Friday, January 2, 2015

Winter 2015 Anime Preview

Last season in anime was good. We had so much stuff to watch that we had to drop things we actually wanted. Welcome to our blog, and take it easy.

Let's go through our expectations of the upcoming season. It's mediocre, maybe a bit worse.

Absolute Duo

Anilist - MAL - PV
Amarrez - When I first saw this show confirmed for Winter I was a little excited. Not because of the show itself, but because I mistook it for Plastic Memories due to the similar looking main heroines. Needless to say, I was a bit disappointed when I learned that it wasn't said show, but a show about a very special chosen one who has to save the world with his army of haremettes, one who looks suspiciously similar to a certain Date A Live character. And his only weapon is a... shield! Even though he clearly throws a magic punch in the PV. What a wacky and original twist, I can't wait.
Erika - Harem LN adaptation because clearly there needed more. It's safe to say that if you can identify a character's entire personality (or the lack thereof) from their design alone, then you know it's a bad sign.
Wareya - I expect this to be a disappointment. The anime art style doesn't seem to live up to the original art, and the PV of all things was 50% flapping cardboards and panning stills. The action sequences seem like animated storyboards. Another low-budget "ad" adaptation?

Aldnoah Zero 2

Anilist - MAL - PV
Wareya - I don't know anything about Aldnoah Zero, but since this is a continuation season rather than a sequel to a finished story, it shouldn't be anywhere near as disappointing as Psycho Pass 2 was.
Amarrez - I can't wait to see how the cast and story develops now that three of the main characters are irreversibly removed from the story due to a severe case of bulletbrainitis. Or not, since according to the PVs and key visuals, all of them are still alive, rendering the big finale almost meaningless. Fantastic. This will be even more of a slog than Valvrave's second season, that much seems certain. Maybe I should stop watching trailers, it would make me a much more optimistic person.
Erika - Season 1 was bad and I haven't even watched it!

Assassination Classroom

Anilist - MAL - PV
Erika - This is a concept that only really works when it's not a long-running series and guess what this is. The comedy is repetitive due to the inherent gimmick of this series, and the characters aren't going to likeable when there are too many of them to give a shit about. Expect this to get old super fast after its initial spark.
Amarrez - This could be good, but it won't be, and I'll tell you why as succinctly as possible. Seiji Kishi is directing it, it's getting two cour when the manga was only funny and interesting for ten chapters at best and the manga spreads the character development pretty thin for its cast. Negima managed to make an entire classroom of characters varied and interesting, why can't this? The only hope for this series is if it ditches the source material's narrative quick, and turns it into a Carnival Phantasm type variety show.
Wareya - I don't expect anything of this. I'm not really a shounen comedy person. The studio's done a few impressive things, though, so maybe they'll work some magic and make me like it.

Binan Koukou Chikyuu Bouei-bu Love!

Anilist - MAL - PV
Erika - The last time there was a "do nothing club" show, literally nothing happened in the show. Now with more sausages.
Amarrez - Uh, well, okay. I'll pretend I'm skipping this show because the wombat mascot looks really, really irritating. Yeah, that's it.
Wareya - This is the kind of thing where, either nobody expects it to be good and then it's fantastic, or everybody expects it to be good and it ends up sucking. Sorry! -- In case it's good, I have high expectations for blondie and pinkie.

Death Parade

Anilist - MAL - PV
Amarrez - Madhouse actually being allowed to act as a genuine creative outlet instead of having to churn out uninspired adaptations of mediocre or outright bad source material? Alright, cool, sign me up. The original one episode story was pretty great. Or, at least, I think it was. My memory outside of the fantastic ending is pretty hazy. But in any case, an episodic story about the human condition with a slick art style. And, unlike Mushishi, this one has bar fights.
Wareya - The PV for this was actually difficult to watch for the first 1/3 of it. That aside, it seems like a decent contribution to the season. I liked the part where they animated characters and background at different framerates so it stuttered. Honestly, I have no idea what this is going to be like, but the PV exposes some interesting elements. Sorry if that's too wishywashy, but everything the previews have exposed is wishywashy as well.
Erika - This is probably the most interesting show of the season.

Dog Days''

Anilist - MAL - PV
Wareya - I haven't seen the earlier seasons. If everything goes well, this should be just fine.
Erika - This is false advertisement because there have been no dogs for the last two seasons of this show. Neither was plot.
Amarrez - Haven't watched it, likely won't watch it any time soon. These words weren't worth the pixels they were printed on.

Durarara!!x2 Shou

Anilist - MAL - PV
Amarrez - Now, this I've seen. Hopefully it doesn't continue the downward trend in quality that the latter half of the first season started. I'm sure the music will be good, at any rate. With any luck there will be more of a focus on Izaya, Celty and other interesting characters as opposed to Mikado this time around.
Wareya - The PV is well produced. I haven't seen Durarara!!, but maybe I should. Man, this is when I start to realize I'm picking up on seiyuus by the sound of their voice alone... Good character designs, good art, good expectations? Since I haven't seen the previous entries in Durarara!!, I'm not going to be watching it for a followup, but I'll pay attention in case the fanbase goes crazy.
Erika - This is probably the most obnoxious show of the season.

Isuca

Wareya - The premise had me until they said "Accidentally . . .". Oh well. I thought they might do something right, but they haven't published a PV and it's scheduled for only 10 episodes. You know what else was 10 episodes? Chaika 2.
Amarrez - With Arms, you know what you're going to get. That is, a heavy amount of censorship to be able to get it on TV. If I'm ever going to bother (unlikely, it sounds dire), it'll be after the home release.
Erika - You should be repeating the title of this show a lot if you're seriously considering watching this.

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Stardust Crusaders 2

Anilist - MAL - PV
Amarrez - Phantom Blood was amusing. Battle Tendency was great. Stardust Crusaders, despite being hyped by everyone, was incredibly boring with the worst Jojo so far, and I never finished it.
Erika - Don't expect budget. Just lots of men.
Wareya - The first season of this was lame because the source material was lame. I really liked the first Jojo anime series, but Stardust Crusaders 1 was literally just monster of the week every week. The mechanics weren't even interesting. The dramas were transparent. I know you're supposed to turn your brain off when watching Jojo, but it doesn't work when my brain doesn't do a thing at all aside from look at the <10 FPS images. There has to be CONTENT. Phantom Blood and Battle Tendency were great. Stardust Crusaders 1 was not. Hopefully this fills in the void.

Junketsu no Maria

Anilist - MAL - PV
Erika - "How to make something interesting sound as uninteresting as possible" - Synopsis
Amarrez - Fuck yes, history erection activated. I've been waiting for a Hundred Year's War anime for eons. What's that? It has dragons in it? Oh. Well, Production IG do good work, I suppose. I guess I'm in.
Wareya - The preview was boring.
I heard this was going to be unfaithful, and that's a shame. I hope it's good, because if it is, I'll like it, and I like it when I like things. The premise is interesting enough.

Juuou Mujin no Fafnir

Anilist - MAL - PV
Amarrez - It's literally Infinite Stratos. Sans the mechs and international harem. Why?
Erika - Ctrl C + Ctrl V Absolute Duo
Wareya - Everyone tells me this is terrible. Even I think this is probably going to be terrible. Fuck them, myself included. I want this to be good. I'm going to watch it, and nothing's going to stop me. I want this *thing* to be *good*. It deserves it! Mainly by the original work's art, though.

Kantai Collection

Anilist - MAL - PV
Amarrez - I honestly could have typed an entire essay here, detailing my thoughts on the game (which I have in fact played), the enormous amount of fan content and, according to certain people, problematic political themes of the game and how they shape my expectations of the anime going forward. But, unfortunately, I already watched the first episode camrip and, surprisingly, I quite liked it, so there you go.
Wareya - I don't really like moe shows. If it ends up going crazy, I'll pay more attention to it. The production is nice. There's a camrip leak of something that's not the PV on the net. The music is good, and I'll be looking into that as it comes out. Good luck!
Erika - Fully expect every character to play out their personality trope in one or two lines they might get if they're not one of the few main characters who the director decided was relevant. Unless it has an actual story to tell, which PV seems to show otherwise, don't expect anything but fanservice (and not necessarily the sexual type) and reference jokes.
Whether ZUN made the right decision or not will also be revealed with this show's sales. Look forward to it!

Koufuku Graffiti

Anilist - MAL - PV
Wareya - The voiceover on the PV was basically unbearable. The art looks good at times, though. How the hell would japanese society let middleschoolers live on their own, seriously? "Erotic meal scenes" is a nice hook. I hope Shaft doesn't Shaft this show.
Amarrez - Hidamari Sketch with food porn is what I was hoping, but the food actually doesn't look all that good from the trailer. Hopefully I'll still get the erotic eating the tagline promised me.
Erika - Watch Ben-To instead. Actually don't watch that either.

Rolling Girls

Anilist - MAL - PV
Amarrez - This is the one show I really want to be good. It looks like a cross between Kyousougiga and Kill la Kill, which ironically excites me since both those shows failed to reach their potential. So long as it has a talented team with no production shortcomings behind it, though, I'm sure it'll be a show to remember. Wait, WIT Studio? Well, at least it's not an adaptation of that vocaloid song with the similar name, considering how poorly the last anime based on vocaloid songs went.
Wareya - Yet another modern post-war anime. How do they even let people write summaries that are that boring? The art looks very nice. I hope the story and animation carry this show. I like the music. I'm going to be watching it with warm hopes up.

Saenai Heroine no Sodate-kata

Anilist - MAL - PV
Amarrez - I thought I could safely skip this series with no regrets, but then I saw it was by the author of White Album 2. Now I have to be woefully disappointed by it. Thanks, Maruto.
Erika - You know you got a keeper when the MC is a "high-school otaku."
Wareya - Okay. This is getting out of hand. The premise is LITERALLY self insertion bait. No way around it. "BD Hoarding", "with remarkable luck, ... bumps head-first into ... the most beautiful girl he has ever seen", "The tale of a small not-quite-doujin circle". The PV was equally boring. The voicing is grating. The music is obnoxious. The worst part is, it's going to sell like gold.

Seiken Tsukai no World Break

Anilist - MAL - PV
Amarrez - Have I not previewed the same series three times now? How many times can I say "this is light novel harem trash I would only watch if forced" in an obtuse way?
Wareya - Don't. Put. The. Fucking. Backstory. In. The. Fucking. Abstract. Holy shit. I don't understand how this is so hard. I'm not even going to bother looking into this because of that. These things which literally make the first episodes interesting are being thrown away just like that.
Okay, I lied. I looked into it. It looks painfully generic. Will they keep up the stress and quality levels enough to sell BDs?
Erika - Masterpiece.

Sengoku Musou

Anilist - MAL - PV
Amarrez - The Musou series is finally getting a proper anime adaptation, and everyone is excited. I am the most excited of them all. Or, I would be, if it were adapting the one Musou game everyone cares about instead of making another fucking sengoku jidai anime. We get it, Japan, you have two periods of interesting history and because you're not allowed to talk about one of them you make all your media about the other. Please, make it stop. In terms of the show specifically, the preview was underwhelming, which is borderline heresy considering how much of a flood of your senses the Musou series is supposed to be.
Erika - Japan's boner for Sengoku period is eternal. Already looks bad because the characters aren't badass old samurai guys stroking their beard while making evil DBZ grins.
Wareya - I don't know anything about this. It all depends on execution.

Shinmai Maou no Testament

Anilist - MAL - PV
Amarrez - A series where the only redeeming quality was the fantastic art from the light novel, adapted by a studio who made arguably the worst looking anime of 2014. Truly, a match made in heaven. Pass.
Wareya - Disappointment of the season, everyone! I'll be watching the first few episodes for camp's sake.
Erika - Guys, this is definitely not Highschool DxD, I promise.
Maria is also the best girl. I'm a prophet.

Shounen Hollywood: Holly Stage for 50

Anilist - MAL - PV
Amarrez - If I'm going to watch an all boy idol troupe show, it's going to be Uta no Prince-sama, not this tripe.
Erika - Why is he grinning like that?
Wareya - No comment on shoujos.

Soukyuu no Fafner: Dead Aggressor - Exodus

Anilist - MAL - PV
Wareya - TV sequels to movies never pan out well these days, but we'll see how it goes. There's always a good one.
I haven't seen the movie. Hasn't it been like, ten years since the original TV series? Sheesh. Well, I'm not a drama mecha person anyway.
Erika - What does that title even mean?

Milky Holmes TD

Anilist - MAL - PV
Amarrez - According to early reports, this isn't the dame dame show we know and love. Here's hoping these worrisome no-fun-allowed rumours are false.
Erika - It's going to pretend to be like the first two seasons then it will reveal its true colors as Futari 2.0.
Wareya - I know someone who's looking forward to this. Yet another "if they fuck this up it'll be bad" anime. I haven't watched any idol anime before, but it seems like this might not really be that kind of thing.

THE iDOLM@STER: CINDERELLA GIRLS

Anilist - MAL - PV
Erika - Better than Love Live.
Amarrez - The other highly anticipated anime about a immense cast of young girls doing whatever it is the premise stipulates they do. I never saw the original im@s, but from what I understand there's no real narrative connection between it and the Cinderella Girls spinoff, so I should be fine to jump in with my limited understanding of idol culture picked up from Love Live.
Wareya - This is going to be my first idol anime. Wish me luck!

Tokyo Ghoul √A

Anilist - MALPV
Amarrez - What does it mean by the square root of A? Will the series original tangent be about the backstory of Arima? Maybe. What I'm more certain about is that this sequel will likely be as much of a gratuitously censored mess as the first one, especially since it isn't going to lean on the comparatively stable narrative of a manga for support anymore. I'm obligated to watch just to see where it goes.
Erika - crawling in my skin these wounds will not heal fear is how i fall confusing what is real
Wareya - I'm not touching this with a ten foot pole. I don't like dark edge. Good luck!

Yoru no Yatterman

Anilist - MAL - PV
Wareya - The PV is great. The premise is within reason. I hope it's good.
Amarrez - I haven't seen the original Yatterman, so I'd feel as if I was cheating if I watched this. If I hear good things, though, I might jump in since a spin off series about villains sounds genuinely interesting.
Erika - Looks cool as shit

Yuri Kuma Arashi

Anilist - MAL - PV
Amarrez - Ikuhara is back. Are you excited? You should be, since everyone else seems to be. Unfortunately, I dropped Penguindrum and haven't gotten around to Utena, so my hype is a bit muted. Still, I'm always up for a series that looks like it has a unique directorial style and a premise that I haven't seen half a hundred times, so lay it on me.
Erika - If Penguindrum was any indication, expect massive build up and zero payoffs. Or maybe negative payoffs.
Wareya - People are excited for this. I don't know anything about it at all.

1 comment:

  1. I have to say,while it does not seem like it,this season has great potential.I am excited about Death Parade and Kantai Collection in particular.Also,great work on the article you guys.

    ReplyDelete

Take it easy!