Fall 2014 Preview: Part 3, Review Time Now?

This post was written by Dark_Sage. He is Dark_Sage.

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First ep impressions post, so we can all move on. Shows are listed best to worst. And yes, I’m keeping it short.

~Table of Contents~

Excellent

Good-ish

Mehdiocre

Shit

Summary Slide

 

 

Excellent (9-10/10)

Inou Battle wa Nichijou-kei no Naka de (When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace)

A fully realized teenage power fantasy in comedy form… by the people who did Kill la Kill?

Knock on Hell's Door
My veins are right here, Trigger.

 

 

Amagi Brilliant Park

Tamako Market x FMP Fumoffu x That one episode of South Park where Cartman buys a theme park =

Amagi - Blood and Hopes
Brilliance.

Like jalapenos and cream cheese, it doesn’t make sense on the outset, but once you give it a try your calendar’s gonna revolve around finding out when your local grocer puts those TGIFridays jalapeno popper packs on sale. ($2.50 each or no buy, ofc.)

 

 

Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso (Your Lie in April)

Though the flashbacks and the impromptu concert were awful, the show makes a damn strong impression with characters that aren’t as cookie cutter as you’d think.

Shigatsu

You liked Chihayafuru, right? Watch this.

 

 

Shingeki no Bahamut Genesis (Rage of Bahamut Genesis)

This is what I wanted Space Dandy to be. Stupid-fun action that doesn’t insult your intelligence.

Shingeki no Best Boy
Director Keiichi Satou’s a Watanabe who doesn’t suck.

Keiichi also did Tiger and Bunny, which I feel obligated to reference, as some of you are still living in 2011 and wouldn’t give this a shot otherwise.

Seriously, you’ll like it. Maybe.

 

 

Fate/stay night Unlimited Blade Works

Grinmace simulator 2014 delivers everything it needs to.

Grinmace

Well done, ufotable.

 

 

 

 

Good-ish (7-8/10)

Ookami Shoujo to Kuro Ouji (Wolf Girl and Black Prince)

Though this ain’t quite on the level of premier shoujo like Shigatsu, it’s still damn solid.

Ookami Shoujo to Kuro Ouji - Wan

Watch it, cuz shoujo’s good.

 

 

Shirobako

I really wanted to hate this show. Japan’s ever-present naval-gazing in anime gets tiring fast. But as you can see from the below screen…

MFW every goddamn day at work

…this ain’t exactly that kind of show. The characters are unique and it’s not presented in a way the oversells the anime industry “product”. Well worth a look, even if just to find out that you aren’t sugoi enough to like it.

 

 

Nanatsu no Taizai (The Seven Deadly Sins)

Though it’s a dumb, generic shounen, I happen to like dumb, generic shounens.

Nanatsu no Taizai

But as far as generishounens go, it’s definitely worse than Fairy Tail or Hunter X Hunter, so don’t get your hopes up too high.

 

 

Grisaia no Kajitsu (Le Fruit de la Grisaia)

Grisaia - Multi-lane drifting

I expect this one to drop rather heavily in my rankings once I understand what it’s about. There’s no way Japan will ever make something that lives up to the premise of homicidal maniacs all trying to fuck their main target.

Akuma no Riddle
Yes, I’m still mad about this.

 

 

Madan no Ou to Vanadis (Lord Marksman and Vanadis)

If you’ve got any fond memories of Tears to Tiara, I can’t say you’d go wrong with Madan.

Madan no Ou to Vanadis - You say that like it's a bad thing

The show’s a bit old school, so I can’t see it attracting a lot of new blood, but it suits mine just fine.

 

 

Ushinawareta Mirai wo Motomete (In Search of Lost Future)

Ushinawareta Mirai wo Motomete

The animation may be low-budget, but the end of the first ep was pretty cool. I mean, so long as you pretend every other VN series ever hasn’t pulled that “twist”.

 

 

Kiseijuu – Sei no Kakuritsu (Parasyte – The Maxim)

Parasyte - the complaining

It’s not bad, but read the manga instead. Based on how the anime’s been going (slowly), they’re not gonna get through anything worth noting.

 

 

 

 

Mehdiocre/Okay (5-6/10)

Akatsuki no Yona (Yona of the Dawn)

Akatsuki no Yona

It’s mehdiocre.

 

 

Donten ni Warau (Laughing Under the Clouds)

Funimation thinks tanuki are raccoons

It’s mehdiocre.

(And yes, I’m just going to be repeating this phrase for this section. Let’s pretend there are artistic reasons behind it and not just pure laziness.)

 

 

Magic Kaito 1412

Magic Kaito 1412 - Elementary

It’s mehdiocre.

 

 

Cross Ange – Tenshi no Ryuu no Rondo (Cross Ange – Rondo of Angels and Dragons)

Cross Ange - Best Prince

It’s mehdiocre.

 

 

World Trigger

Real world advice for rape victims.
Real world advice for rape victims.

It’s mehdiocre.

 

 

Daitoshokan no Hitsujikai (A Good Librarian Like a Good Shepherd)

Pre-sneeze

It’s mehdiocre.

 

 

 

 

Fansubber social status-tier (0-4/10)

Gugure! Kokkuri-san

Gugure! Kokkuri-san

Nice try, Gugure. But I’m Team InuKikyo for life.

 

 

Garo – Honoo no Kokuin (Garo the Animation)

Makai Knight Zoro

CG sucks.

 

 

Terra Formars

Terra Formars

I nearly fell asleep while posting this screen. So goddamn boring.

 

 

Trinity Seven

Having read the manga, I expected to hate Trinity Seven.

Trinity Seven - Gun to Head
I was right.

The pacing’s even worse than the manga’s — a feat I didn’t think I would see accomplished in my lifetime — and the characters are just as paint-by-numbers as they were in black-and-white.

Not sure why they changed the name from Blood to Seven either. Must be a branding thing.

 

 

Ore, Twintails ni Narimasu

When I saw the promo art, I thought we’d be getting a lot of armpit shots.

Twintails Promo

But apparently the sole fetish being pandered to here is twintails.

Twintails ni blahblahblah

Bad move, Japan. I can’t say I’ll be following this one closely until they rectify this situation.

 

 

Sora no Method (Celestial Method)

This show got me to thinking… is it really child abuse if the little shits deserve it? Gotta give the animators credit — the characters were frame-by-frame punchable.

Sora no Method - Bitches

All the character interactions were unnatural and grating, with the girls acting like inhuman cunts, to the point where I was seriously considering dropping the whole damn Fall season and breaking out my emergency supply of Seikon no Qwaser episodes instead.

Luckily, my whisky got me through the episode, but it was a close call.

 

 

Gundam – G no Reconguista (Gundam Reconguista in G)

If I wanted to watch girls cry, I’d go to a strip club at 2 PM.

Reconguista - Whining

It’s a Gundam that doesn’t end in 00. Why would you waste your time on it?

 

 

Girlfriend (Kari) (Girlfriend (Beta))

I don’t remember a damn thing that happened in the episode that I watched.

Honestly, I don’t recall taking this screenshot, and I’m not even fully convinced these girls were part of the show. Presumably the memory loss was my body’s self-defense mechanism kicking in.

Girlfriend (Kari) is (Awful)

Spare yourself the blackout. Skip this.

 

 

 

 

Summary Slide

10/10
Inou Battle wa Nichijou-kei no Naka de (When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace)
Amagi Brilliant Park

9/10
Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso (Your Lie in April)
Shingeki no Bahamut Genesis (Rage of Bahamut Genesis)
Fate/stay night Unlimited Blade Works

8/10
Ookami Shoujo to Kuro Ouji (Wolf Girl and Black Prince)
Shirobako
Nanatsu no Taizai (The Seven Deadly Sins)
Grisaia no Kajitsu (Le Fruit de la Grisaia)

7/10
Madan no Ou to Vanadis (Lord Marksman and Vanadis)
Ushinawareta Mirai wo Motomete (In Search of Lost Future)
Kiseijuu – Sei no Kakuritsu (Parasyte – The Maxim)

6/10
Akatsuki no Yona (Yona of the Dawn)
Donten ni Warau (Laughing Under the Clouds)
Magic Kaito 1412
Cross Ange – Tenshi no Ryuu no Rondo (Cross Ange – Rondo of Angels and Dragons)

5/10
World Trigger
Daitoshokan no Hitsujikai (A Good Librarian Like a Good Shepherd)

4/10
Gugure! Kokkuri-san
Garo – Honoo no Kokuin (Garo the Animation)

3/10
Terra Formars
Trinity Seven
Ore, Twintails ni Narimasu

2/10
Sora no Method (Celestial Method)
Gundam – G no Reconguista (Gundam Reconguista in G)

1/10
Girlfriend (Kari) (Girlfriend (Beta))

Unaired, undiscussed
Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru

54 thoughts on “Fall 2014 Preview: Part 3, Review Time Now?”

    • I don’t really focus on sequels much, since I assume that people know what they’re getting into with those.

      I hated Log Horizon and Chaika was okay, but nothing special.

      Reply
        • Log Horizon can be boring with lots of talking and explanations and not much other stuff. Put another way, the entire first thirteen episodes would have taken roughly one or two episodes in a normal “we ended up in the game world” story, and the rest of the season would have given a reason for the players to enter the world and something to do there.

          This didn’t happen. It’s great for people who love world-building, but there’s no purpose, little action, and most of the characters seem to exist for little reason other than to say “Shiro’s amazing!”

          Reply
    • I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that, and will continue looking forward to watching the second episode when work gets off. \o/

      Reply
    • I don’t understand why Amemiya made an anime and decided that the suits needed to be CG. If I wanted to see CG suits I’d watch the live-action show.

      Reply
  1. And weird you haven’t played Grisaia yet, but just so you know no one is trying to kill anyone, it’s just an harem where the girls have a “daaaaaaaaaaaaark” past and the MC has so many PTSDs it’s not even funny.

    Reply
    • Like Kamica inferred, I don’t mind so long as the anime’s not lying to my face about it. Not a big fan of having my intelligence insulted by cartoons — I’m an adult, dammit.

      Reply
  2. Wow, I agree with basically everything except Twintails but that’s perfectly acceptable. Quite a surprise considering the track record so far.

    Reply
  3. Since you read the manga, I understand your opinion for Trinity Seven. But Twintails is more of an otaku parody than an anime about fetishes.

    Reply
  4. “the characters are just as paint-by-numbers as they were in black-and-white.”
    That’s a nice line. I bet you can use it in upcoming articles and nobody would notice

    Reply

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