First Look: Winter 2013-2014
Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! Ren
Episodes Watched: 3
This is easily my favorite anime of the season. It has everything that I want: unique story, great characters, comedy, and finally an anime that takes a relationship past the initial confession. I can’t stress enough how rare it is to see an anime that shows the actual relationship develop despite how successful it has been (e.g. Mysterious Girlfriend X). I was afraid that the second season wouldn’t hold up to the first, but so far its blown past my expectations with flying colors. The relationship between the Dark Flame Master and Wicked Eye is one of the best romances in anime and this season is just bringing out the best of the two. I think it’s following the same pattern of having a happy-go-lucky feel at the start, then hitting hard toward the end so I’m curious to see what that story twist is going to be. If you haven’t watched the first season it’s a must see especially now a second has been released. Definitely worth picking up this season for any fans of the first season.
D-Frag!
Episodes Watched: 3
I didn’t think that D-Frag! was going to be so funny as it is. The first episode really pulled me in and had me laughing every couple minutes at the sheer ridiculousness of the characters. Even though the series is clearly a comedy it has some pretty sweet elements about it too. The main character really made the series entertaining. He’s a great mix between delinquent and average highschooler. When he got surrounded by the real Game Creation Club who were all dressed in black to be intimidating his immediate thought went to punching them in the face. I was dying laughing when he was trying to figure out the gender of one of the characters, then fell to the floor when they revealed the final member. I can’t say that it will be worth picking up this season being a comedy, but I have hope that it will be a preferred priority watch in the end.
Gin no Saji 2nd Season
Episodes Watched: 3
I can’t say that I am enjoying this season as much as the first. Maybe I don’t remember the first season very well (despite how recently it aired), but it feels quite a bit more dramatic this time around. They are keeping this underlying mystery about Mikage which has been both good and bad. A part of me continues to watch to figure out more about her while another is starting to dislike her. Hachiken is still the same guy he’s always been, a little too much of a busybody but overall just a nice guy; he tries to help her and gets rejected and when he wants to better himself she yells at him. Sure after watching the episode you understand why, but she blows up on him without explaining her side at all. She would say that he has to learn himself, or pick up the reason on his own, yet in the end it didn’t seem like that big of a lesson to learn on his own. I’m still enjoying the series and look forward to it ever week, but I’m hoping it doesn’t slip down the slope many second season do.
Hamatora The Animation
Episodes Watched: 3
I know that I said I wouldn’t pick up an anime based off a video games again because they were getting tiresome, but this one had me interested.
Hoozuki no Reitetsu
Episodes Watched: 1
Pretty simple reason I dropped this anime, it wasn’t funny. The trailer had me quite convinced it will have me falling out of my seat, but I didn’t laugh once on the first episode. If you can’t get the initial hook for a comedy I doubt it will keep me entertained throughout the season.
Inari, Konkon, Koi Iroha
Episodes Watched: 2
A pretty laid back anime to watch this season. It has some of its cute and funny moments to keep things interesting, and the overall plot isn’t terrible. However, I don’t have the biggest hope that this will turn out to be better than a low priority watch. Right now the most interesting character is definitely the brother who for some reason can see Gods despite seeming quite distant to the shrine. I’m curious to see what his experience has been and why he is so against his little sister being close to a God especially one that is trying to help her.
Mahou Sensou
Episodes Watched: 3
I’m actually on the fence about this one. It had a solid opening but over time it’s gotten pretty boring for me. I might drop it because of time restraints. I doubt I’ll even do a review on it in the end anyway. The whole idea of getting magic from someone because it was used around you as a teen is a bit far fetched (which is difficult to say in any anime). I’ll give it a couple more episodes before making my decision.
Mikakunin de Shinkoukei
Episodes Watched: 3
Definitely an anime that caught me off guard. I thought this was going to be terrible and follow the same anime pattern most romance anime do. After giving it a few episodes it has turned out to be one of my favorites during the season. It has good story progression, entertaining characters, and soothing art style. It definitely reminds me a little of Yuri Yuri which was another anime I didn’t expect to enjoy. Hopefully it will keep getting better so I can give it a minimum of a high priority watch. Heck it even has the potential to be a must see depending on where it goes.
Nisekoi
Episodes Watched: 2
I’m a SHAFT fanboy so it’s probably not surprising that I’m going to keep watching this one. I absolutely love the art direction they take and the story this time around is cool. It is definitely not my favorite of the production company’s anime but it’s hanging on. I think the characters are pretty good even though they are stereotypical. I can’t say I have a favorite heroine just yet but I’m sure that will change in the next couple episodes.
Nobunagun
Episodes Watched: 4
Another series that I’m a bit on the fence about. The fourth episode tipped me toward the side to keep watching so I’m probably going to stick with it the rest of the season but it definitely has it’s ups and downs. While the action scenes are neat and the idea of having historical figures being the birth of these super humans is a cool take on history, it does lack in the character development department. The main character Shio has her awkward otaku charm, but she can be a bit 2D (no pun intended) in terms of her personality. There are times where I think she is really going to feel betrayed, lost, or helpless then she suddenly gets right back up as if nothing happened. I suppose that is better than her wallowing in guilt for the rest of the season but at least take a minute to act like you care about the people who die. Nevertheless I think that the anime can turn out to be pretty solid even if it runs the same “enemy shows up, kills enemy, enemy isn’t actually dead, kills enemy again” cooker-cutter pattern every episode. I’m crossing my fingers that they change things up a little bit to keep me reeled in.
Noragami
Episodes Watched: 3
Much like Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! Ren I look forward to this anime ever week. It is easily the most unique and has a great story to follow. I’m absolutely loving the mix of drama and comedy between the characters and not really knowing what Yato’s background is. It also has the best soundtrack of the season by far. I cannot wait to pick up the OST when it is finally released. If you are going to pick up a new anime this season Noragami is the one to pick out, no questions asked.
Seitokai Yakuindomo*
Episodes Watched: 3
Yes. Yes. So much yes. This is just as good if not better than the first season and OVAs. It’s funny, witty, and has some of the best characters in a comedy. More importantly it is diving into other subjects that it only scraped on in the first season (like possible romance?!). It’s doing such a great job keeping me entertained with its dirty one liner humor and ecchi jokes without actually being ecchi. If you’re into more raunchy yet witty comedy I would suggest picking this one up. I’m definitely going to be watching it this season and can’t wait to give it a final review.
Sekai Seifuku: Bouryaku no Zvezda
Episodes Watched: 3
I’m on the fence about this one. It’s not really that great, and the plot isn’t anything special. The characters aren’t bad but I haven’t felt a connection with any of them so far. After three episodes I feel like the main character should have some sort of impact with the plot but he seems completely useless. I’ll probably end up dropping this one because of time restraints. I don’t really want to keep watching something that doesn’t have any sort of enjoyment from the first three episodes. If anyone keeps watching this and it makes a complete 180 please let me know. Until then I’ll give it one more.
Strange+
Episodes Watched: 3
Even as a short I don’t think it’s worth picking up. It wasn’t funny in the first episode, second, or third.
Toaru Hikuushi e no Koiuta
Episodes Watched: 2
Toaru Hikuushi e no Koiuta is probably one of the better this season but it is also the most on the fence between avoid watch and high priority watch. The anime has a great back story of revenge in the eyes of a royal. The fact that the anime took a completely different route makes it worth watching. It’s hard to judge with only two episodes, but I’m really looking forward to see how things will go the rest of the season. Hopefully it ends with a bang instead of a whimper.
Wake Up, Girls!
Episodes Watched: 3
This definitely has an The iDOLM@STER feel so it, an anime which I liked quite a bit. It has the mix of drama and comedy that I was expecting to see after the preview. So far so good and I will definitely keep watching. My biggest fear is that I will do too much comparing between this and The iDOLM@STER which might cloud my judgment a little when the final review comes out.
Witch Craft Works
Episodes Watched: 3
It’s not often that you see a competent, strong, stoic female lead in an action anime like Witch Craft Works. And so far I have to say that I’m really digging it. It’s kind of nice seeing the tables turned where the girl is protecting the guy for once. Sure it’s different seeing a stronger, taller female holding a guy like a princess but that’s where the charm comes from. I’m hoping this anime pushes others to realize that having a helpless female protagonist isn’t always the best way to go. Sometimes guys like a girl who can hold her own ground in a fight. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing how this all pans out.
Pupa
Episodes Watched: 3
I wasn’t a big fan from the first episode of this short, definitely different than I expected but I wanted to keep going just in case. I was looking forward to this back in Fall but it unfortunately never aired because stations didn’t feel like picking it up. While I understand that censoring might have been necessary to air this on television, it really takes away from the anime. It doesn’t give you the same terror or fear a horror manga would because you never get to see any of the gore factor. I’m going to continue watching it because it does get more interesting as it goes on and I don’t think I’ve watched an anime that is both incest AND cannibalism. Is it weird that the cannibalism part makes the incest part ok?
Pupipo!
Episodes Watched: 4
I watched everything that’s been released so far and I just couldn’t get behind this one. It was only slightly entertaining just not enough to keep going. It’s only a short though so I don’t feel like I’ll miss out on too much.
Tonari no Seki-kun
Episodes Watched: 4
Probably one of the funnier shorts I’ve seen in a while. It plays on a bit of curiosity because you never know what Seki is thinking. At first you think he’s going to play a simple game of Go or Shogi, then suddenly it turns into a whole adventure. The art isn’t that great, but I don’t expect shorts to have good artwork anyway. I’m definitely going to keep watching this one for the season, and for anyone looking for a quick laugh you should probably give it a go as well.