I disappeared this season. Yeah, I know. But I was still watching animu. You can never stop watching animu. But regardless of how dedicated you are to watching (or undedicated to writing), this season felt like a chore to get through. Not really because the shows weren’t any good to begin with, but because their best moments really only took place in the last few episodes. That said, anyone who lacked the patience might have skipped out on a legitimately good show had it not been for a mix of odd pacing, boring plot flows, and wishy-washy animation. For whatever reason you had in dropping a show mid-season, you might want to think about picking it up again after reading the season end ranking. Because frankly, quite a number of shows I would have dropped out of frustration (or boredom) actually turned out pretty well. Good things come to those who wait, apparently, and that was no different for this season’s batch of misfits. So how did they do? Let’s run ’em down, from worst to best!
Psycho Mob 100
Summer 2016 – Initial Impressions
Okay, so let’s go through what we’ve got this Summer. To be honest, I wasn’t very excited for this season. Perhaps the only thing that really caught my attention was Food Wars! since it’s a manga that I’m actually following. Everything else is pretty much a wild card – even the “venerable” Psycho Mob 100 which is, apparently, the show “to look out for” (most likely because of its OPM roots). Times like these are pretty much shooting in the dark, and though I wasn’t exactly thrilled with the results, there weren’t that many shows that I could honestly say weren’t very good save for a few. And these shows were probably just formulaic and, well, not very engaging. I’ve wondered for a while if it’s because I’m getting older (one of the shows I decided to drop was a Visual Art’s/KEY work, which used to be a non-negotiable probably 10 years back), but either way it’s been a steady first week, but really just one wild card after another.
But before everything else, I’d like to apologize for disappearing last season. I mentioned in my previous Spring impressions that I was utterly floored at how writers are able to do the things that they do every season — and that still holds today. The difference is that I’m not a professional writer — I just like to rant about anime and share my thoughts. With that put into perspective, I’m a little more pragmatic as far as how frequently I can update the site. Either way, all that matters is the anime — so enough talk, and let’s do this! Continue reading
Summer 2016 – Previews (Part 4)
It’s the final stretch for the summer previews. I honestly wanted to put another four in this round up, but the remaining titles didn’t inspire me as much, so I’m finishing off this list with three more titles: a psychic, a bunch of cops, and a father and daughter. Summer 2016 really is an odd mix of titles, and I’m kinda amiss to guess where any of these titles are headed. It’s a wild card game indeed, but that ain’t stopping us from having fun. Let’s do this!
Psycho Mob 100
Coming from the mind that brought us One Punch Man, Psycho Mob 100 easily falls into a very peculiar demographic, what with its decidedly unique character designs and off-the-wall humor. There’s a mix of hype and high expectations when this is paired with the talents of Studio BONES, but this first episode hardly meets any of that. For one, it’s quite dull, underwhelming and pretty much not that engaging. Apart from the hit and miss comedy, there’s the obviously sloppy-looking character designs that might not exactly be inviting for the average viewer. But for its worth as an animation, this is definitely top tier. Continue reading
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