Final Thoughts: Winter 2015

Winter 2015 Anime Season

This is the entire cast. I love each and every one of them.

Our first anime season of the year is coming to a quick end. There are honestly a huge amount of shows ending this season, so let’s not waste any time. These are my final thought on the winter 2015 anime season. But first, as per tradition let’s look at the shows that will be following us into the new season.

Assassination Classroom- The more I watch of this show the stranger yet more endearing it becomes. This isn’t the greatest shounen anime I have ever seen. The mach 20 joke kind of gets boring over time, but it can still get a laugh once in a while. The huge amount of students ends up hurting the show more than helping most of the time, but it gives the teacher some great moments to be a great teacher. Most of the time I feel like the show thinks it’s cleverer than it is, and presents cliché shounen tropes as something new and amazing. But all said and done it is kind of a fun show. The tentacle monster of a teacher is very vibrant and honestly fulfills the stereotypical role of the amazing teacher. He is Great Teacher Onizuka but with tentacles and less awkward student/teacher interaction. The other teachers are actually likable as well and really grow on you. The students that matter are usually fine in character, but there are so many that too many fall through the cracks as decent characters. And the social commentary with the non-assassin stuff and the school is incredibly heavy handed. While there are problems with the series, I can’t fully hate it. In the very least I am going to attempt to continue watching it. 

Sailor Moon Crystal- We are firmly into the parts of sailor moon that I am not familiar with. While I know some of the basics of this part of the franchise, Chibi-Usa being from the future, Sailor Pluto being important, and I’ve seen the villains before, I don’t know really anything about this season other than the originally anime goes into it much more, possibly creating a lot of the characterization that fans know from that time. But judging from what I have seen alone, this is an interesting next step for the story to take. On the one hand we have our main heroin being stripped of her main support structures. From one side her family is taken over by the stranger, leaving her not safe in her own home. On the other side, one at a time all of her close friends are attacked and taken away, eventually leaving her alone. Of course Tuxedo Mask has yet to be taken, and Sailor Venus as well, but I think the point stands. But on the other hand we have our status quo messed up by the introduction of Chibi-Usa. She is a mystery. All we are given in the beginning is her mysterious arrival and the fact that she is an antagonist to Usagi. While I don’t think they handle the mystery quite as well as they could, it is still an effective way of shaking up the status quo. I think this series has inspired me to go back and watch the old Sailor Moon anime. Less as a comparison to the new, but because I am now interested in how that series expanded on the story given to them. I am still a fan of Crystal, and look forward to the new episode. 

Cardfight!! Vanguard G- You know, up until the last episode at the time of writing this, I was going to say that this has been one of the most grounded Vangaurd series since the first. Outside of the fact that the main characters deck appeared out of nowhere and is apparently destined for him, and the battle they had very early on where he almost summoned a Vanguard monster in the real world or something, this whole season has been just people involved with the card game. They play a match, hang out, do a quest, and maybe grow as characters. But last week’s episode implied that some dude in a random dessert city has actual monsters. I mean, I knew at some point they would have to drop the giant magic shoe that every season does at some point, but I was hoping it would last a little longer. But I can’t hate this show. The main character is surprisingly interesting. He is different from Aichi. He isn’t as naïve and pure of heart, but he also doesn’t have the qualities of a leader yet. It is something they are slowly either revealing in him or allowing him to gain. The supporting cast is pretty good too. Again, while they don’t have the same charisma of the previous seasons supporting cast, they are good in their own way. And the fact that Kamui is still in it is a huge plus. He’s adult character is great, being a good mentor to the rest of the kids. I think I will always like Vanguard on some level. Even when it is being silly it is fun and when it is showing good fight it is being amazing. I just hope they are able to resolve the latest hurdle Shindo has to go through without dragging it on for too long. 

This is the biggest threat to the world.

Jojo’s Bizzare Adventure Stardust Crusaders part 2- We are fully within the second half of the third arc of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure and I am having a blast. The battles that take place in the latter half are some of the best of the arc, and the lead up to Dio is sometimes really well done. The best fight for me of this half so far is the D’arby gambling fight. It is one of the few fights that are not just the heroes almost dying and then Jotaro punishing his way to victory. While those are fine too, getting to see Jotaro fight an intellectual battle is really fun also. Just Jotaro using his stand to force D’arby to dig deeper and deeper into a hole of paranoia and confusion was great. And the little uses of Star Platinum was very well done by the animators, like him flashing into existence for maybe a few frames of animation just to light Jotaro’s cigarette. I can’t wait for the latter half of this series though. The rest of the fights in this arc are really cool, and it is all leading up to the Dio battle. That is a fight I can’t wait to see be animated. Well, animated in the current Studio David style and not the awful 90’s ova style. 

Kuroko no Basket 3- We are finally getting close to the end of this series. We only have one more real match to go, the evil red ranger of the sentai group that is the Generation of Miracles, versus Kuroko, the hidden sixth ranger who’s cooler and usually comes in halfway through the season to mix up the dynamic. I have to admit the matches we have had leading up to now this season have all been really great. The Kise mirror match was really interesting, because it allowed for Kise’s development and his team to really shine. The Midorima versus Akashi match had one of the greatest moments in the series ever happen, where Midorima’s friend passes him the ball in the middle of Midorima already in the form to take the shot. That scene made me actually yell out loud in surprise, it was honestly the best part of this whole show. And Akashi’s ‘power’ is surprisingly interesting. While it is completely bullshit, the fact that he uses crazy dribbling to break people form and knock them over is kind of cool. And finally, the big match between Kise and team Kuroko was not as bad as it could be. Kise’s copy ability turned the match into a boss rush, with the team having to go through the entire Generation of Miracles in one guy, which from a video game perspective is really cool, and from a basketball perspective is kind of stupid, but really fun. One of the things I sort of liked in this match is the lack of the zone, the actual bullshit super mode that just beats everything. Kagami not activating it meant that the team actually had to struggle with the team against Kise, but the fact that it exists mean that if he did activate his team would have won right from the beginning. They really should have never brought up that power, or in the very least saved it till the very end. But that’s a problem with the show as a whole. For now, I’m enjoying this show again. It is very kinetic again, and just has some great energy. I still can’t wait for it to be over though. Just one flashback and one big match to go. 

Tribe Cool Crew- They introduced a couple of dancers whose main song is basically just repeating the word swag. Best show of all time, 10/10. But seriously I love this show. The motion capture dancing still looks a bit weird, but once you get use to the characters faces being plastered on dummies and focus on the dancing it looks pretty good. The characters are fun and their journey to dancing with J-el is a good journey. I really hope this show doesn’t go some insane route that has something like aliens or actually dancing to save the world. While something like that would be fine in a different show, this show has had no foreshadowing of something as big of a tonal shift as that. It would feel way too far out of place. I would prefer just dancing. This show is staying strong but I get the gut feeling that it is getting close to the end, with maybe next season being its last. But I know I’ll keep watching it as long as there is dancing and groovy beats. Swag. 

Surprised the TSA didn't catch this. Well, not really.

Only six shows will accompany us into the spring. But now let’s say goodbye to the shows we are leaving behind. 

Akatsuki no Yona- Yona straight up kills a dude! Like, three episodes before the finale she shoots a guy in the chest, killing him. Talk about amazing character growth. She started out as a weak, young girl who needs to relay on everyone else in order to not die. She was a selfish princess who was both naïve to the world and didn’t care. But throwing her into this amazing world full of pain and sadness but also wonder, by showing her reality, she has grown and changed and evolved into a fine young woman. Watching her grow has been a joy. And the rest of her army of good looking boys are all amazing in their own right. Hak, he closest companion, is a surprisingly complicated character, having to battle his own feelings on the same betrayal that Yona felt while also having to support her the entire time. And he loves her so much but he just can’t make it a reality, knowing that he can’t love the princess he has promised to protect. Yun is amazing too. He is the team healer, the smartest member of the crew, but is always fighting against his own weaknesses. The White Dragon is supposed to be the paragon of what the dragons are, but him having to face the reality of what has happened to the dragons and the reality of the world is great, especially because he has to confront the same reality as Yona but after her, so we get to see her growth compared to him. The Blue Dragon has such a sad story and yet is so strong. Not physically mind you, but at heart. Watching him learn to trust others is so sweet and painful and wonderful. The Green Dragon is straight up bisexual which is awesome, and his love of freedom but willingness to protect and help others make him a great character. So far the only weak link is the Yellow Dragon, and that’s because he is introduced in the last episode and isn’t given much to work with. But what they give him is great, because it all hints at so much more. I love this show so much, I could gush over how the villain of the series is charismatic and as far as the show can tell isn’t evil. So far the only evil thing he did was kill the previous king, Yona’s father, but once he stole the crown he seems to be trying to make life better in every way, helping those he rule and fixing the mistakes of the previous king. The only fault I have is with the final episode. It felt rushed, with the introduction of the final dragon and also with the little hook they gave to the next thing they have to do in the quest seems like it was forced to give the last episode a bit more of a cliffhanger feel. But all that said it was still a great episode. I really hope that this show gets more episodes over time, and that they complete the story. I might have to go read the manga after this because it was such a good anime. If you like awesome stories about badass woman who surround themselves with hot dragon men, this is the show for you. 

Binan Kouko Chikyuu Bouei-bu LOVE!- This show is the Akibaranger of magical girl anime. It is a bit of a parody of an amazing, if sometimes silly genre, but also fully loves its source material. It is drenched in its own tropes and clichés and loves every second of them. And I love every second of this show. I hear complaints that this show was boring for some people, and a part of me understood that. The guys just sitting around and talking about completely random things had the potential to getting annoying, but I loved it. Though I love animus that are girls being nice to each other and talking, so I’m not one to talk. But I liked their conversations. They were silly and fun and usually about how their teacher was dead and being animated by the wombat. And the villains were great. They were snotty and rich but one of the members seemed to be there to keep them grounded, which I really liked. He actually turned into one of my favorite characters, being down to earth, though even he admits in the final episode he doesn’t have that much of a character. And let me talk about that final episode. It literally had every single trope in the magical girl anime handbook for a final episode used and abused. The reveal that the villains and the hero were once friends and didn’t know they were fighting. The reveal that the villains were being manipulated the whole time. A former hero tuning into a monster. Two siblings fighting, one being turned into a mad monster. All the heroes getting some crazy super mode for the final battle. The villains who were being manipulated turning good for the final fight. The reconciliation of two friends who had lost their way but were now friends again. And a huge final attack with all their powers put together. It had all these tropes that I’ve seen a million times, and still managed to surprise me and shock me at every twist and turn. This is an amazing magical girl anime, about five boys, and if you are in any way a fan of the genre you have to watch this show. It is both a very fun parody and loving homage to great magical girl anime everywhere. 

Bonjour Koiaji Patisserie- Speaking of crazy finales, what the hell was this shows final arc? This whole show was a cutsie little show about a male harem and pastry making. But then all of a sudden it turns into a crazy cooking competition anime where the main characters are using super moves to complete their pastry. It was so crazy and out of left field I was actually stunned. At the end of the day this was an ok micro-series that got a little crazy at times. It was average at best, really weird at worst. 

Best final episode ending card ever.

Death Parade- There are really two halves of this show. The first half is the episodic character study of watching two new people being pushed to their psychological limits. The other half is the story of how the afterlife deals with the souls of the dead. The first half of this show is really great. Watching two new people have to play a game and slowly learn about them as they are faced with their own inner darkness is actually really fun to watch. While some of the twists and turns that they used for these games were cliché or something that I saw coming, they were over all really great to watch. I liked the variety of matches they had also. While some were dark and twisted, they weren’t afraid to show a lighter, more comical side to things once in a while. It worked. But then came the other half of the show. The part about the judges of these competitions and whether or not they should have humanity or emotions or a soul. In a different show I think it would work better. If this plot was the focus of the show, and they went really in depth with the whole judgment system, then it would be an interesting concept in the very least. But combining it with the life or death competitions just didn’t work. It weakened the show over all. It divided the attention of the show between two elements that didn’t need to be paired up together. I understand the need for a narrative that links together the individual stories, but I don’t feel they chose the right one. Over all Death Parade is a good show that is ultimate hurt by its secondary story. But it still has one of the best opening themes this season, and is definitely in the running for best opening this year. 

Durarara!! X2 Shou- Is it a sign of a good show when you can only remember the good times, and not the stuff the in between that was either boring or just not that great. Watching this show reminded me of all the stuff I didn’t like about the original Durarara. Mikado and for the most part the Dollars storyline is just something I think is wasted potential. It could be cool, but at every step it just makes me not care at all. In fact most of the teenager gang stuff is either really boring to me, only being interesting when the adults are forced to get involved. I also forgot how annoying Izaya tends to be. Yes, he’s great stomping on cellphones and when he’s actually involved with the main proceedings he can be menacing and fun, but when he’s just in the background pulling strings, he is really boring and surprisingly childish. Seeing him get stabbed in the last episode really made the last episode of the season sing to me. Of course the people who stole the show were Celty and Shizuo, but that goes without saying at this point. If your favorite character isn’t one of those two, you are watching the wrong show. Luckily for us this isn’t the end of Durarara for another 7 years. There will be another cour in the 2015 summer anime season, so we have that to look forward to. Hopefully it will actually do something interesting with Mikado, and Anri if that’s not too much trouble. 

 Garo Honoo no Kokuin- I’ve already talked a lot about this show, so let me just sum up my thoughts on it real quick and then we can move on. This is a great addition to the Garo franchise as a whole. The anime’s themes of immortality and being a hero were well done. My main fear for this show was that it would take the outer dressing of the Garo franchise and use them for a completely different show. Like there would be the armor, and maybe some of the terminology, but it would take all that and just do something completely different. Maybe make Makai Knights be heroes that everyone recognizes, maybe turn them into cops, or a thousand different things they could have done with just the bare essentials of Garo without looking at any of the depth of it. But no, they made a real season of Garo, it was just animated. I’ve heard rumors of a second season of the anime, and I wouldn’t mind that if they were able to do it as well as this season. This show is also a great introduction to the Garo universe, as it has nothing connecting it to the original tokusatsu except for the existence of the armor, and Zaurba, but he is in every season because he’s awesome. Seriously, if you ever had an inclination to watch this franchise, but you’re not sure, watch the anime first. It is really well done and just a good anime. 

With this show? Not a zero amount.

Gundam Build Fighters Try- I should start off by saying that this isn’t as good as its previous season. The stakes are not as high, some of the battles were not as great as they were last season, and I think I cared more about the characters from the first season more. But that doesn’t mean this is a bad season. While the stakes are not high, it really gives off the feeling of a sports anime instead of an action one. Yeah, at any point our heroes could lose, but that’s not the end of the world and they can try again next year. While this does hurt the stakes, it changes how we view each battle. Instead of focusing on whether or not our heroes will win, we can instead just enjoy crazy robot fights. While not all the battles are as great as the ones from last season, the high marks are all about the same, and even the low marks are still fun. I think I could watch Gunpla matches for ever, because watching toy robots fight each other is always fun. And the characters all grew and developed from how they started at the beginning of the show, but I think left enough room to grow in case they decide to make another season. Maybe let Sekai continue to grow as a builder or something like that. I really enjoyed this show. The last episode was an amazing battle between literally everyone, an all-out brawl that was just supposed to be fun. It was the perfect cap to this show. That, and for some reason confirming that Domon Kashu from G Gundam is actually Sekai’s martial arts teacher. That fact alone would make this the best show ever. Any show with Domon Kashu is a good show. I honestly hope they continue with this series, and just have more seasons filled with cool gunpla fighting each other, and no earth shattering consequences being on the table. 

Koufuku Graffiti- I feel like this was a micro-series that for some reason got a full episode release. But I don’t mean that in a bad way. This was defiantly a show to relax to, one where I could watch an episode, drool over the food, but not feel the need to get tense over the drama of the episode. Mostly because the highest the drama went was whether or not they can let others help them. To be fair, if you wanted to pay attention there is a really sweet story about a lonely girl who wishes to cook like her grandmother finding friends, allowing herself to open up to them, and gowning into her own through the season. It was really nice. But the highlight of the show is the food. They were able to make all the food look amazing. Honestly it was a show I shouldn’t have watched hungry, because I was starving after every episode. This is a simple little show, great for when you need to relax. It is harmless and nice. 

Log Horizon Season 2- This was definitely the middle step for this series. The most important parts were the expanding of the characters human world back stories, showing how the world has affected other people in less favorable ways, and setting up what will probably be the final arc of this series. My one complaint is that they really brought up aliens. I was hoping for something cleverer, or something less science fiction-y. But no, the reasons all these people are trapped in this video game is aliens. Compared to the previous season, this one falls a bit flat for me. I think it was because the show hit some of the same marks as the previous season, without the same sense of exploration that the first season had. That and the social commentary was a bit more heavily laid on compared to the first. What I do like is some of the other game like elements of the show appearing. Roe 2, the vampire big sister who is also the main characters other character appearing was interesting. Many MMORPG gamers run multiple characters in a game for whatever reason, so it stands to reason that that would apply to this game as well. I like that those characters can be used as shells for the aliens, because their data still exists. It’s a little thing I like. I also surprisingly liked the arc involving the younger members of the guild going on their own quest. At first I thought it was just a diversion from the main plot but seeing them fight together and grow really made it interesting to me. I would not mind more of a focus on them in the future. I am incredibly sure that we are getting a third season of this show in the future, which I hope will be a great finale. 

CALLED IT! (also this hand of mine burns red, yada yada yada)

Majin Bone- My only disappointment for this show is that it didn’t end with the main character punching god in the face. Seriously, this is such a good little action show that no one will watch. The main characters growth as a character, from this selfish teenager to the savior of the world is so gradual but works so well. He is the perfect example of the idea this idea that we have circles of protection. Our first circle is ourselves, we protect ourselves and make sure we live a good life. The next biggest one is one’s own family, one’s friends and family, maybe even ones community. We want to protect the people in those circles, but if expand those circles, slowly at first and then to the whole world, we could live peacefully because everyone would want to protect each other. It’s a small social thought that Shogo really exemplifies with his ideal of the everyday life. It’s honestly a great message in a show about sentai heroes fighting against god and his army. The show isn’t perfect. The ‘sixth ranger’ of the team, Libert, deserved more. She never got the team wide power up, becoming an Iron bone. But her power was super over powered, just the ability to bend space at her whim was amazing. It works on a level of Super Sentai, in that the sixth ranger is usually different from the main cast and doesn’t get the same upgrades as them, but I would prefer to have seen Iron Panther. Aside from that though this show is amazing. It is a great show that should be watched by more people, but will probably be swept under the rug because everyone will ever see it as a card game/toy anime when it is so much more. Seriously, do yourself a favor and watch Majin Bone. 

Rolling Girls- I have no clue what happened in this show, but I really liked it. Honestly, this show had this amazing energy and a great color pallet and some amazing characters that showed up, but in regards to story this show has little to nothing. Every mini arc in this show had a really cool story that I think explored the characters introduced for those arcs really well. For instance, the rock and roll versus Geisha arc that was about two girls obviously in love with each other but being on opposite sides and fighting was so well done. Yes, it was a little obvious were it was going, but it was fun and the music was great and I love a good shamisen rock solo. But around all the really amazing little arcs was a story involving the four main girls that didn’t amount to anything. They rarely added much to the plot or solved it outside of a single line or showing of spirit. If that was all they did I wouldn’t mind it, but the show ends up focusing too much on them when they should have been more in the background. A better way of doing it would have been like in Mushi-shi, where Ginko is the main character but the stories are about the characters he helps, and he does the bare minimum to advance the plot, though I mean that in a good way. I wish Rolling Girls did that more, where the girls had less of an impact to the story over all, but were still around, helping. But that is honestly a small detraction. Every two episode story arc was so fun and cool and bright that I really enjoyed them. While the overall story isn’t great, it is only a minor detraction from the show overall. I look forward to what the people who made this show go on to make, because the style and world and characters they made are amazing, they just maybe need a tighter writer. Watch it for the rickshaw rocker, not for the motorcycle girls. 

Shirobako- If you are a fan of anime in any way you have to watch this show. This show perfectly shows the lives of the people who make all the anime you like. This show puts a face to every animator, director, production assistant, voice actor, writer, researcher, artist, cg artist, folly guy and just every little part that makes an anime. Sometimes just knowing that there are people behind the scenes that make the anime we watch really changes your perspective. If an episode is late I now understand a ton of the reasons why the show could be late. If a show has a clip show, I now know the behind the scenes reason why, or in the very least I can take a guess. I am a million times more sympathetic to every artist and animator who works on any show, from the most terrible moe blob shit to shows that look beautiful from start to finish. This show is amazing for that alone. But then it does so much more! The story of the five highschool girls growing up and into the industry, and achieving a version of their dream of all working on the same anime together is honestly so emotional and amazing that I actually cried. The action scene of the director fighting his way into the manga producers building in order to have a meeting with the writer of the manga of Ariel Girls Squad was ridiculous and amazing and had me cheering aloud. The quite animator girl who never spoke except in squeaks finally saying a whole sentence was actually one of the best scenes of the show. I love this show. If it ever gets a second season I would jump on it in a second. But the thing is it doesn’t need a second season. It was amazing as is. Please, if you like anime, you have to watch this show.

This is my jam!

Yowamushi Pedal: Grande Road- This show ended the best way it could. Not only does Onoda win the whole damn thing, fighting tooth and nail against the whole world with a cadence that probably tore his legs apart from the inside out, he achieved his dream of taking his friends to Akibahabara and buying them anime crap and it is honestly heartwarming. This is honestly such a great sports anime. Watching Onoda claw and scratch his way to victory, carrying the hopes and dreams of all his friends and teammates every step of the way, but that’s not the real climax of the show. The real climax is Onoda achieving his dream that he had at the start of the series. Seeing that is what really makes this show great. That little thing at the end really acts as a good explanation for the series. Yowamushi Pedal is about the characters. While, yes, you could say that about most sports anime, for some reason it works better in this show. Almost every character is fully formed and fleshed out. In other sports anime many characters will fall through the cracks. For instance, many of the characters on the main team in Kuroko no Basket have no character other than just yelling. We have the main five, the couch, and after that I can’t really tell you much about the rest of the characters. But in Yowamushi Pedal more time is spent on more characters, so few, if any, really fall through the cracks by the end of the series. It is something that makes the show work better. I really loved this show. Watching these characters grow and fight together, seeing them goof off and relax during the small after credits scenes really gave everyone some amazing bits of personality, and it was just a fun ride from start to finish. It is such a good anime I have decided to start reading the manga, which has continued past the end of the Inter-high. Do yourself a favor and watch this show, it as such a fun time. And if you do, remember that there are post credits scenes instead of a next time. You have to watch those also. 

And those are my final thoughts on the winter 2015 anime season. I have to admit, this was a really good season. Many shows that I came to love had amazing endings. And what shows are following us into the next season seem to be great as well. Shirobako is definitely the knock out hit of all the shows that are ending this season. It is a show that everyone needs to watch. So until next season, have fun watching. 

Why is Onoda's mom wearing that jersey? WHY IS MIDOSUJI's DEAD MOM THERE?