| My Winter 2017 Anime Season Wrap-up [message #340639] |
Fri, 31 March 2017 16:18  |
Dave Baranyi
Messages: 1057
Registered: January 2012
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With the conclusion of “Youjo Senki” today the Winter 2017 anime season has come to an end for me. I actually only watched two new series to the end - “Youjo Senki” and “Shouwa Genroku Shinjuu S2”. I gave up on “Akiba's Trip” after the third episode, and from what I read about the rest of it, that was a good move on my part. So it was a very “light” viewing season for me; only five shows in total - “Youjo”, “Shouwa 2”, “Conan”, “One Piece”, and “Folktales”.
Speaking of “Folktales from Japan”, the series finally finished with episode 258. It was an interesting five years worth of stories and well worth following for the entire run. My final rating for the series remains at “B”.
“Youjo Senki” ended incomplete, with hints of sequel, but no commitment. This was an odd show in many ways; it was best when it was at its most bitter and cynical, but it also spent a fair amount of time on secondary characters and histo-babble. To an extent it felt like a “play out” of a war game. I feel that the creators of the show missed the boat by not focussing everything on the protagonist and his/her mad war against a mad god. My final rating is “A-”.
“Shouwa S2” continued the spectacularly grand drama, pathos, and humour of the first season as we eventually got to follow the lives of multiple generations of rakugo performers. This is what slice-of-life stories should be. Everything was done perfectly right to the wonderful ending.. My final rating is “A+”.
“Conan” and “One Piece” just keep chugging along, decade after decade. The both do what they do well and stay focussed upon entertaining their shounen audiences while keeping the ever aging audience base watching in the hopes of someday seeing a conclusion. I continue to follow both and to rate both as “A”.
Dave Baranyi
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| Re: My Winter 2017 Anime Season Wrap-up [message #340795 is a reply to message #340639] |
Fri, 31 March 2017 20:10  |
Chris Buckley
Messages: 56
Registered: July 2012
Karma: 0
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On 2017-03-31, Dave Baranyi <davebaranyi@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> “Youjo Senki” ended incomplete, with hints of sequel, but no commitment. This was an odd show in many ways; it was best when it was at its most bitter and cynical, but it also spent a fair amount of time on secondary characters and histo-babble. To an extent it felt like a “play out” of a war game. I feel that the creators of the show missed the boat by not focussing everything on the protagonist and his/her mad war against a mad god. My final rating is “A-”.
I agree that it seems incomplete. It set up several thematic
conflicts (war vs anti-war, religion vs anti-religion, rationalism vs
emotionalism) quite well, and then didn't explore any of them fully. Still,
I enjoyed most individual episodes and would certainly watch a sequel. I
rate it 8 out of 10, with potential to be higher given a good sequel.
> “Shouwa S2” continued the spectacularly grand drama, pathos, and humour of the first season as we eventually got to follow the lives of multiple generations of rakugo performers. This is what slice-of-life stories should be. Everything was done perfectly right to the wonderful ending. My final rating is “A+”.
_Shouwa_ was too painful for me to watch the first season, but that's a tribute
to its high quality. So I didn't watch this season.
In general though, I thought this season was much better than last season,
where I only followed one show until the season end, and that was just an
amusing historical series of shorts, _Nobunaga no Shinobi_ . Other shows I
watched:
_Kuzu no Honkai_ was my other top rated show (along with _Youjo
Senki_). This was a dark high school relationship series that
presented intelligent, self-aware characters as they figured out what
role emotional and sexual relationships play in their own life. It
did a great job at presenting the thoughts of all the characters
consistently, which was tough (well, there was one character, Akane,
that I'll have to watch more carefully when I rewatch the show - how
much did she really change?). I wouldn't recommend the show for
everyone; it's definitely calls for introspective empathy rather than
being action oriented. Rated 8.5
_ACCA-13-ku Kansatsu-ka_ was an entirely adult political fantasy that
was well-done but I wasn't happy how the ending was handled. I previously
said that I thought they had introduced two one-dimensional villains at
one point - I was wrong about both of them! Rated 7.5.
_Onihei_ was an episodic police procedural from the samurai
days. While the main character was amazingly modern (and well-off),
life in those days was not pleasant for most, especially women! I
enjoyed the characterization, but the plot was entirely one episode at
a time. My reaction reminded me a lot of my reaction to _Joker Game_
last year: intellectually interesting, but no real emotional impact.
Rated 7.
_Nobunaga no Shinobi_ was a continuing series in short format (less
than 4 minutes each) that presented the historical story of Nobunaga
quite amusingly. Rated 7.
_Demi-chan was Kataritai_ was about a teacher and 3 high school students
who were demi-humans (eg vampire) trying to fit into high school life
while being different. It had potential, but ended up just emphasizing all
the normal lessons without any real conflicts or tension. Rated 6.5
_Seiren_ was another high school romance that was much more ordinary - I'm
not sure why I watched it all, though having a contrast to _Kuzu no Honkai_
was occasionally interesting. The characters here were amazingly shallow.
Rated 6.
Chris
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| Re: My Winter 2017 Anime Season Wrap-up [message #340948 is a reply to message #340639] |
Sun, 02 April 2017 21:07 |
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Originally posted by: Derek J Decker
On Fri, 31 Mar 2017 13:18:02 -0700, Dave Baranyi wrote:
<snip>
>
> Speaking of “Folktales from Japan”, the series finally finished with
> episode 258. It was an interesting five years worth of stories and well
> worth following for the entire run. My final rating for the series
> remains at “B”.
>
You're in luck, Dave, as Folktales From Japan Season 2 has just started
airing! Pretty similar to the first 258, but only two stories per episode
instead of three, with more attention to what part of Japan they come
from.
I have no idea how long this incarnation will last. The two kids in the
ED look familiar, a little more grown up.
-Derek
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| Re: My Winter 2017 Anime Season Wrap-up [message #340951 is a reply to message #340948] |
Sun, 02 April 2017 22:03 |
Dave Baranyi
Messages: 1057
Registered: January 2012
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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On Sunday, April 2, 2017 at 9:07:35 PM UTC-4, Derek J Decker wrote:
> On Fri, 31 Mar 2017 13:18:02 -0700, Dave Baranyi wrote:
>
> <snip>
>
>>
>> Speaking of “Folktales from Japan”, the series finally finished with
>> episode 258. It was an interesting five years worth of stories and well
>> worth following for the entire run. My final rating for the series
>> remains at “B”.
>>
>
> You're in luck, Dave, as Folktales From Japan Season 2 has just started
> airing! Pretty similar to the first 258, but only two stories per episode
> instead of three, with more attention to what part of Japan they come
> from.
>
> I have no idea how long this incarnation will last. The two kids in the
> ED look familiar, a little more grown up.
>
> -Derek
Yeah - I was surprised when I saw that "S2" suddenly appeared. I'll try it out soon and see if it continues to grab me.
Thanks -
Dave
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| Re: My Winter 2017 Anime Season Wrap-up [message #340953 is a reply to message #340951] |
Sun, 02 April 2017 23:13 |
Dave Baranyi
Messages: 1057
Registered: January 2012
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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On Sunday, April 2, 2017 at 10:03:09 PM UTC-4, Dave Baranyi wrote:
> On Sunday, April 2, 2017 at 9:07:35 PM UTC-4, Derek J Decker wrote:
>> On Fri, 31 Mar 2017 13:18:02 -0700, Dave Baranyi wrote:
>>
>> <snip>
>>
>>>
>>> Speaking of “Folktales from Japan”, the series finally finished with
>>> episode 258. It was an interesting five years worth of stories and well
>>> worth following for the entire run. My final rating for the series
>>> remains at “B”.
>>>
>>
>> You're in luck, Dave, as Folktales From Japan Season 2 has just started
>> airing! Pretty similar to the first 258, but only two stories per episode
>> instead of three, with more attention to what part of Japan they come
>> from.
>>
>> I have no idea how long this incarnation will last. The two kids in the
>> ED look familiar, a little more grown up.
>>
>> -Derek
>
> Yeah - I was surprised when I saw that "S2" suddenly appeared. I'll try it out soon and see if it continues to grab me.
>
> Thanks -
>
> Dave
OK - I've now seen the first episode of "S2" and it was pretty good. I'll keep on watching it if it continues with stories like these.
Dave Baranyi
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