Winter 2017 Anime: At the Half Way Point

Hey everyone. I know that some of you may be surprised that I am saying this, but this season is stronger than a lot of people have realized. At least to me. Having ten shows that I enjoy watching on decent levels of quality or above is enough to say that this season isn’t that much of a wash. Looking back on it, I think this season is stronger than the Fall. Maybe that’s just me though. I have some strange opinions from time to time.

Now, I am going to have these seasonal anime put into tiers, but the order they are in the tier doesn’t matter except the last one. I consider most of the chosen shows too close to call and I don’t want to make this judgment. Just know that I consider all these shows at least decent.

(Top Tier – Why have you started watching these yet?)

Descending Stories: Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinju

Why does show continue to be so good? While the show is predictable in a lot of ways, the character acting is great, the visuals are fantastic, and the characters are beyond feeling just real, they are real. Who knew that a drama based on a performance art we barely knew existed can create so much great drama?

March Comes in like a Lion

This story of a depressed kid who decided to live away from his adopted parents and play shogi professionally has been incredible for a while. Not only because he is a great character by himself, but because of its great supporting cast and its themes it has been going on throughout it. I am finding that I actually like what Studio Shaft is doing to add more to March’s emotions and themes through its visuals. Solid stuff all around.

I think you would all be shocked if I didn’t add this Gundam series here. This season has been more incredible with its action scenes, politics, and character development. It’s not the best Gundam series that ever existed, but I love watching it and seeing where it goes every episode. I just hope the end isn’t too tragic.

Scum’s Wish is a series that took me by surprise. It’s definitely a lot more than your conventional school anime with all its rotten love, bad sexual context, and the way it doesn’t pull its punches. Scum’s Wish isn’t for everyone and if you can handle its context, then it might be for you. The characters and writing really drive the anime through Scum’s somewhat ordinary visuals.

(Mid Tier – These are pretty good)

ACCA

ACCA is controversial in its own way.  Some people consider it slow, but I consider it interesting and developing its own characters and story in its unusual way. The political intrigue and how it handles bureaucracy is quite interesting and I like how authentic everything feels. By taking it’s time, we know these characters through their experiences rather than badly paced exposition.  I like what it’s doing so far, and I hope that the pay off will be worth it for ACCA in the end.

Tiger Mask W

it’s a wrestling anime that is a lot of fun to watch. It is feels like watching an older anime from the 70’s or 80’s, but with a lot of today’s animation quality. The episodes are also inconsistent in quality along its animation, but I think it’s definitely worth a watch. There have been a lot more good episodes then bad.

elDLIVE

elDLIVE is a shonen set in space. I really like it for all its unique qualities. It started off slow, but it’s going somewhere interesting. I feel it. The aliens are neat to look at and each characters interaction is quite unique. I can’t wait for the missions in other planets, if those ever happen.

Onihei

This is like your weekly cop show set in the feudal era of Japan. The series is episodic and its production values are inconsistent, but I like the characters each episode presents and I love the sound track. Very Jazzy and 70s like.

(Lower Tier – At least give them a chance)

Interviews with Monster Girls

It’s about monster girls’ in high school and a teacher that wishes to study them. The best parts of this series are when the monsters are kindness and social reactions between the girls when they become friends and how they have to deal with the normal public. Monster girls can be viewed as stand in for physically disabled or people of different race. The down side is that there is a harem feeling that is present throughout the show and it takes away from everything the show is trying to do. Still worth a watch though.

Blue Exorcist: Kyoto Saga

What can I say about this series besides it’s slow and boring. The character interactions are just handled in group meetings and most of these meetings are pointless, because they repeat information again and again. There is some forward momentum going on right now, but it’s still not as exciting as it could be because it’s still wrapped up in bureaucracy. Bureaucracy in anime can be great interesting if you can do it right, like ACCA above, but Blue Exorcist isn’t doing it right. It’s trying to be a smarter series then it actually is and it’s really straining on my enjoyment of it. There are some good characters and scenes here and there, but whether or not they are worth going through a slow slog is up to you.