Trakt gets it's episode information from TVDB and there it's according to FOX (http://www.fox.com/americandad/recaps/season-9/episode-19) and not the scene naming. You would have to name them like this: http://thexem.de/xem/show/93.
You can get the gist of the show by it's title: Yami Shibai - Japanese Ghost Stories. The episodes are no longer than four minutes and always self contained. Most of them come down to your typical J-horror setup/sequences. Like many short shows the budget for these is small. The way they handle it here is employing a picture-story style with little animation which works for me.
Horror seems to be one of the hardest things to do in animation or at least I don't really know of something scary in the field (that is not going the cruel/gore route à la Corpse Party). Some of the episodes are fun to watch for the creepy vibe but there are also weak ones among them. I'd say if you like J-horror and got some minutes to spare you will enjoy it.
(The two ED's so far have been great btw., I really like the dark/distorted vocaloid songs.)
I'm certainly late to the party but still in time for the third arc that is starting next month.
The on-going JoJo manga started publishing when I wasn't even born and had an anime adaptation once before in the 90's. JoJo is rather popular in Japan thanks to the fabulous art style and poses the character's strike (which get referenced quite often in other works).
The show is well done style over substance and riddled with shonen antics so you either go with the flow or stay away from it. That said, the members of the Joestar family are actually not that dumb and often win thanks to their wit.
Here is hoping we get to see a lot more arcs in the future!
If I had to guess the show's title comes from the romance aspect of the show then the progression of the main character's tennis skills is rather quick (there are hints of asperger's which can be an explanation). While I found most of it not to be very engaging due to the wrap around being a cliché and kid friendly romance there have been some intense tennis matches to enjoy.
A second season has been greenlit and is coming next year. If you're into tennis it's well worth checking out.
I meant to check out the manga a while ago but never got around to it. Despite the weird fact that this was initially just announced as 13 episode deal I still opted for the anime and if it wasn't for that limitation it would actually have been a solid "shounen" package.
The show is pretty standard WSJ fare with inspiration taken from US comics. This doesn't mean that it's bad but the pacing didn't feel great. The episodes are padded with flash backs and other means to pretty much end in a decent spot after those 13 episodes.
I'll probably continue my plan to just pick up the manga someday but I'm not in a hurry for that.
What a harsh rating the show has on here (it's only three votes though)...
Milky Holmes is about four aspiring detectives in Detective Academy. With the help of special abilities called "Toys" they're out to catch the bad guys. They also happen to be the most successful team at their school. That is until the faithful day where they loose their "Toys". As it turns out the ladies are actually kinda... doofuses.
For most of it's runtime the show is a pure comedy and not a mystery show. There are tons of reaction faces and silly humor. The cast features plenty of whack jobs but is mostly one notes characters. Towards the final episodes they however always pack out the animation budget and deliver with some action packed finale (at least twice).
I genuinely enjoyed the show - up until the third season. That season introduced a new set of protagonist and antagonists. The original MH cast is still there but since the girls look up to them they try their hardest to be "serious detectives", at least in front of them. This really kills the spirit because the goofiness is what made the show fun in the first place.
Here is hoping that the upcoming season will be more like the first two.
I never quite understood why Comedy Bang! Bang! was such a popular Podcast (same goes for Paul F. Tompkins). The time investment in relation to actual funny things never quite worked for me. The TV show is kind similar... the main motiviation comes from his guests but I have to give him credit for actually doing some original things that justify it being a TV show and not just talking silly things.
S2 has been confirmed... maybe trap Kirito won't be as bad but I'm sure that will probably not be the case.
http://www.swordart-online.net/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0Ghr_rbJmQ
Good news: Season 2 will start in October this year. I'm still curious if we will witness the third day of Inter-High still in this season though!
Great, slow-burn series about a man readjusting to life after spending 20 years in prison. With visuals often reminding of Malicks style it's certainly unique next to the other shows airing.
I agree with ManiacB:
The first season is fun to watch. Adapted from novels they did a good job to keep the talking heads interesting. This means lots of weird angles, different art styles, live action sequences and usage of colored text cards (appearing for split seconds only). By the time we get to the second season the direction changes for the show. The flashing text cards only appear occasionally and the direction is rather tame. The pace of the arcs slows down and were left with TONS of fanservice (in dialogue and visuals). It is already present in the first season but it's better mixed in so it's bearable. Every female poses like a slut, a loli vampire bathing with the MC and it doesn't stop at his sisters. Much of it also feels like a dating sim: there is hardly any interaction between the girls and they only appear alone in scenes with the MC. It also hurts the supernatural side of the story, there is hardly an tension built up. Thankfully the Nekomonogatari (Black) arc feels more like the first season but is not that exciting because it is a prequel and the events during "Golden Week" already happend once in the first season.
Since SHAFT will probably animate all the "Monogatari" there will be ten or so more to come so I hope they can keep the level of the first or this will be a painful experience.
Bakemonogatari = 8
Nisemonogatari = 5
Nekomonogatari (Black) = 7
Osomatsu-san was the unlikely champion of the last two seasons - at least when it came to making dosh. Based on a manga from the 80s it is mostly a reimagining by Studio Pierrot. Given this setup it seems even weirder that it got to the place it is. As it turned out it has been welcomed in fujoshi community. They tend to enjoy all male casts and given the hiki-neet attitude of the guys that are even easy to draw yourself just seemed to hit all the checkboxes (along with the censor drama around the first BD volume). Now one shouldn't blame a show for it's fandom and in this case they should get some applause. The show was pretty much allowed to do whatever it wanted. The comedy that usually plays out as multiple sketches in an episodes can get really inspired. That's not to say they're all perfect (and some are slightly lost in translation) but it's a fun ride overall.
Arguably better than the show itself are the countless OP mashups:
Attack on Bollywood: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDHCLjuOzXY
Attack on Snuggle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvq0RaaMck8
Attack on Pingu: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AC2okqCGMg4
Attack on Witch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rDT0bjojZo
Attack on Eva: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XCZoRI0YFw
Attack on Christopher Walken: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGDzKZoh1K8
Attack on Anon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLImJOIl2D8 (which basicly says everything)
There are tons more (hundreds) on Nicovideo (http://goo.gl/OlXbD) but you'll need an account to watch these. Of course potato-girl has her own tribute http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2n4TBef0aws.
Bubuki Buranki is a bit of a hot mess. The story has good ideas in the world building but the way it was unfolding seemed to be all over the place, especially in the later episodes. The 3DCG while still odd in some places was actually quite decent and worked for the show.
I doubt the second cour/season will change much about the issues but I'm down to watch some more.
Well said @jumpingforcoins! I had initially watched some episodes but they have left me rather unsatisfied (for being a Gainax show). Now that I've finished the show I gotta say, the levels of awesome they reach in later episodes is a joy to watch!
So... the show got it's second season. Was it worth it? Totally not. It turned to utter trash (from an already messy adaptation).
S2 further diverts from the actual story it adapts (not that I've read it nor do I want to) but it's all with the supposed consent and input of the author - which is cool.. if it made any sense. They throw in so many characters we're supposed to give a shit only to involve them in things we know jack about. The show does in no way stand on it's own feet. Heck, the MC by this point is even harder to grasp. How great is it to have edgy fights with boring choreography and constant spasm of god awful animation! I'm floored how some people seriously liked the season. The only slightly redeeming thing was the anticlimactic last episode but it's by no means good.
Downgraded my overall rating from a "5" to a "4" (S2 is a 2/10).
Tokyo Ghoul is one hell of a disappointing adaptation and thus fits in perfectly in the season... Who ever did the planning on this failed miserably leaving the anime rather flawed.
Without having read the manga we apparently get like 70+ chapters in just 12 episodes but it isn't just that - the arcs are not in order. As a result the characterizations are suffering and I can't say the story had a good flow. They pretty much picked out the action and went with that. Only in the last episode we got to see some of the inner workings but it's not like that cleared anything up. Just like the manga this week the anime ended on a cliffhanger although that is still better than trying to do an original end. The story seems to have some interesting ideas but with the manga now having no clear outcome either you can't even say "read the manga"...
Production wise the show was alright although suffering from ever present censorship of the gore or even leaving out certain mutilations.
With the uncertain future of TG's story I would not recommend checking it out.
A "safe" adaptation of the manga with so-so visuals. I found much of it to be pretty boring due to the simple fact that it isn't the most exciting series there is (especially if you know the story already). The second season is announced for 2016 so I'm going to keep it at a 6 otherwise it would have been a lackluster commercial only.
S2 has been confirmed with today's special and will air in April. If you havn't already give the show a try; it's truely fantastic. The fist episode is one that I would recommend to anyone even if they don't want to watch the whole show or anime in general (same goes for Kino no Tabi's second episode to which this show is similar).
"Classic Poe"... this is not.
A steady downward spiral of awful writing is all I can credit this show to. The more Followers followed the Followers the worse it all got. Unfortunately it also doesn't hold up as an unintentional comedy ¯_(ツ)_/¯.
Kagewani ("Shadow crocodile") comes from the same Director/Write combo as Yami Shibai which shows because the art and animation style is basically the same and it's also a short series with it's themes focused on horror. Where the two shows are different however is the story format. This one actually has an overarching story that comes into play in latter episodes.
I'm certain the visuals are not everyone's cup of tea but I think it works for the show. The monsters also have some cool designs that are lovecraftian inspired but suffer when they're animated.
This won't spook you but if you like horror you can't be a beggar when it comes to anime to pick from.
As a side note: The writer of this also has a second show airing at the moment called 'Kowabon' which focuses on ghosts which unlike this I would not recommend.
This show aims to get you checked-in at your local mental clinic... It's humor is focused on pervy stuff and otaku related themes. It's a bit of a hit and miss but as it's always the case with these short shows - you won't get burned given the length. There is maybe one or things you can get away from this but I wouldn't take the findings they present at face value.
As ManiacB said: This is very much one of the many ways they milked the Fate-franchise so if you have not seen the previous efforts I'd say check those out first because just watching this will not satisfy you.
The show itself is a weird mix between magical girl comedy, more Fate-style battles and fanservice. The art varies in quality but the fights themselves are done good enough (Silver Link is no Ufotable though) and sometimes they seem to be padding the scenes a bit. It really is a lot better than one would expect but I could have done without the Yuri and the fanservices scenes as these are freaking little girls (there are steamy^2 scenes and imouto). The second part is supposed to be superior to the first so I'll be looking forward to this.
While this show chose an interesting subject and time period I can't say they delivered.
The core issue for me are easily the characters. I feel rather sorry for Lee Pace having to play Joe in this because despite being the catalyst for most of what the cast does he has no clear line and apparently nothing behind him that would drive him to be how he is (try to portray that). Gordon is rather plain and Cameron more often than not is defined by quirk because she is such a rebel(!!111). Donna was about the only one in the cast that felt like a real person despite letting herself be shoved around whenever they felt like it.
Storywise they managed to string things together after the mid point mainly thanks to their planned release date but they still managed to put a big dent into whatever they had with the last episode with absurd events, little consequences and that terrible phone company side-thing reveal... I'm not seeing how a second season will improve this so if that was the end of it I'm OK with that.
So, this "supposed hit" wasn't one after all (outside of JP anyways). Like many of it's Light Novel friends it's heavy with the self insert and exposition. About 80% of the show is rather uneventful and made up by technobabble and characters citing the gospel about the lord and savior Tatsuya Shiba (the main character). As seen by the exciting episode titles, the 26 episodes only cover three arcs with the middle one being pure filler and the last one having the most actual combat.
Now that sounds like a drop worthy show! It can however be quite fun due to the simple fact that hardly anyone is as overpowered as Tatsuya. He is literally void of any personality and hides a ruthless killer behind his innocent persona. Despite being placed in a lower and disrespected class of magicians, it doesn't take long for everyone wanting to suck his dick with his sister being first in line (there isn't a nice way of putting this). You could fill a book with lines of other characters praising him, really! While by the end of the show there is still not everything revealed about him we learn plenty: he is a superb magic engineer and math crack (he invents flying on the side, something others have been researching forever), can just cancel out other users magic on activation, has a wall hack with far sight (he can also no scope snipe), deals with a terrorist attack himself, can make a mad implosion at any distance and much, much more. Did I forget to mention his Jesus like features like descending from heaven to resurrect and heal his comrades? Praise Onii-sama or stay away is all I can say http://i.imgur.com/B2tqW3N.jpg.
WARNING: Looks like the Higurashi New marketed as a remake was bait all along.
This is a sequel* to the original series https://trakt.tv/shows/when-they-cry-higurashi.
Since it's based on a visual novel with different routes repeating events are expected which is why they were able to mislead with the premiere but the second episode reveals a twist of the series and references being set after the events of Higurashi. They also changed the title from "New" to "Gou" 業...
*What exactly it is we cannot say for sure right now but you are definitely not getting a fresh start.
This show is not for everyone but even so it was the funniest one from the last season (the only competition being Space Dandy).
The whole thing is really well made, starring a strong cast, having consistently good art and featuring fitting music and even having themed songs (not to mention the mini-story in the ED).
One would think that being the second work of Production I.G.'s offshoot Studio WIT, who had a bit more than just a hit with Attack on Titan, it would garner a bigger following even outside of Japan... apparently not. I can only imagine that it's because it appears to be dry to some folks. The humor is often very random and requires a certain knowledge of Japan (I cannot phantom how many jokes I possibly missed) but even then there is still slapstick and plenty of fun animal characters to enjoy.
If you end up in hell you better see to that it's the Japanese one (and not the European).
This show is way better than you would expect from a promotion tool for someone's 3D avatar. Except for one episode the gags are fun and Miss Monochrome has to go through quite some suffering but get's a wonderful christmas miracle in the end.
Pretty much your standard light novel adaptation with all of it's flaws.. the biggest one being that this isn't optimized at all for a 12 episode show and mostly wanders on fillter-tier content without proper resolution. I probably would have dropped this if I wasn't hoping for a certain character to become more active in the story.
So far this contains a lot of quirky/oh-so-random segments without much of a hook alongside some recurring bits - out of those Quarter Life Poetry is the highlight for me (which you might as well just watch on other platforms, eg. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELTRkamduIc).
Update 2021: (not a lot of people watching huh ;)) Now in Season 4 the show lost decent recurring segments with S3 so it's mostly mediocre or worse in quality with only occasional standouts in episodes. I think it's still great to give a platform for all these different creators but the writing seems to be more self-indulgent these days?
