Rankings

Fall 2017 – First Impressions

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Whew, what an intense first two weeks for Fall 2017. There are many reasons to be excited for the offerings this time around, but as usual I tend to be a little cautious given this is a honeymoon period of sorts for all of these shows. On a different note, I’ve bumped up my viewing palette to whopping eleven titles — twelve if we include March comes in like a Lion, which will be premiering later this week. Long week-in-reviews, here I come…

Anyway, same ‘ole applies: shows are ranked in descending order of interest. So sit back and relax as we run ’em down! Continue reading →

Summer 2017 – Season End Ranking

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I dunno about you, but I actually, legitimately enjoyed this season. Maybe it’s because I cherry-picked my titles early on; or maybe it’s because I intentionally went for a light viewing to save myself the agony of having to trudge through so many shows once they hit the back burner. Regardless, it was fun, and most of the shows (I can say with some confidence) actually lived up to their initial hype and made me feeling a little sad to see them go. Although to a certain extent, you could say that I was hoping for something a little “deeper” from some of the titles, but these are minor quibbles to the overall satisfaction of me being able to watch these shows without a distasteful hiccup at the end.

So yeah, same jazz as always, shows are ranked from bottom to top with a final rating at the end. Do share your thoughts about any of the shows I watched in the comments below. And with that, let’s do this! Continue reading →

Summer 2017 – Mid-Season Round Up

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Okay, it’s been a while since I wrote anything, partly because I think I burned myself out trying to write some in-depth analysis articles on Owarimonogatari, but I personally think the essays, themselves, aren’t really shaping up the way I want them to. For now, I’m just gonna put that aside and clear the table for this mid-season round up and then, perhaps, go on to some other reviews and/or editorials.

That and the fact that I’ve been basically enjoying my newly-earned “freedom” by sleeping in till mid-day and playing enough Splatoon 2 to get me an A-Rank in all of the Ranked Battle modes. If any of you guys out there play Splatoon 2, feel free to add me up as a friend (my friend code is SW-0054-9953-4514). I’ve always wanted to take on the League Battles, but I have no friends who own a Switch to play it with. *sniff*

Anyway, back to the Animu. This season is surprisingly functional enough to be good — and I say that quite deliberately in that there is a particular reason as to why each show is working (in one way or the other) to actually make my collective viewing enjoyable. You could say it’s a funny little happenstance that these shows can actually complement one another to make up for whatever shortcomings one or the other might have. And so with that said, let’s run down how all the shows are doing in this mid-season review!

As usual, these are ranked top to bottom, with a tl;dr in bold for your convenience. So with that said, let’s do this! Continue reading →

Summer 2017 – First Impressions

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I know this is nearly a month late, and I wasn’t really expecting to have to do one of these, but man was I impressed with what shows I grabbed this Summer 2017. Granted I cherry-picked these titles from a list of suggested titles from another writer whose taste I pretty much trust, for the first time in a long time I’m actually really, really happy with the titles as early as the 1st episode.

That said, I only added five shows to my list of three on-going titles, and after including Owarimonogatari (ge) later in August, will make nine shows this Summer 2017. I can actually work with something like that; anything more than 10 titles is pretty ridiculous at this point. So yeah, hopefully if you’re still interested, join me as I do a quick run down of impressions on the shows I’ll be watching this happy, happy summer season. Continue reading →

Spring 2017 – Season End Ranking

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Whew, that took a little longer than expected. And it didn’t help much, either, that Splatoon 2 came out last Friday, so I spent most of the weekend getting my ass served to me. I never played the first Splatoon, but damn is this game stubbornly addicting.

But yeah, I’ve had to “battle” my way through the remnants of Spring 2017, and finally I’ve been able to make it through in once piece. I’m not sure if it’s because of the gap in viewing that my take on these shows has been tamed, somewhat, but my overall impression of Spring 2017 is just not very good. I mean, sure I enjoyed most of them, but in the greater scheme of things, I think many of these titles are titles I’m gonna forget. And another reason for this is because I’ve actually been rewatching several of my favorite shows with my room mates during my hiatus (yes, I cheated), which I’m planning on sharing in a separate editorial post.

So if you’re not already head-deep in Summer 2017, come join me as we run down just what kind of beast Spring 2017 was in this late end season run down. LET’S DO THIS!! Continue reading →

Spring 2017 – Mid-Season Round Up

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Mid-seasons are kinda scary in the sense that, yes, there’s a lot to write about, but at the same time there’s that looming realization that (crap) 6 weeks have already passed.

And that makes me wonder what the heck I’ve been doing with my life. Maybe it’s because I’m currently crunching experiments to write my dissertation, and that’s got me thinking why it feels like I’ve hardly gotten anything done these past five months.

Time is a fickle mistress.

Either way, the Spring 2017 season has been a similarly fickle affair, what with a strange line-up of titles that just basically feels weird in many respects. A big chunk of them are continuing cours, whilst others are long-standing franchises that are gracing the anime format… but regardless of the source, each had their own sort of spat with me, either due to their tendency to get lost in their respective genre tropes, or their general eclecticism. Whatever the case, this is the season we’re dealing with — a strange beast that is neither dull nor terrible. It’s something in-between.

So yeah, same format — general overview with a tl;dr in bold at the end; shows are ranked in descending order. So with that aside, let’s hop right to it! Continue reading →

Spring 2017 – Initial Impressions

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IT’S HEEEEEERE!!!

Man, this is a pretty stressful season as early as the first two weeks. And I say that because there are just so many shows, and yet at the same time not all of them are leaving that good of an impression. This was a pretty weak start to a season, and it’s been quite a while since I’ve ever experienced something like this. But maybe that’s because there are three or four more shows that are still coming up. Regardless, I feel like most of the shows have some serious work to do if they want to keep things interesting this season.

And to some extent, that actually makes things a little exciting. But if your’e the kinda person who wants to be sure about what they’re watching, I suggest holding out until mid-season, once the shows have more or less established themselves.

So yeah, let’s run down the mess of a season we have before us, from my favorite to my least! This is Spring 2017! Continue reading →

Winter 2017 – Season Ending Ranking

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Whew, that was a hectic season.

The latter half had me leaving on a trip, and even these last few weeks had me rushing to clear up the backlog, only to find myself in Edinburgh for a week for yet another conference. That and the fact that the Nintendo Switch came out and basically ruined the lives of many a gamer with what could perhaps be regarded as “one of the best video games of all time”.

Regardless of whatever obstacles there were to be had for me this season, I was finally able to get it over and done with. Nine shows neatly tucked away — save for two that will be carried over to the next season — and for this season-ending post, I decided to go ahead and include on-going series to the listing.

Overall, I think this season was pretty ho-hum. It wasn’t really strong to begin with, and most of the shows pretty much stayed within the general spectrum of expectations. Nothing to flashy and nothing too dull, either. Just… mediocre, I guess. So sit back and relax as we run down the shows I watched this season! Continue reading →

Winter 2017 – Mid-Season Round Up

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It’s that time of the season again folks!

As usual, I’ll be giving a short synopsis of the shows I’m currently watching, ranked in order of my personal preference. Hopefully some of these titles might be appealing to you, should you be one of those that likes to wait things out before binging on sure-hit titles. I don’t blame you if that’s your style, in fact I commend you for being able to binge watch in the first place. But yeah, that’s the general mechanics of this mid-season round up.

Also, if you’re lazy, look for the tl;dr in bold at the end of each entry. Lastly, I highly recommend the Top 4 of this season. And with that said, let’s do this! Continue reading →

Winter 2017 – Initial Impressions

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Okay, so it looks like I’m looking at nine shows for this season, with another two in-waiting, one continuing series from the previous season, and one odd-ball show that will pop up an episode or two whenever it feels like it. That’s a hefty number of shows to deal with, meaning I’m either going to have to trim them down a bit or, perhaps, find a different strategy when it comes to sharing my weekly thoughts.

That said, I’m planning on splitting up the thoughts to two separate entries throughout the week. That gives me a little more wiggle room to squeeze in extra thoughts (long posts, joy…) as well as allow me some leeway with regard to remembering what happened in the shows, themselves. Because to be honest, I sometimes have to backtrack to shows that aired earlier on in the week, making me feel like I might have lost some details in the process.

But before I get too engrossed in the details, let’s just enjoy what we have on out plate now, shall we? As with previous seasons, this list is arranged in descending order. Now do take note that the order here might not necessarily reflect the initial ratings I gave in previous posts, given things change over time, especially once I’ve ruminated over how each individual show actually appeals to me from a series-to-series perspective. I’m one of those people who believes that a 7.5 for one show might mean something else for another. That’s one of the reasons why I give pretty poor scores to shows I otherwise sound invested in, because my expectations for the said show are much higher.

And there I go again getting too caught up with the details. I might as well shut up for now and just CARRY ON WITH THE RUN DOWN LET’S DO THIS!– Continue reading →