Spring 2016 – Initial Impressions

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So this is what it feels like.

I’ve been writing casual articles for Crunchyroll for a while now, but ever since I started this blog, I’ve come to realize how taxing this kind of work is. I have to watch shows I normally wouldn’t watch, but even then I probably only watched a fraction of what other seasoned writers had to go through. Plus the fact that for whatever shows I did watch, I had to go through them with a sharper eye for detail to actually piece together the thoughts I’d use in my articles.

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It’s been a very humbling experience to be honest. Writers may look like they’re simply watching anime and spewing out criticisms and whatnot, but it’s actually a very carefully calculated process of discerning the media we consume. To all the writers out there, I salute you.

Of course, it didn’t help that this season was just full of really great shows — shows that have a lot of potential, or have a strong premise — and for once, I went back on my promise to actually cut down on shows to watch. But that’s precisely what this post is for; this is the tl;dr of the past four entries. Though it’s only a smattering of what other writers probably had to dig through, I hope this helps in trimming down your own list of things to watch. I ranked them based on overall (personal) impression, not just the initial scores I gave in previous posts. Think of it as a sort of prospective list of hopefuls that is bound to change throughout the course of the season.

Anyway, enough talk. Let’s do this! Continue reading →

Spring 2016 – Episode Previews (Part 4)

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Final set of previews for the first episodes of most of the shows this Spring 2016 season. I say “most” because there were quite a number of other shows that I skipped, either because they were sequels or they didn’t really appeal to me that much. But even without those titles, I’m pretty much covered for the next three months. For this last edition, we have two trigger titles, a slice-of-life, and another special anniversary release. So let’s break it down!

Space Patrol Luluco

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Anything that flies out of Trigger Studios’ doors is likely to be something zany and original, if not remarkably obtuse and uninhibited. Space Patrol Luluco is definitely the latter, blending artistic flourishes reminiscent of past Gainax hit Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and wacky humor akin to Kill la Kill. The show focuses on the not-so-normal life of a normal girl named Luluco who reluctantly takes her father’s place as a member of a local space patrol bureau after he accidentally freezes himself. Her job is to essentially find and apprehend rogue aliens by using a body suit that morphs her entire body into a pistol. Continue reading →

Spring 2016 – Episode Previews (Part 3)

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The shows keep coming! The bigger fish have come along, and things are certainly getting a lot more exciting. We’re talking spies, detectives, rebels, and zombies. Sound interesting? Then read on!

Joker Game

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The setting is compelling enough — a pre-world war II imperial Japan — but the concept of a national spy program is even more interesting. Of course, we aren’t blind to the atrocities that this budding national power was up to during this time period, and the show isn’t hesitant to bring up these topics in subtle ways. But Joker Game takes a smart approach to it by pitting its protagonist’s moral beliefs and sense of justice against a group of hardened spies who view their own nation’s eminent domain as a temporary dogma. Continue reading →

Spring 2016 – Episode Previews (Part 2)

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Still so many shows, still so many thoughts! Here’s part two of the 1st episode reviews for the Spring 2016 season. Let’s do this!

Gakuen Toshi Asterisk 2nd Cour

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The Asterisk War continues its run this season in uninterrupted fashion, and does so without any unnecessary exposition on previous events. It’s reassuring that the show decided not to waste any time with its limited run, but instead chose to integrate a review of the tournament standing through an announcer’s rundown. It also allowed the series to introduce a couple new characters without any unnecessary digression, including a little characterization on Jie Long’s student council president, who only had a mere cameo appearance in the first season. Continue reading →

Spring 2016 – Episode Previews (Part 1)

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The first couple of shows have already aired, but I’m only just recovering from a heavy winter viewing schedule and 26 straight episodes of Cowboy Bebop (Yes, I only watched it now — and yes, now I understand why everyone loves it). But with a torrent of new shows comes a similarly large deluge of reactions. Wondering what this season has to offer? Then read on!

(This post contains the first few shows that I’ve watched. Stay tuned for the remaining episodes in a follow up post!)

Continue reading →

Winter 2016 – season end ranking

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This is a little late, but a couple of friends suggested I make a season ending ranking list so that they have and idea of what to watch and what to avoid. These chaps are kind to make me suffer on their behalf, so like the good guinea pig that I am, here’s a (very) quick rundown of the shows last season — from the best to the worst, and all the way down to the outright abominable. Let’s do this! Continue reading →

Winter 2016 – Week 13 in Review

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Wow, it’s already spring. As I’m writing this, the spring shows have already kicked off, leaving the remains of yester-season in the dust. But that doesn’t mean that this final week of winter was any bad. In fact, it was pretty good! There were only three shows left out of the bunch (yeah, I forgot to review Myriad Colors Phantom World last week) so let’s break it down! Continue reading →

Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV – Episode 1

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For the record, the last Final Fantasy game I ever played was FFXII. After that, I kinda abandoned console gaming in favor of portable gaming since it was difficult to find time to actually sit down and play. And I hate myself for that because there were a good number of games that came out during the “ceasefire” that I would have given an arm or a leg for in order to play.

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And so along comes Squeenix with another publicity stunt that looks oddly familiar. Continue reading →

Winter 2016 – Week 12 in Review

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This week had some shows ending and others preparing to end. That’s basically it. I know it sounds boring, but that’s pretty much what happened, apparently. Thankfully, the body count wasn’t all that bad. I was kinda expecting some of the shows to simply blow themselves up, but there were also a couple others that ended so abruptly and without finesse that I couldn’t figure out whether or not I should be annoyed or amused. Anyway, I’m just glad the viewing list got knocked down a couple tiers. So let’s do this!

Continue reading →

BBK/BRNK – Episode 12

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I know what you’re thinking. This is the last episode, so why am I writing an episode review on it?

Actually, I was assigned BBK/BRNK over at Crunchyroll for this season, and for that reason I decided to stick to it and complete this episode review, even if it just so happens that the last episode aired right when I started this blog. If you want to check out my previous mid-season review for BBK/BRNK, you can check it out here.

But yeah, this was the last episode, and boy did I have mixed feelings about it. Continue reading →