Anime Wrap-Up: Spring 2013
Alright, here goes with my wrap-up I promised earlier this week.
There were a good number of shows that were, in my opinion, above average this season.
In total I watched 20 anime that premiered back in March/April, plus three series that have run a bit longer than that (those two don't count to this particular wrap-up). For me that is a little above average. I usually don't have time to follow quite that many shows at one time, which in this case I believe is practically everything that was streamed somewhere.
I'll start off with the one I liked the least. That would be pretty easy; Akuma no Hana (Flower of Evil). I say that it's the easy choice because it's the one show that I started this season, but didn't stick with. All in all I thought I would give it a chance and I stuck through the first three episodes. However between the animation style, the pacing of the show itself, and the story, I didn't like it all that much. I essentially lost my patience with it. it streamed on Crunchyroll, so what I think I might do is go back to it later this summer and just watch the entire season at once to see if my opinion of it changes.
Of the shows I finished, I'd have to say the worst of the bunch is a tie between Shingeki no Kyoujin (Attack on Titan) and Arata the Legend. It's for different reasons. For Attack on Titan it is because of the relative stupidity and annoyance of several characters, particularly the "hero". I almost gave up the show because of him. He is just plain annoying. The story is great, and I do genuinely want to sympathize and empathize with him, but it seems that almost every time he is on screen he says or does something that makes me want to throw something at the screen. It's a little weird for me because there have been shows in the past where the main characters have annoyed me for various reasons, yet I was still able to like the show plenty. Umineko no Naku Koro ni (When the Seagulls Cry) comes to mind right away. Battler was one of the least likable main characters I'd seen in a while, yet it was kept tolerable enough that the show was still plenty entertaining.
For Arata the legend it's strings used to tie the show together. What is otherwise a pretty good fantasy adventure story is ruined when you think too much about how ridiculous the circumstances are. Now, be warned that I am about to reveal a few spoilers. The main conflict is between the hero Arata and his old friend Kadowaki, all over a misunderstanding where he thinks Arata let him win. All the fights against the other Sho, are all over idiotic misunderstandings from a lack of even the most basic thought processes. Thus while the story overall is decent, the justification for most conflicts is so mindbogglingly stupid it makes the overall story awkward when it comes up.
My favorite of the season is a little harder to choose. There are a number of shows that really did stand out, but none that really had that spark of "above amazing" that would have a show become a phenomenon the likes of the modern Big 3 (Bleach, One Piece, Naruto... even if Bleach is off the air now), or something like Gundam or even Madoka Magica; shows whose names are synonymous with anime or that fuels the fires of otakus. Some do have that sort of pedigree behind them and have the signs of possibility to rise to that level.
To Aru Kagaku no Railgun 2 (A Certain Scientific Railgun 2) has that kind of vibe. The franchise as a whole (Railgun and Magical Index) has about four series and a number of OVAs, so it is definitely popular. It is honestly a fantastic show, and one that would certainly deserve to be at or near the top of about any list of anime to watch.
Hataraku Maou-sama (The Devil Is A Part-Timer) is also really good. It's a pretty hilarious show and tons of fun. You don't often see Satan portrayed in a comedic format with nearly as much success as you see here. It's enough to easily overlook that it is basically the same old angels versus demons story where the demons turn out to be good guys (sort of) and the angels turn out to be evil.
But my favorite is probably Valvrave the Liberator. At first I thought it was going to be another giant robot show. Being that it's from Sunrise I expected it to end up being very close in execution to Gundam. I was willing to accept that since I didn't like Gundam Age much, and Unicorn has been a nuisance to follow because of the yearly release. Oddly enough, Valvrave has a more militaristic structure to it - or maybe a different feel of one? A lot of the roles you get played all by the lead pilots in the Gundam series are a little more dispersed here and more attention is given to establishing and developing a range of characters, not just the ones sitting in the robots. Because this doesn't appear to be a 52 episode series quite yet, it could be that the pacing is sped up a bit to implement these aspects.
The mystery of the robots themselves is also a different take. Most giant robot shows go for quick, direct establishment of the existence of the giant robot and its purpose. Though we know that the Valvraves are based in part on likely stolen technology, the effect they have on their pilots, in particular the male lead, is a mystery that has yet to be fully cracked. The source of the strange AI and the reason only his machine has it is a worthy ongoing mystery for the show and is a little surprising for the fact that not only is it a mystery element that usually doesn't exist in this kind of show, it has been executed very well and feels like it belongs, not like something thrown in just for the heck of it.
Valvrave has some emotional headiness to it too. There are definitely times when you can really feel the emotional weight of everything that is going on. It is one of the best points about Attack on Titan, and works very well here in Valvrave.
Add in the unique designs for the enemy units, the sort of post-apocalyptic, alien invasion vibe to the rise of the student-run colony, and the general political intrigue that's been weaved, the requisite romance angle (though that got really depressing over episodes 10 and 11) - plus the tiny bit that shows that at least one of the characters lives more than 200 years into the future - it makes for a remarkable story to look forward to and wonderful execution each week. Although the shows are quite different from one another, the general feeling I get is somewhat similar to Code Geass. It's an easy recommendation.
So, what about the summer anime season? This post has run a little long, so I'll bump that to another post. Check back Monday, July 1.
There were a good number of shows that were, in my opinion, above average this season.
In total I watched 20 anime that premiered back in March/April, plus three series that have run a bit longer than that (those two don't count to this particular wrap-up). For me that is a little above average. I usually don't have time to follow quite that many shows at one time, which in this case I believe is practically everything that was streamed somewhere.
I'll start off with the one I liked the least. That would be pretty easy; Akuma no Hana (Flower of Evil). I say that it's the easy choice because it's the one show that I started this season, but didn't stick with. All in all I thought I would give it a chance and I stuck through the first three episodes. However between the animation style, the pacing of the show itself, and the story, I didn't like it all that much. I essentially lost my patience with it. it streamed on Crunchyroll, so what I think I might do is go back to it later this summer and just watch the entire season at once to see if my opinion of it changes.
Of the shows I finished, I'd have to say the worst of the bunch is a tie between Shingeki no Kyoujin (Attack on Titan) and Arata the Legend. It's for different reasons. For Attack on Titan it is because of the relative stupidity and annoyance of several characters, particularly the "hero". I almost gave up the show because of him. He is just plain annoying. The story is great, and I do genuinely want to sympathize and empathize with him, but it seems that almost every time he is on screen he says or does something that makes me want to throw something at the screen. It's a little weird for me because there have been shows in the past where the main characters have annoyed me for various reasons, yet I was still able to like the show plenty. Umineko no Naku Koro ni (When the Seagulls Cry) comes to mind right away. Battler was one of the least likable main characters I'd seen in a while, yet it was kept tolerable enough that the show was still plenty entertaining.
For Arata the legend it's strings used to tie the show together. What is otherwise a pretty good fantasy adventure story is ruined when you think too much about how ridiculous the circumstances are. Now, be warned that I am about to reveal a few spoilers. The main conflict is between the hero Arata and his old friend Kadowaki, all over a misunderstanding where he thinks Arata let him win. All the fights against the other Sho, are all over idiotic misunderstandings from a lack of even the most basic thought processes. Thus while the story overall is decent, the justification for most conflicts is so mindbogglingly stupid it makes the overall story awkward when it comes up.
My favorite of the season is a little harder to choose. There are a number of shows that really did stand out, but none that really had that spark of "above amazing" that would have a show become a phenomenon the likes of the modern Big 3 (Bleach, One Piece, Naruto... even if Bleach is off the air now), or something like Gundam or even Madoka Magica; shows whose names are synonymous with anime or that fuels the fires of otakus. Some do have that sort of pedigree behind them and have the signs of possibility to rise to that level.
To Aru Kagaku no Railgun 2 (A Certain Scientific Railgun 2) has that kind of vibe. The franchise as a whole (Railgun and Magical Index) has about four series and a number of OVAs, so it is definitely popular. It is honestly a fantastic show, and one that would certainly deserve to be at or near the top of about any list of anime to watch.
Hataraku Maou-sama (The Devil Is A Part-Timer) is also really good. It's a pretty hilarious show and tons of fun. You don't often see Satan portrayed in a comedic format with nearly as much success as you see here. It's enough to easily overlook that it is basically the same old angels versus demons story where the demons turn out to be good guys (sort of) and the angels turn out to be evil.
But my favorite is probably Valvrave the Liberator. At first I thought it was going to be another giant robot show. Being that it's from Sunrise I expected it to end up being very close in execution to Gundam. I was willing to accept that since I didn't like Gundam Age much, and Unicorn has been a nuisance to follow because of the yearly release. Oddly enough, Valvrave has a more militaristic structure to it - or maybe a different feel of one? A lot of the roles you get played all by the lead pilots in the Gundam series are a little more dispersed here and more attention is given to establishing and developing a range of characters, not just the ones sitting in the robots. Because this doesn't appear to be a 52 episode series quite yet, it could be that the pacing is sped up a bit to implement these aspects.
The mystery of the robots themselves is also a different take. Most giant robot shows go for quick, direct establishment of the existence of the giant robot and its purpose. Though we know that the Valvraves are based in part on likely stolen technology, the effect they have on their pilots, in particular the male lead, is a mystery that has yet to be fully cracked. The source of the strange AI and the reason only his machine has it is a worthy ongoing mystery for the show and is a little surprising for the fact that not only is it a mystery element that usually doesn't exist in this kind of show, it has been executed very well and feels like it belongs, not like something thrown in just for the heck of it.
Valvrave has some emotional headiness to it too. There are definitely times when you can really feel the emotional weight of everything that is going on. It is one of the best points about Attack on Titan, and works very well here in Valvrave.
Add in the unique designs for the enemy units, the sort of post-apocalyptic, alien invasion vibe to the rise of the student-run colony, and the general political intrigue that's been weaved, the requisite romance angle (though that got really depressing over episodes 10 and 11) - plus the tiny bit that shows that at least one of the characters lives more than 200 years into the future - it makes for a remarkable story to look forward to and wonderful execution each week. Although the shows are quite different from one another, the general feeling I get is somewhat similar to Code Geass. It's an easy recommendation.
So, what about the summer anime season? This post has run a little long, so I'll bump that to another post. Check back Monday, July 1.
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