So this section is where I follow Spring Anime on a weekly basis, with one blog post every Sunday. It contains my opinion on the week's worth of anime, which anime and studios are at their best and my ranking of the Top Five of the season at that point. Enjoy!
My Opinion of the week (7th to 13th April, 2014)
The season has been quite good thus far. Studio Arms and
Bones have both pulled out something really spectacular from their shows “Brynhildr
in the Darkness” and “Soul Eater Not!” Meanwhile, Bones and Madhouse compete
for the top spot of best studio, which easily goes to Bones, since Bones has
released three shows, two of which are in my top ten (“Soul Eater Not!” and “Captain
Earth”).
I was extremely disappointed with J.C. Staff’s action-comedy
offering of “Fuun Ishin Dai Shogun”, which has now been taken off of my list.
The problem with it was that the animation and comedy were terrible and the almost-constant
shaky cam was extremely annoying. It made Hunger Games look good! It’s disappointing
because J.C. Staff have actually created an anime I like called Selector Infected
WIXOSS, a dark and twisted take on the Magic Card genre, sort of like how
Modoka Magica and Princess Tutu did the same thing in their respective genres.
Unfortunately, TNK, the same people who made “School Days” (and I don't need to tell you why anime fans universally hate it if you are one),
have returned with an Ecchi Mecha Comedy called “Daimidaler: Prince vs. Penguin
Empire”. Although not nearly as terrible as Brains’ Base’s “Kamigami no Asobi”
or J.C. Staff’s unbearable action-comedy atrocity, it gives you what is promised
on the package but with absolutely no charm, sub-par animation and the ugliest
giant robot I have ever seen. Plus, the dick jokes are just immature and made
in a bizarre way. It’s like TNK is the Michael Bay of anime: no shits given about
story or characters, just made to appeal to testosterone-fueled man penis.
Absolutely no intelligence whatsoever.
As for the rest, there’s not much that needs to be said. “Mekakucity
Actors” has a very unique art style that almost reminds me of “Summer Wars” or “Samurai
Champloo”. There are a couple of “Attack on Titan” wannabes that are actually
not that bad (“Black Bullet” and “Knights of Sidonia”). “No Game No Life” has a
resemblance to “Sword Art Online”, but only because they are both set in unique
video game worlds. Madhouse actually surprised me because the anime they
released I thought I would dismiss as “okay” was actually excellent and the one
I thought would be “excellent” was actually only “meh”.
So, overall, this season has been fun so far. Though I know
that there are going to be a lot of anime that I will stop watching after a
while, I can’t doubt that there are some excellent quality anime on my top ten
list.
Top Five Ranking
1. Brynhildr in the Darkness (Gokukoku no Brynhildr) (Studio Arms): Written by the same person who wrote "Elfen Lied", the first episode of this Sci-Fi Drama is as intriguing as it is beautiful. The animation stands out and while the characters may be a little bit boring, they still do stand quite well.
2. Soul Eater Not! (Studio Bones): Canon to one of my favorite Shounen, Soul Eater Not! reminds you why you liked "Soul Eater" so much. It has an interesting, cartoonish art-style, excellent fight scenes and hilarious comedic scenes. It also pulls more unexpected things out. For example, did you know that Death City had an airport? Neither did I and it totally surprised me, but in a good way.
3. Black Bullet (Studio Kinema Citrus): So many similarities to SNK! The wall, the external invaders, the near-extinction of mankind... It's practically SNK with a Sci-Fi twist. However, it still maintains enough originality and fight scenes to make it one of the best the season has to offer us so far.
4. No Game No Life (Studio Madhouse): As Lord Eddard Stark of Winterfell once said "Brace Yourselves, Comments mentioning Sword Art Online are Coming!" It's true, ever since SAO became popular, there has been an explosion of gaming-related plotlines and worlds in anime, as companies try to make a quick cash grab. However, what seperates SAO from No Game No Life is that NGNL is in many respects much better than SAO. The two main characters are much more likable than Kirito, the explanation as to why they have been dragged into that world is given in the first episode and the colors are much clearer and brighter. Just hope that it doesn't suffer from a really terrible arc at the end like SAO did.
5. Knights of Sidonia (Sidonia no Kishi) (Polygon Pictures): This is the other one with a lot of resemblance to SNK. However, like Black Bullet, it maintains enough originality to make it stand on its own two legs. There is also an air of mystery surrounding the main character, Nagate, which allows us to ask some questions that will ultimately need answering.
So, thanks for reading. Sayonara!
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