I'm enjoying this series but I wonder what kind of "ending" it will have. From what I can see this series is covering the events of the "Introductory Chapter". There is then a "Closing Chapter" set 3 years later that seems a lot longer and introduces a bunch more characters. I wonder if the plan is to have another season to cover this at some point.
While this wasn't a bad series in itself I have to say I much preferred the original 2003 version. It's not that this one does anything wrong per se, it's just that it does fall short of the original in my opinion. It doesn't help that half of the episodes were also in the original series too (and often worse versions, again in my opinion).
The funny thing is the animation quality is arguably better this time around (minus the usual dodgy CGI), but I think the original series just nailed the tone and pacing far better.
A show that the term "borderline hentai" was invented for :P
Man, season 2 was intense. I enjoyed it thoroughly. I really hope Madhouse continue the story as we've once again ended in a place that is most definitely not at the end.
Started off interesting and with some promise, but really went downhill in the second half. I was bored out of my mind for some episodes. And that last arc was so short and anti-climactic you have to wonder what all that build-up was about.
The animation quality is definitely above-average and there were some good scenes (mostly in the first half), but overall a waste of time really.
The second season of Noragami has just finished and it surpassed the first in every way. I remember really enjoying the first season but finding the final few episodes and confrontation a bit underwhelming. Well, the second season doesn't have that problem. It hits the ground running and remains consistently good throughout. Deciding to animate two arcs back-to-back with little-to-no filler in between was definitely a wise decision by Bones.
As others have already said, this series really does stand out from other more generic action/comedy shows, thanks to a likable and well-developed cast, good quality animation and of course a godly soundtrack by Iwasaki Taku (also responsible for the soundtrack in Katanagatari).
All in all I have really enjoyed Noragami thus far and I hope we get more in the future.
Season 2 confirmed! Prepare for more "will they, won't they" teasing and probably nothing resembling a resolution in sight :D
Man, Atlus really need to make Persona 5 already (already announced at least). I love Persona 3 and 4 but they have been milked to the ground at this point.
I find it quite odd that they're doing another series so soon after the "original" just to cover the extra material from Golden. I mean sure, there is some, but I do wonder if there's enough to fill an entire series without a lot of filler and repeated scenes from the original series.
Oh well. I'll probably batch watch it at some point, since I'm still playing through P4G at the moment and don't want to spoil the Epilogue for myself by watching this first :P
I really enjoyed this series. It reminds me of Sakurasou (http://trakt.tv/show/the-pet-girl-of-sakurasou) but I enjoyed this one more. Visually it reminds me of a Makoto Shinkai film (http://trakt.tv/movie/5-centimeters-per-second-2007) and that's a good thing!
In terms of the humour and the characters, I really enjoyed both. Kawai is adorable and Mayumi/Sayaka make for some very funny and likeable support characters.
It's a shame this was only 12 episodes long. The final episode isn't terrible but it could easily have continued for another cour. Hopefully we'll get a second season at some point!
Woah, is this confirmed as coming this Summer (@sp1ti? :P)? All I can find is early indications that it's coming "soon".
I'm eagerly anticipating this series. The Visual Novel it is based on was really, really good. Of course, the anime adaption could turn out to be terrible, but I'll be watching it anyway :P
Hi guys, just FYI F/SN and F/Z are now separate entries.
F/Z can be found here http://trakt.tv/show/fatezero
I really enjoyed this series, it's just a shame that it was marred by some major budget issues (some episodes are practically slide shows) and not having any kind of conclusion when it ended. Anyone who watches this and enjoys it should probably check out the Manga to find what happens next ;)
A brilliant anime with a very different art style and presentation. The story, as it were, is narrated to us by the nameless protagonist, as he agonises over how to pursue his "ideal campus life". Along the way he meets several other unusual characters, including his demonic-looking partner-in-crime Ozu and the mysterious Akashi, both of whom he seems to share a strange link with.
One complaint some people have with the series is that the narration from the protagonist is very fast and it's very difficult to read the subtitles in time. Whilst the dialogue is indeed quick, it is possible to keep up if you concentrate enough. Even if you find yourself needing to pause occasionally to digest a particularly verbose line, I would still absolutely recommend everyone give this series a go. Amongst a myriad of other, more "standard" anime, this one definitely stands out.
Season 2 (Astral Ocean) - a bad sequel and, taken standalone, a bad show. Awful directing, annoying one-dimensional characters, a messy, convoluted plot. Overall, just bad.
Even if you liked E7, I wouldn't recommend this.
I remember quite enjoying the OVAs for this back in the day. I never got around to reading the manga, but I was immediately invested in the cosy relationship that quickly formed between Hori and Miyamura. A lot of the other side characters I could take or leave to be honest, but hopefully the full series wil be a lot of good feels and not too much angst.
What an odd series that turned out to be. I wondered how they could possibly fill 12 x 25 min episodes just based on the premise of one guy in class being ridiculously "cool", and it sems they did it by combining what you might expect (Sakamoto doing strange everyday tasks and making them look a lot more majestic) with other things like getting into some semi-serious plots with other characters involving bullying and planning revenge. I found the weird mix of tones a bit jarring and difficult to pin down exactly what the show was ultimately trying to be.
Ultimately I don't think I could personally recommend it. As a comedy I never found it particularly funny and when it tried to be serious it just didn't feel right.
That was quite an interesting series. I rather liked the jarring tonal shifts between cute slice of life and zombie horror. The series also did a pretty good job at not playing its hand too soon either. The first episode does a good job of just enough hinting that things aren't quite right, before the reveal at the end. To be honest I initially did think Megu was already dead because of how the rest of the group "ignored" her, but because some of the episodes flashed back to when she wasn't, I wasn't so sure, so the reveal was still pretty effective.
I really liked how the OP "decayed" more and more each episode - it made the cute J-poppy song more and more jarring to the tone of the series.
I wasn't too keen on the rather poor CG, but sadly this is pretty standard these days for most series without a budget. The series had some pretty effective horror moments but it didn't always hit the mark, and some episodes felt like they meandered around a bit.
Still, I definitely enjoyed it. A rather strange series where you're not really sure what to expect.
Oh my god, it's happening! Rewrite is one of my favorite Visual Novels and for me ranks a VERY close second to Clannad in terms of Key works! The VN starts off fairly standard, slice of lifey (as is the norm for Key really) but later things go off the rails and get pretty epic in scale. It was co-written by a few authors, including Romeo Tanaka (known for many weird and interesting VNs, Cross Channel being my favourite) and Ryukishi07 (mainly known for the "When They Cry" series).
It looks like Tanaka Romeo will be involved in the creative process, which is quite reassuring. My only concern is that it's studio 8-Bit animating it. I guess they've done a passable job with Grisaia (they'd better not employ as much needless fanservice here...), but It's a shame it didn't go to P.A. Works or White Fox (who did the 2nd OP) :(
Regardless, I'm very excited about this one and really hope it will rank among the sadly small list of "good VN adaptations".
VN openings:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ne-4_Bz0wAg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yegE5ai9abQ
This series seemed to get a LOT of hate from people and some pretty low ratings too, but I honestly don't see why. It's not groundbreaking by any means, and certainly not as good as the original Haruhi series, but I found it to be a pleasant enough watch anyway.
Personally I think a lot of the hatred comes from the fact that it's been years since KyoAni's last Haruhi adaptation and people wanted more of that, rather than this which is more of a retelling by a different studio without the Sci-Fi elements that elevated the original above just being a simple slice-of-life show. And I suppose looking at it that way explains the negativity.
Personally, as a big fan of the original Haruhi series, I too, would have preferred some more material in the original universe by KyoAni. But I still enjoyed this one. It was nice to see the cast again, even if they were a little watered-down compared to their original counterparts. I liked the nods and callbacks to the original series and the romance was cute enough. It didn't look as good as KyoAni's version either but I wouldn't call it bad looking. It was competently animated and looked pretty decent.
I'm not sure I could outright recommend this to everyone. If you're new to the series, the original Haruhi (http://trakt.tv/shows/the-melancholy-of-haruhi-suzumiya) is definitely better (but maybe skip most of Endless Eight :P), but if you like the Haruhi series and wanted a bit more... well it's not the sequel we necessarily wanted, but it wasn't terrible either and is probably worth a watch, in my humble opinion.
I think we might have a winner for this anime season's prestigious "most dumb and needlessly lengthy title" award!
An enjoyable 13 episode romp through a silly theme park with fantasy elements thrown in.
The series looks great and holds up to KyoAni's usual high quality of animation for the most part, although a couple of episodes do seem to suffer some "still frame" budget issues (which they may or may not fix in the BD releases). The comedy usually works well and the plot never gets too serious to not retain the light hearted enjoyment factor. Most of the characters are likeable and play off each other well.
This is probably KyoAni's most "fanservicey" show in recent years, although still very tame compared to some out there. Whilst it's obviously aiming primarily for the male demographic, I don't see why others couldn't enjoy it too. And hey, if you are a hetero male, all the better, as there are lots of cute girls to gawk at (Sento best).
A fun experience overall with all but a couple of episodes hitting their mark and hitting it well. Definitely one of KyoAni's best shows in recent memory.
I am cautiously hopeful for this one. I like feel and the art style shown in the PV (http://youtu.be/Sk39zsayK_0) and being in the noitaminA block will hopefully mean something a little bit different. The plot doesn't sound massively original but it has the potential to do some interesting things.
I'm just hoping A-1 Pictures don't screw this one up like they have with a lot of other series recently.
Mmmh. I didn't hate this one, and I quite liked the softer art style, but overall I was a little underwhelmed by it. It was cute and charming at times but the melodramatic parts were just annoying and Hase really needed to man up, especially towards the end.
Not a terrible series, but pretty forgettable. Which is amusing considering the subject matter :P
Yay, third season confirmed!
Season 2 got a bit crazy towards the end, but I guess most people don't watch it for the plot anyway :P
Wonder what crazy crap they'll pull in S3!
The best way I can describe the series for me personally is "mixed bag", and that's exactly what Space Dandy is. Every episode is standalone and very different in style and tone, which can be a good thing as you never know what to expect next, but also a bad thing if they very quite a lot in quality.
For me, I really didn't like some of the earlier episodes, and that very nearly put me off the entire series as a result. Fortunately, most of the later episodes are pretty decent, and a couple are even what I'd call excellent (still a couple of stinkers, mind).
Overall, the series (so far, I'm aware there is a second season coming) gets a hard earned 7 from me. I can't say I'd recommend it entirely as I really didn't like or outright hated some episodes, but there are some pretty good ones in there that are still worth checking out (and hell, if you wanted, you could just cherry pick the good ones and ignore the rest, as each episode is fairly standalone anyway). The animation quality is pretty good and there are some pretty cool looking action scenes (bravo, Bones) and the soundtrack is pretty cool too and for the episodes that worked for me, they were very well done.
One last thing - For me the weakest part of the series (and probably why some episode don't just "not work", but outright fall flat on their faces for me) is the main characters. Dandy especially. I don't find him to be an interesting character, nor does there appear to be much dimension to him. All the interesting things that make the series worth a watch just kind of happen around him. QT and Meow at least get some character development, so far Dandy just kind of walks into things and they happen through no skill or involvement of his own.
I expect my opinion will be much the same by the end of season 2, but we'll see!
I did enjoy this series and visually it is probably the most gorgeous work by KyoAni to date (and that's saying something!), but sadly there were a few things preventing me from rating it higher.
I'm not a big mystery fan, perhaps if I was then I would have appreciated some of the mysteries they solved a little more. That's not to say most of them weren't somewhat interesting, but I wouldn't say I was massively engaged in them and I certainly wouldn't want to watch most of them again. I did like the 4 main characters which is why I wish I could have seen them develop a bit more alongside all the mystery solving and shenanigans. This is probably why Gosick (http://trakt.tv/show/gosick) rated higher with me personally, because whilst it also had mysteries to be solved, enough time was also spent developing the characters and their relationships.
Overall I found the series to be a visual treat and a worthwhile watch, but lacking in areas important to me and leaving me with a slight sense of unfulfilment at the end. It's not a series I can see myself ever watching a second time.
Having finally finished my slow burn of this series all I can do is agree with other comments here. This series offers a sense of tranquillity when watching that I have rarely seen anywhere else. You just get absorbed into sometimes dreamlike atmosphere of it all. Each episode is somewhat self-contained and you really never know how it will end. Some end on a happy note, some on a sorrowful one, some are more ambiguous or bitersweet.
The message throughout is very much that Mushi are not malevolent or evil, they are just like forces of nature, and can be harmful or helpful to humans. Each story is more about how people deal with these things, with Ginko travelling around and helping where he can.
With a second season just around the corner all I can really do is repeat other people's recommendations - if you haven't already, watch this series.
Based on the title/subject matter, I wasn't particularly interested, until I saw that this will be by the guy who brought us Tekkonkinkreet (http://trakt.tv/movie/tekkonkinkreet-2007) and will be directed by the guy who, amongst other things, brought us The Tatami Galaxy (http://trakt.tv/show/the-tatami-galaxy).
This will also air in the noitaminA time slot, which admittedly isn't always a measure of quality, but normally does promise at least something a bit different!
I sense potential here!
And here is a trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmZVuMDlw-w
Yeah, I love this series. I've always been a fan of Key anyway and I remember being so stoked when I heard about this new project. For what it's worth this ranks in my top 3 Key works (along with Clannad and Rewrite, the latter of which sadly doesn't have an anime adaption(yet...?))
If you've seen other Key works like Clannad, Kanon or Air, you probably already know that they tend to enjoy mixing comedy with tragedy, often whiplashing you between the two very quickly. Whilst these elements are certainly present in Angel Beats, and whilst the pasts of some of these characters are still pretty horrible and tragic, I don't think the series generally wallows in it as much as other Key works perhaps did.
The series has a nice mix of action, comedy, music and drama and it works really well. It also has TONNES of characters (A trait it shares with Little Busters I guess) which sadly, due to the series only being 13 episodes long, don't all have time to be developed to their full. Still, they are all a fun and silly bunch generally, and watching their antics is very enjoyable indeed.
Finally some good news for anyone who wanted more. Key have finally announced that an Angel Beats Visual Novel will be released in 2014. By the looks of it, it will be released in separate chapters (or beats), but hopefully this will give people a chance to learn more about the characters that didn't get much screen time in the anime (well, assuming it ever gets translated :D)
http://key.visualarts.gr.jp/angelbeats/index.html
This is one of the first anime series I ever watched and holds a special place in my heart. Objectively speaking this probably isn't the best series or adaption of source material (The Manga is definitely better and offers a more definitive ending), but I still think it's quite enjoyable. A lot of people don't like Naru but I do. She was my first tunsdere, I think :P
