Fall 2016 Anime Season at the half way point

At this moment, we are six episodes in, except for Girlish Number if you are watching it on Crunchyroll.  I know that I previously did a lot of first impression posts three weeks ago, but those are what they are.  First impressions.  This is just a progress report to see if any opinions have changed each show laid down their foundations.  No final opinions.  Those are reserved for when each anime series ends.  I guess that’s an obvious statement, but it’s worth saying.  Anyway, let’s jump into some of the shows.

NEW SHOWs:

Drifters:

This show has gone up on my rankings since I first wrote about it.  The main cast has gotten more interesting and have developed their own characteristics while the plot has shown its face.  Not to mention the action scenes.  They are just as fantastic as they were since the opening scene.  The only problem that has stuck around is the comedy.  This is a dark show and I wish it would just be a dark show.  Inserting the random bits of off the wall comedy between dark and horrible scenes doesn’t add anything to the show.  It’s not very a very emotional cohesive, but I still like watching it from week to week.  There are too many intriguing elements to the show.  Like the Black King.  I think it’s obvious who he is, but do we know for sure?

Girlish Number:

I’m liking this show more and more as it goes on.  Yes, it can still be called a cynical Shirobako that focuses more on voice actors, but it’s material is getting more interesting as time goes on.  Chiise is just as horrible as she was in the opening, but the show is no longer rewarding her for that.  Also, the show that she voiced, which had all those issues, is now over and her audience is not as interested in her as it was.  Infact, they are insulting her online.  I’m looking forward to where the show goes from here on out.  I wonder if she will even get more voice acting jobs in the future.  Watching how she deals with this situation is going to be interesting.

March Comes in like a Lion:

March’s material is so much stronger than the presentation that Shaft is giving it.  Each one of these character is so layered and interesting that I can’t help but like this show.  Rei is on the way of being fully developed in the episodes.  The side characters are just as strong.  I can also admit that Shaft does a fantastic job of showing presentation without any words at all, but the head tilts are getting ridiculous.  They are so off putting.  Also, the comedy can still be a problem.  It comes out of nowhere and is very rapidly paced.  Still, I like this show.  Especially in its darker moments.  While there isn’t a strong direction to where March wants to go, I don’t mind.  It’s a unique take on the slice of life genre and I trust the material knows what it’s doing.

Izetta: The Last Witch

Izeta is exactly what the first three shows have presented it as.  There is a serious war plot that has an interesting political setting with good action scenes, but the yuri bait and Izetta focused fanservice is still strong.  Not so strong that it fully damages the show because it’s still very watchable, but it would be far more interesting without it.  I feel horrible for saying it, but I feel like I’m rooting for the bad guys here.  What they have going on is far more interesting than the country of Eylstadt’s witch savior.  I want to see how they take on Izetta in the end.  The political intrigue and world war two setting keep me interesting in the show from week to week.  I think it’s becoming more and more obvious that this isn’t my kind of show.

Tiger Mask W:

This is becoming one of my favorite shows for this season as time goes on.  I mean this is a wrestling anime with two people wearing tiger masks seeking revenge for what happened to their father figure.   It has some solid action sequences and great character growth as time goes on.  The meshing of traditional animation and cg can be questionable at times, but that doesn’t stop my enjoyment.  The show is a combination of being episodic while having a narrative that drives the show forward.  I look forward to the moment when the two tiger mask characters finally meet each other in a ranked match.

Yuri on Ice:

Yuri on Ice is also exactly what the show presented in the first three episodes.  While we have continued with Yuri’s ice competitions and the possible Yaoi shipping between Victor ad Yuri, so many elements have stayed the same.  The emotions feel real, the skating sequences are still great though maybe not as well animated as in the first three episodes because they feel choppy, and Yuri is growing and developing in his own way as well.  I’m also glad that Victor is becoming more human.  He started off the funny foreigner act, but he’s learning to coach as time goes on.  Seeing him actually have flaws adds so much to him.  This is not my usual cup of tea, but Yuri on Ice is a great watch.

SECOND SEASONS:

I must say, this second season is one of the most unique things that I’ve seen in all of Gundam.  I’ve never seen a show that had the gundam protagonist crew as a mercenary force instead of a main force for one side of a conflict.  It’s even more interesting to see that mercenary group split between Earth and Mars.  New characters and have started their development while not taking any of the spot light from the other characters that we know and love.  There are also more things Iron-Blooded Orphans does then other Gundam shows, because the space ships take an active role in fights.  Usually, they hang back and launch mobile suits while fighting off enemy mobile suits.  In this one, we are given actual ship to ship battles and conflicts.  The only problem I see so far is that this season seems to have no clear direction to it.  There is no guiding light or force that is moving it forward.  I hope this doesn’t end up hurting the show.

Sound! Euphonium:

Yeah, I don’t have as much good thoughts on this season as I had for the first.  There are two major reasons for this.  My first reason is the show is too fast.  It took all last season to get to the music tournament and the buildup was what made the show strong for me.  This season had four episodes until the first competition and while there was build up, it’s lasting affects weren’t as strong.  Considering the episode length of this season, we already knew that they would make it to nationals so there was no surprise at all.  My second reason is that it’s unfocused.  Each episode is split in half and there are things included that hold almost no value for the series.  Half of one episode is a swim suit episode.  Another half of another episode focuses on random school festival shenanigins with cute girls in cute costumes.  I wish the show had a tighter script because there is a lot of good things going on, just not as strongly and efficiently as last season.

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So yeah, these are my thoughts on the season so far.  I have not mentioned Days, All Out!, or Jojo, but I don’t feel like should.  My final thoughts on those shows will make an appearance soon enough.  Keep an eye out for them.  I also did drop All Outs!  There was nothing going on that made the anime interesting to me.

In the end, I’m feel pretty happy about this season.  It has more good shows then I originally thought it would.  It’s been a decent year for anime.