy. He also spends a lot of his time with Adel. So, the theory I postulate that explains how Cou looks just like Fi yet also be Adel's descendant is that she is also Val's descendant. So Adel and Val, the Hero King and Demon King, who both sealed themselves away in the monument that is Fi's grave, are a couple. I mean, you kinda can guess that by how familiar they are with each other, but this is just really good evidence to that fact.

Ok, to end things, what the hell is Sharl? Is she an otter? A ferret? The blue hair doesn't help anyone in this situation, because I think that makes it more confusing to pin something down. Anyway, if they do S4 I'll probably still check it out, but it'll probably be even more hectic than this season, 6.5/10.

Garo Animated

I'll admit I couldn't finish this one. As much as I love the Garo universe, this one doesn't take place there. The entire setting is a fantasy world with much more humor mixed in. But I wanna say that just because I didn't finish it doesn't mean it's a bad series. It was a perfectly fine show itself from what I saw, but when I compared it to the previous four seasons of live action Garos I had watched, it was just too different for me to really care that much about it. It's designs were fantastic, especially the new knight armors. The edits done to Leon's Garo were great, too, and I loved watching him fight, especially since his style, including his bestial moments, were far different than what other Garos fought like, partly thanks to this different medium. I probably would have watched more if I didn't have to watch his dad parade around town naked, though.

I didn't really like it, but I suggest watching it for yourself before you make your own decision, no score.

Gundam Build Fighters Try

I really enjoyed this season for what it was. It was both the logical evolution to season one, while at the same time being so vastly different that I find it hard to compare the two on anything but a superficial level. Season one's Gunpla were all repaints with custom equipment, which is a trend I've seen with actual custom Gunpla. The fact that season two moved on to completely original Gunpla seems natural to me. Apart from that, the stories for both seasons were completely different, with season one playing out more like your typical show based on a collectable, with its mysteries, long set rivalries, and its extra-normal elements (in this case the Aristas). Season two was much less formulaic in that way focusing almost entirely on the competition without some of those unneeded elements like the extra-normal stuff. I know the sticking to just battles grew dull for some people, and I can definitely see it wearing you thin if you binge-watch the show (having watched it episodically once a week I didn't experience that myself). The fact that most opponents weren't given any lime light until right before their fights is one point I'll mark against this show, with the only fight to have long-running hype behind it being the one against Tryon 3, which falls behind several other fights in terms of the excitement it brought.

In the character department, I liked Sekai. It feels like he was meant to be a lot like Reiji, and there are similarities, but Sekai was much more kind and sincere. His views on Gunpla reflected my own, and probably a lot of people's, with him seeing just how great everyone else out there is and wanting to reach that level even though he knows the road will be a long and hard one. Yuuma was probably my least favorite of the main three, though he got a lot better as the show went on. You can tell he's a great builder, and you can see it in the performance in his machines, but it feels like he has very little imagination. From a cohesive team/marketing perspective this makes sense, with Sekai's powerful Super Robot of a Gundam, Fumina's SD Gundam, and Yuuma having the well designed Real Mech of the group. It was nice to see that ridiculous thunder bird cannon at the end, though. Even if I'm not really a fan of the Lightning Zeta, it's cool to know he's getting more imaginative. I liked Fumina, but she felt kinda token to me. She had the drive and dreams the other two had, but she didn't get nearly as much time to pursue them as the other two did. She also didn't have a big rivalry or a pseudo-one-v-one match like the other two did, with her fight against Shia feeling somewhat forced. Overall, an ok cast, but not without its flaws.

Finally, I want to talk about what this series contributed. And not to anime or Gundam, but to Gunpla itself. I have bought quite a few kits from this show, and I feel like the show, and it turn these kits really push what a Gunpla can be. The Burning Gundams' posabilities, the Star Winning's mode changes, the SxDxG's combination, Tryon 3 itself. Yea, I know the Winning and Snibal both get their gimmicks from older SDs, but I had never heard of them until I saw them in the instruction manuals, so these were new concepts for me. What's more they were all in one place, not strewn across a ton of different series. It makes me take a step back as a builder and wonder "What can I make that I think is as cool as this?"

In the end, this was a fun ride that I enjoyed watching and got me up every Wednesday morning. The potential is certainly there for a season three, but I'd be fine with this if it was the end. After all, where do you go after Super Robots? Would recommend, 7.5/10.

Gundam Reconguista in G

This one is really hard for me to put my finger on. Firstly, I'd like to say what I liked about it, which was the mech designs. There were some very imaginative and powerful ideas incorporated into this show, and I always looked forward to seeing the concept art for anything. The art was also beautiful, and it was great watching everything in motion. However, that's kinda where my liking ends. The show really doesn't make any sense, and it feels like there are some big gaps of time that we just miss. I've talked about this show to people before, and the way I always describe it is that it's like the show was planned to be a full 50-episode run, but they were forced to cut it down to the ending 26. There were also some really bizarre subplots, a lot of which went nowhere, like the whole thing with the kuntala. While watching the final fight I couldn't help but think that I didn't know any of the side characters fighting enough to care if they won or not. I was pretty happy with the selection that lived, though, because they were the ones that they at least tried to give some redeeming qualities.

The ending was kinda messy. The fighting randomly starts, then we don't really focus on it, just on the main characters' tiny fights off to the side, and Mask is off on some tangent that never came up before about how Bellri needs to die since he's going to end up as a monarch some day, and Manny's suddenly turned against everyone because it's what her boyfriend wants, even though two episodes ago she was going on about trying to make everyone friends again. And then all the fighting just stops, and everyone's friendly with each other, and they go globe trotting. What the f, man? I just ended waaay to quickly for what it was trying to build up, and a lot was left unexplained. I know there's a G Reco manga, and I kinda want to check it out to see if there's any more consistency with the story. But they did bring back Chuchumi. That's a plus.

Overall, for me, while it was nice to watch, the problems with the story are what hurt this series the most for me. However, the imagination put into this series wasn't wasted on me, and boosts its score considerably more than if it was anything other than Gundam, probably. I'll generously give it a 6.5/10 for the sparks of imagination with lackluster story telling.

Kantai Collection

I checked this one out mostly because of how much fan art I see everywhere about the game this show is based on, and I have to say the show was...alright. It kinda felt moe fluffy, and didn't seem to have the biggest budget despite how big the game is. Seriously, this thing merchandizes like crazy, how does it not have a bigger budget?

The characters were all pretty likable, but kinda cookie-cutter, which kinda makes sense when you realize just how many ships there are. Fubuki herself was kinda boring. She had her moments here and there, but she herself didn't have much personality, always fawning over Akagi and being super caring about her friends. The only other characters I feel like mentioning are Kongou, Nagato, and Yamato. I hate Kongou. Sorry, it's just that her engrish is soooo bad, it drives me crazy to hear her speak. Yes she has good character moments, but I can't get over her voice. I really liked Nagato, she was a good commanding officer, you felt her struggle when people disliked her orders, and she had some of the cutest moments of the entire show. Yamato, in my opinion, would have made a much more interesting main character. The story of the strongest ship girl who can't go out to see because of how much she costs? I feel that would have been a more interesting story than going with the newcomer route that we've seen before.

The final episode was very hit or miss. It was full to the brim of deus ex machina, and the animation overall felt rather poor, but there were good short scenes, such as the regeneration and Nagato and Ooi's getting physical with the enemies. Also, totally called that thing about the flamy-eye Wo-Class. You'll see what I mean.

Overall, not bad. I'll watch season two, which they announced at the end of the last episode. It's a harmless show as long as you don't mind the subtle hints that most of the cast are lesbians, 7/10.

Ressha Sentai ToQger

I went into this series expecting it to be a bit more low budget considering that the last three were all very big productions, and while it wasn't as wild and epic as the few that came before it, it had the story and characters to make it stand ahead of some of them. All the main characters were very likable, including Akira who was finally the 6th ranger idea I'd been hoping to see. The secondary good guys were interesting and quirky, if lacking any real evolution. The villains, oh boy, they were great. There was always something going on with them, some back-stabbing plot, some grand plan off in the distance, they were so much fun to watch. The kaijin designs were beautiful, the child actors were alright, and everything tied together very nicely at the end.

The climax, while a little quick in the final episode, was a thrill to watch. Zett really was a tragic character, and it makes me want to see him again in the next VS movie all the more.

Ninninger's been fun so far, I even bought the Megazord, 9/10.

Yuri Kuma Arashi

There's a story behind me watching this one, which, by the way, was a very very strange one. Yuri Kuma Arashi is actually a manga from one of my favorite mangaka, Morishima Akkiko. Only the first two chapters were out at the time, and it was shaping up to be a quaint love story (now, as of reading the third chapter, things are turning a little sour). Yuri Kuma Arashi the anime is NOTHING like Yuri Kuma Arashi the manga. Yes, the character designs for Kureha and Ginko and the Trial Bears' human forms were taken from Morishima-sensei's original work, along with several terms like 'invisible storm' carry over, too, but other than that the plot, characters themselves, and even the state of their world is entirely different from the work it's based on.

The words I use to describe this anime to people I talk about it with are "lesbian space bears", which isn't too far from the truth. The destruction of a planet of sentient bears caused the fragments of its planet to rain down on ours, giving our bears sentience and starting a whole bunch of weird s*. The story itself, mostly following Kureha, is very confusing at the start, only getting a little less murky as time moves on which, unlike G Reco, kinda works for it.

The first of YKA's main themes was 'true love'. It really tried to show you a whole bunch of different kinds of love and point out the flaws in all of them, including the ones you'd think were actually true. The second main them was 'exclusion', which trumpeted the phrase 'those that don't think like us are a nuisance', and that is very much how the main characters are treated throughout the show. Every human in this show, save for Kureha, Tsumika, and one single girl at the end who gets it, is a total and unredeemable douche. Not kidding, I detested every single human, and was pretty happy when a lot of them got eaten. The only reason I'm bringing up the themes is because they were very obvious and pretty much shoved in your face most of the time. If I didn't talk about them when mentioning this show, I feel like it'd be an injustice to all its hard(?) work.

The ending was just as weird as the rest of the show, proving that the man eating bears were better humans than the humans (and not even all bears, because the bears we see in the flashbacks suck). It reaches a pretty good twisted-logical conclusion, made me sad, gave me some laughs, and was hopeful yet grim at the same time. Kinda fitting for this show, honestly.

If you're curious about Morishima-sensei's work, it's pretty much all yuri. What that says about me, I don't know. I give this one an 7.5/10 for Lulu. May you (not) rest in (not) peace since you're (not) dead. (Trust me, it doesn't make sense even if you watch it.)

If anyone's curious, here's the list of things I'm watching/planning on watching, though the episode 1s are the only ones that are out, so it's subject to change:

Digimon Adventure Tri (of course)
Go! Princess Precure
Kamen Rider Drive
Magical Lyrical Nanoha ViVid
Plastic Memories
Shurriken Sentai Ninninger
Sailor Moon Crystal (which I'm behind on)

Not as much as last season, but like I said, I'm busy.