Final Thoughts: Winter 2014

Winter 2014 Anime season

It is finally the closing time of another season of anime, and this season we have to say goodbye to a lot of really fun and great shows. While it is sad to see them go, we know that they are leading the path of newer and possibly better shows on the horizon. But before we say goodbye to what is ending this season, let’s look at what is sticking around. 

Hunter X Hunter- We are deep within the final days of the Chimera Ant Arc, and as I already know the ending I will try not to spoil it for people. But the closer we get to this arc ending the closer we get to the end of the series. I’ve wondered this for a while, what will the series do after it reaches the current end of the manga? Will it continue on, creating new content from where the manga just stopped, or will it end at the place where I felt it was appropriate to end, a chapter or two before the last chapter to be made. I actually look forward to learning this. Hunter X Hunter is still a fun watch, and the battles, being realized in the anime, just makes it even better for a long time fan like I am. Keep being awesome, Hunter X Hunter. 

Tonari no Seki-kun- I was not expecting this show to go any longer than this season, but here we are with more episodes coming out.  This show is just amazing. Its short episode run time and just perfectly times jokes make me smile every time. As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve read the manga for this, so I’ve seen all this done before, but just animating them really brings the whole fantasies of the main two character alive so much better than the manga had. There is not much to say about this little series other than it is really awesome and everyone should watch it and have some fun. Also, Robot Family is the best family. I look forward to more of the weird stuff Seki gets into.

Yowamushi Pedal- This is a good sports anime. It has created a surprisingly realistic challenge for the main characters without making them the clear underdogs. While I understand the need for the underdog narrative, hell one of my favorite anime of all time is built around the underdog narrative, it is nice to see a series that doesn’t rely on it. I look forward to the climax of the series, which is going to focus on the big, three day race that will make or break our heroes. Through it we are going to see a bunch of different styles of biking, a good amount of focusing on the main characters and the rivals that have been built through the series so far, and hopefully the team of our main character winning. It is all very standard fair for this style of show, but it does it with such earnestness and fun that I can’t hate it. I like this show, and can’t wait till be get to the hilly portions of the race. That is where our lead will shine.

Only three shows are following us to the next season. That is one of the shortest lists I’ve seen in a while, but it tends to happen. Now let’s look at the shows that we will be leaving this season. These are my final thoughts on the winter 2014 anime season.

Cardfight!! Vanguard: Link Joker- The third season of Vanguard ends with a climactic battle between the two who started the whole series, bringing the series full circle. The ending of this season was actually kind of interesting. Aichi saved the day, sure. But to do so, he had to let three of his friends lose the memories they have made since the beginning of the series, including his main love interest. To be fair, if he lost, everyone would be dead, so it is a minor sacrifice at that, but still it ends ambiguously enough that we don’t know if the Cardfight Idols are fine or not. And what they did with Kai was interesting. It is revealed that he voluntarily became reversed in order to become stronger, a very good parallel to Aichi in the first season.  That is what Link Joker was in the end for me, a good ending to the Aichi/Kai storyline, paralleling the start of the series very closely. If the franchise were to end here, it would be fine, but it will go on to another season and i look forward to seeing what they will do, now that the series greatest threat is gone.

Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! Ren- Im not really sure what to feel about the second season of this show. It isn’t better than the first, the first had more emotionally big moments then this one, but I can’t call it bad. It is mostly the characters faffing about, the main couple deepening their relationship, and a bit of a love triangle the resolves in a surprisingly mature way. And none of that is bad, it is just not as fulfilling as the coming together of the two characters in the first season. Also, there is less of the male friend character from the first season, though the last episode did show him off in a spectacular ending. What I did like about this season was how it was all about two people new to love figuring it all out. It was honest and sweet. I feel like those two crazy kids will make it. There is not a lot to say, if you liked the last season you will like this one. And maybe even they will have another season next year, who knows.

D-Frag- I am really surprised at this show. I went in to it expecting almost nothing, and received a really funny, if really strange little series. And it cemented my love for the back talking Yankee stereotype, that type of sarcastic character who always calls out everyone else’s weirdness is just fun for me. Almost all the characters in this show were really fun and had great energy to them, even the minor characters, who were almost always part of some larger, stranger gang. I still love the father and son who keep showing up and feeling power levels and such, though the show reminds us that they are minor characters. Roka, the main female lead, really struck out to me. She was just so strange and weird that I really couldn’t help but want to root for her, even while she was putting bags on people’s heads and designing board games around finding and hording porn magazines. My only complaint is that it didn’t use all of the minor characters as effectively as it should have, I would have liked more focus on the sister and the pink haired girl for instance. But this was a fun show, I really dug it and I might even decide to check out the manga one day.

Gundam Build Fighters- This was a really great show. I need more battle competition anime, that stuff is my jam. But anyway, this is an incredible Gundam series for both fans and non-fans alike. If you are a fan you will get a kick out of all the references and models that appear in the show, and if you are new to Gundam or have only seen one or two series then you get a kick out of the awesome fights and really fun characters and just the passion of everyone involved. That is the key word to this show, passion. Everyone in the show is just so passionate about gunpla and Gundam and friendship and so much more. This show best reminds me of G Gundam, not only because it is a competition, tournament style series, but because of the energy of the characters and how fun the side characters are. Also, in this series none of the main relationships are ended horribly by someone dying, so it has that over other Gundam series.  I really want to mention the main villain, if you can call him that. He is the creator of the game, and an ex thief, but his whole motivation for trying to stop the main characters is just so he doesn’t get caught for his crime. Which would only happen if Reiji actually would bother to remember the dude, which he probably wouldn’t. The villain doesn’t want to control the world or anything, he just wants to live an easy, rich life. He isn’t really evil, just against the main duo winning, and of course using underhanded tactics to do that. I loved everything about this series. I loved the main characters growth, the romantic relationships, the giant fights, and all the references. This show has made me want to build gunpla, I actually want to get into this hobby now because of this show. Go watch it, it is a fun time. And available free on youtube.

Hamatora The Animation- The fuck, Hamatora? Seriously, for a show that started so promising it really did not end well, in my opinion. The problem that the show created was that it went too far down the rabbit hole of social commentary. Almost everything in the latter half of the show was about how the youth are not reaching out for power on their own, or how the government wants everyone to be equal but the true equality stifles and kills creativity, and commentary on social media and just a million other things that if handled correctly could make for a very interesting show. But it is so heavy handed that I just don’t care. It reminded me of C: The Money and Soul of Possibility Control, a show from when I first started this blog. That show too had a ton of social commentary stuff but it tied it in better to what the main character was doing. His actions had consequences to society, either I small ways or internationally. In Hamatora, it is just a dude, the messianic villain of course, who is making this commentary, and the hero just has to stop him. I will give it that the show has some really great scenes, some really fun characters, but I would want them to be in a completely different show, one that wasn’t so heavy and at times depressing. And the last few seconds of the show pissed me off. It was a cliffhanger ending with a promise for another season, which now I have to watch. Well, maybe it will be better than the first.

Hoozuki no Reitetsu- This show was just too funny, and so dark. Dark comedy anime can be really strange, as they have to walk the fine line of still being funny while also presenting dark, intriguing ideas. Most of the time they go the gore route, which I personally don’t like, and usually don’t find that funny at the end of the day. And while Hoozuki used gore to some extent, I will say the setting and the character made it work. Hell is a funny, comical place, where you will be made into a paste. I think my favorite joke came in the last episode, where the two goldfish plants from the ending theme that were running away are revealed to have been captured, killed, and turned into a paste to be drunk by King Enma. That is just the perfect example of the type of humor for this show. I really liked this show, and hope that we will one day return to see more of Hell, more of the minions, more of the animals, and of course, more Hoozuki. That dude is awesome.

Kill la Kill- This was one of the best shows I’ve seen. Kill la Kill made such a powerful connection to its audience and myself that you can’t help but love this show. This show had such a fun energy to it, and some incredible action, and lovable characters, and I am just in love with this show. There is nothing about this show that I cannot love, every episode was a fun ride. In fact that is the key word to this show, fun. Well, fun, and for some reason a deep emotional resonance to its characters. Seriously, I cared as much about Ryuko, Mako, Satsuki, Gamagorri, Senketsu and so many more as much as I cared about the characters from shows like Space Brothers and BECK Mongolian Chop Squad, shows that live or die off the emotional resonance of their characters to their audience. I was cheering for their victories and I nearly cried at the very end. This show is just amazing, and I loved every second of its crazy, ridiculous ride. I believe this is one of the first shows done by Trigger, possibly even their first full length, 12-24 style episode series from the studio, and if this show is anything to go by, I look forward to watching what they do next. Seriously, watch Kill la Kill, cheer with Mako, sing the Don’t Lose Your Way bit of the transformation song, laugh at the crazy red letters, and hate Nui. I cannot praise this show enough, go watch it. Don’t lose your way people, don’t lose your way.

Kuroko no Basket 2^nd Season- Sports anime have a very strange and specific challenge. They have to make the sport interesting to the viewer, because their initial audience will most likely be one of two groups, people who like sports, and people who like anime. But the people who like sports would most likely watch real sports over fictional sports, and a lot of people who watch it because it is anime might not know a lot about the sport. They have to explain the specifics and minutia of the sport for the anime viewer without boring the sports lovers. It is a delicate rope they walk, and more than likely the series will fall into two holes. It will either be really realistic, which might be boring at first but has ways of making it interesting for everyone, or it goes over the top ridiculous, explain the bear minimum but hey look explosions and lightning! Kuroko has fallen firmly into the second hole with this second season. I might have been able to make excuses before, but now, with the characters having named moves and area of effect abilities and “the zone” this series is no more than Prince of Tennis but with basketball. Mind you, that can be really enjoyable. I have fun with Kuroko no Basket, it is super silly and over the top and fun. But I also sometimes want to watch more realistic anime, anime that shows me how normal people with hard work play their game. The second season upped the ante, fully introduced the rest of the Generation of Miracles, and had some over the top, impossible, basketball. If you liked the first, check it out. I will be waiting for the next and presumably final season of the show, where they end up going against God in a game of Horse or something.

Log Horizon- This was an interesting show. Even with how much I liked it, I was still expecting it to someone mess up and become a straight up Sword Art Online rip off. But it didn’t. Every step of the show introduced interesting characters, expanded the world as both a game and a legitimate world, and made it interesting. Log Horizon both created a game I wanted to play and a world I would like to visit and explore, two things that SOA did not really do. I think the ending of this first season was weak, only there to really tie into the second season, which will come out this fall. I like Log Horizon, I like the devil in glasses, and I want to watch more of it. This show isn’t perfect, it can be boring at times and likes to focus on romantic relationship stuff that is not done well. If the second season focuses more on the world building and the adventure aspect of the show, then it will be perfect. Can’t wait till fall for more Log Horizon.

Magi: The Kingdom of Magic- I want to say right away, that entire ending felt entirely too rushed. It was like a million facts being sent at us from all direction, characters we’ve never seen before using powers we’ve never seen before, and not enough focus on our main three protagonists. Especially Morgianna who really gets screwed over this season. She needed more solo episodes, or at least her with the other Magi. But yeah, the second season of Magi finishes and it wasn’t bad. I still think one of the key problems with the show is its world building. It has this incredible, magical world taking cultural cues from real world cultures and such, but it doesn’t explain them fully, or flesh them out in a satisfactory way. There is an entire Egyptian kingdom with Anubis headed people. I want to see more of that! Not magicians-vile. While the show has pacing and world building problems, it is still fun, has some great characters, and I still like it. I really liked what they did with the initial villain, the king of the magic city. His actions and decisions are this warped sense of logic that makes an awful bit of sense if you think about it. You can understand him, he is human, and he dies as a human. He realizes the folly of his ways and he repents! He is much better of a character then the random woman and her organization that wants to destroy the world. I don’t know why they want to destroy the world, they just do. That is not really a good motivation. But I will still look forward to the next season.

Nobunagun- This was a good show. Sometimes I don’t have much more than that for a series. Every so often it just comes down to whether or not I liked it. Nobunagun was a series that I just really liked. It was action packed, really fun, had great character that really became their own, very interesting weapons and abilities, and it was just good. It was nice to see a series where there is a large, non-governmental organization in control of saving the earth, and they are not evil in any way, or people aren’t protesting them in the streets because the in the battle civilians died. And it is nice to see that our main characters are not the only ones fighting the good fight, it was smart of them just to mention other E-Gene holders fighting around the world. It makes the whole thing just seem bigger, and kind of more realistic. I really liked this show, and they left enough room for a possible second season one day. I hope we get to see more E-gene holders fighting with Nobunagun, Sio herself interacting with Nobunaga, and the relationship between Sio and Jack the Ripper. Also, let me say, it was creative, though possibly disreseptful, to have Florence Nightingale actually end up being Jack the Ripper. That is insane. Seriously, if you want a good time, go watch this show. 

Phi Brain: Kami no Puzzle Season 3- I think this is the last season of this show. Which is good, I am not sure how much more Phi Brain I could take. Saying that, this was a great season of the show. The introduction of the seasons new puzzle solver and the reintroduction of Jin was done really well, and their character arcs were done very well. This arc was really spent on tying up all the loose ends that has been there since the beginning of the series, like who made the armlets, the whole Puzzle of God thing, and what happened to the characters from last season. Phi Brain, as a franchise, is a surprisingly good series with fun characters and a great story. The puzzles are fun and inventive, the world is interesting and pretty well developed, and it has an actual ending, which is good. I might have complained about this series a lot in the past, but that is because I couldn’t get over what I wanted this show to be. But if you take that away, and go into this show with no preconceived notions, this show will be a good ride. I will miss you Phi Brian, and please don’t have another season.

Sakura Trick- This show was actually really cute and sweet. To be fair, that is all the show wanted to be, and needs to be. I liked the progression of the relationship between the main lesbians, and the secondary lesbians also made a very interesting relationship to watch and progress. The problem with the series, I felt, was that the characters would get boring after a while. I stopped caring about the girls in the main relationship after a while and wanted the show to focus more on the secondary relationships. Actually, what I really wanted the show to focus on was the student council president who fell in love with the main character. Her story, about realizing her feelings for another girl and coming to terms with her latent homosexuality alone would make a really great show. But on its own, Sakura Trick is a harmless, super cute show about lesbian relationships. If you like sweet things, I totally recommend it .

Seitokai Yakuindomo*(2)- I am really going to miss this show. I just love all the perverse jokes, the euphemisms, the dumb, shallow humor that made me laugh week to week. I am going to miss the great voice acing on the parts of Takaru and Suzu’s voice actors, their slight voice changes at their straight man rebuttal to jokes would just really sell it. I loved the just beautifully oblivious jokes and characters and slight haremy bits that was just too funny. I know this show is stupid, it has one joke, that sex and sexual things are funny, and they repeat it until it is almost dead. But at the end of the day, this show made me laugh, and it made me smile, and I loved every bit of it. While I know a season three is stretching it, hell I never expected a season 2, I would watch the hell out of it. Seitokai Yakuindomo, you are a wonderful franchise and I salute you.

Strike the Blood- God this show fell flat on its face too much. When it wasn’t poorly abusing fan service it was using tired tropes of the not perverted but still perverted main character. Seriously, I usually like the put upon main character because they actually make fun of this trope when it occurs, sometimes pointing out how ridiculous it is. But no, that is not what we got. I’ve probably said it before, but this show reminds me of a worst version of Index, taking all the annoying parts of that series and barely touching all the good. The world is clunky at best, like an RPG that tries to mix perfectly science fiction and vampire fantasy and other mythologies and mostly fails. But it fails in such a way that makes the world interesting. If the show was about the world at large, like through the eyes of the Lion Whatever Organization and we got to see more than just the random island, this could be a better show. Also, they set up like, 50 different plot points and mysteries that was just there to try to get a second season. And I will probably end up watching that season. I will admit, the show had some really funny scenes, once in a while, and characters outside of the main pair were sometimes really interesting. But really, it is not worth it. There are better stuff to watch, skip this show.

Space Brothers- I cannot honestly deal with the fact that this show is ending. At 99 episodes, this wonderful show comes to a close, leaving me an emotional wreck. My only solace is the rumor that the show will come back, that this is only a hiatus because the anime has gotten lose to catching up with the manga. But if that’s not true, then I know I am leaving a wonderful show. Space Brothers is an inspiration, a great character piece that is hopeful and optimistic about the future of space travel. It is one of the few hard sci-fi shows I’ve ever seen, especially in anime, that has such a positive spin on the future of this world. Mutto’s journey to become an astronaut might be fraught with peril, mostly because of his insane luck, but the show still told us that, yes, one day he will achieve his dream, just like you and the millions of others who watch this show. I love Space Bro’s. It is one of the best shows I have ever had the pleasure to watch. It is optimistic and positive and funny and heartfelt and I nearly cried when they started playing the first opening theme in the last episode. This show needs to come back, one day, hopefully soon. We need to see Mutto go to the moon, we need to see Hibito become a cosmonaut, we need to see the relationships pan out, we need more Apo, I need more Space Brothers. I love this show, go watch it, it is literally one of the best things out there. Feel So Moon.

Toriko- Why is everything I love ending this season! First Space Bros and now Toriko? What have I done to deserve this?! To be fair, I should have seen it coming. This last whole season was just breaking all the limits, and everyone was using world breaking powers and it was just nuts. But I give the show credit, the ending was satisfactory, but left room for a new season. I mean, they even said this is the end of the human world arc, and it ends with them entering the gourmet world. This show will have a second series probably, most likely when the manga gets far enough ahead. But as it is, this was an enjoyable show. I liked the heroes, the villains had some great moments, the food was creative and fun, the opening announcer guy was and always will be one the best characters, and this show is just good, solid Shonen. It isn’t perfect, people have trouble staying dead apearently, and the whole NEO thing was just weird and forced, like they had to put it in before the seried ended, but as it is, I would recommend it. Now to wait for my next meal

Witch Craft Works- This was a problematic show. I was trying to think of what word best summarizes the whole problem with this show, and I think it would be cohesiveness. There is none of it. I do really like this show, it is bright and colorful, has some great characters, and the main relationship is just really great. You really get the feeling that those two crazy kids will work it out. But the problem of the show is that it just throws stuff at you. Every episode is just filled with almost random stuff that barely gets explained, it is almost as if each episode was just written the week before with little regard as to if it makes sense or not. If you want a cohesive plot that makes sense, then this is not the show for you. But the characters make it worth watching. Especially the five evil witches who gets their asses kicked all the time. I would watch a show of just them. This is a fun show, but far from perfect.

And that is the end of the winter 2014 anime season. This was a really good one, with some fantastic shows across the board. Honestly, this might be one of my favorite seasons in a while, and I am honestly sad to see it go, though that is partially because it takes two of my favorite long running shows with it. But enough crying about the past, let us look to the future! The next anime season is already quickly upon us, so I have work to do! So until next time, have fun watching!