Fall 2018 First Impressions/At the half way point/Something

I’m a very late with this one. I’m sorry. October was busy for me. Not only has school been getting busier and busier for me, I’ve also had some projects on my blog that have taken quite a bit of work and time for me to focus on. I mean, my time has been slowly draining away from me over the past month. I didn’t even write an OWLS post. Writing a first impression post isn’t as easy one would expect. Writing down thoughts for things like this could be much more complicated than one would think.

I have been watching a lot more shows this season then I anticipated. I said in my Summer 2018 in review post that I would try to keep my list lower and watch only nine shows or so. I personally don’t count Space Battleship Tiramisu because it’s a short and Thunderbolt Fantasy isn’t technically an anime series, so I followed along with my plan technically. Sort of. Whatever, it’s anime. I’m addicted to watching seasonal shows despite complaining about watching them. It’s the seasonal watcher’s life style.

Fall 2018 has been such a fun. Between Golden Kamuy, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, and Thunderbolt Fantasy Returning, this season’s supply of insanity is more then up there on the scale already. Add another show like Double Decker and there you have it. Fall 2018: The seasonal of insanity. That doesn’t mean there are some other shows that calm down this season’s mood a little bit. Down to earth shows are not in low supply either. Fall 2018 is pretty great so far. I am even trying series that are way out of my genre zone and enjoying the hell out of them.

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-Sequels of shows that I enjoy and that one other sequel-

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Part 5

I should just say that it’s more Jojo and leave it at that. Maybe that isn’t enough though. Each part of Jojo seems very different and having a more morally gray character like Giorno Giovanna as the protagonist gives the show a different feel which this one leaning toward being a crime drama. I don’t think I will ever understand this show’s logic completely, but I don’t have to. It’s Jojo after all. I’m liking the different type of powers coming from this part so far. The only issue I have is that it really does feel like the production values are lacking compared to part 4, but oh well. At least it’s here and it is just as wacky as other parts of this series.

Golden Kamuy S2

What do I have to say about it? It’s more Golden Kamuy. More Sugimoto. More Asirpa. More escape king. More insane plot elements. More tasteful poop jokes. More tasteful boner jokes. More people looking for gold. I love this show and I am glad it’s back. The problems of too much cg and not enough animation production values from time to time are still there, but whatever. This show is such a blast because the cast has been mixed around quite a bit so we get whole new character interactions which means it’s all completely fresh. So wonderful.

Space Battleship Tiramisu S2

Well, here we are with this moderately ok space/mecha show parody thing. Why am I watching this show? Karandi maybe? Nah, it’s my fault and it’s the same as it was last season. Maybe a little better now that the story is more focused then it was. It can play off some of its humor in interesting ways instead of not knowing what it’s doing and/or doing random things that don’t connect to anything. There is only watching this show to find out happen now.

Thunderbolt Fantasy S2

Gen Urobuchi’s Taiwanese Puppet Show with swords, insanity, and murder has come back with a vengeance. Last season was a classic fantasy story as cliché as it could be, but this season is a more personal story centered around our protagonist whose name I can’t pronounce because it’s in Taiwanese/Chinese. Last season, we didn’t know why he appeared in this land but now we are getting the full story with bad guys from his country chasing him down and trying to take the huge amount of swords that he stole. Oh man, this show never lets me down. It’s always full of fun and craziness that I can’t help but enjoy.

-Out of my usual watch territory-

Bloom into you

Here is one of the shows that I usually in my sense of tastes, but I ended up liking. It’s a Yuri anime and I don’t usually watch those, but this one is incredibly relatable to me. Yuu feels about relationships the same way I do. I know it’s more of a personal thing, but in all of my years of existence, I don’t think I have ever felt any sense of love and attraction for anyone. (Maybe I am just cold harded.) Seeing a protagonist that feels the same way as I do makes this a worth while watch for me. I know that a relationship is going to happen in this series at some point, but I will enjoy and formation of it occurring.

Run with the Wind

What’s this? A sports anime? Yeah actually. This one feels a little different then the others. I mean, it’s centered around boys in college training for huge run that they will undoubtably be under dogs for. The very fact that these characters are more mature and even drink alcohol has been blowing my mind. Each of these characters are so interesting and unique to me as well, so the characterization of this show as a whole is solid. Besides some moments of stellar animation, the show has been even keeled, but it’s been pretty solid over all. I never expected that I would like this one as much as I do, so this is good for me.

-Safe Bets/Stuff I would watch anyway-

Double Decker

I love this one because it’s the fourth insane show airing this season. It’s a goofy crime drama centered around a drug called anthem which created people with powers. Something that is commented on in Tiger and Bunny. (Yeah, this show is a prequel to that show). The main character is a relatable idiot that wants to be heroic, keeps messing up, and then having his partner fixed up his messes. The rest of the cast are full of either vulgar or goofy people that I have been liking. The hidden thing about this that there are strong explorations of politics and other complex things along with this goofiness. The only problem I have with it is the obvious cg that gets switched around.

SSSS.Gridman

I am a little nervous about this show because it’s from Trigger and I have not been liking a lot of their output recently, but I am enjoying this experience quite a bit. The direction behind the school and the Gridman vs Kaiju fights keep me interested in it and the characters are decently established and characterized as well. I do think the writing is fairly minimalist and I always have some questions about how the plot is developing after each episode is over, but it’s going somewhere interesting at a slow pace. Either way, this is all very enjoyable for me so far despite the qualms I have for it.

Karakuri Circus

Ushio and Tora was my favorite anime from 2015-2016.  I was extremely happy to see a 90’s shonen anime brought into our time period without any modifications that try to make current. Here we are with another anime series from the creator of Ushio Tora and the same team that provided that anime to us. This is another 90’s looking series that combines shonen action conventions that combine endearing, young protagonists, circuses, corporate espionage, and puppets in more interesting ways then one would expect. How all of that works together is beyond me, but I am so happy that it does.

RErideD

Ok, I am going to be honest here. The only reason why I am watching this show with as much earnest that I am is because one of my favorite people in all anime, Yoshitoshi Abe is behind this show somewhere. He hasn’t been apart of any anime productions in years and I was really looking forward to this show with just that alone. It’s just that this show is just so average. It’s a basic time travel premise of a guy ending up in the future and trying to make his way back to save it through time travel stuff. It’s a little interesting to how he can go back in time in snippets and see the direct results of what he did in real time. I just wish that it was more interesting then it is. Oh well.

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And that’s it for what I am watching from a seasonal perspective. In reality, I am slowly going through some non-seasonal shows on the side too. You know, at the pace of one episode a week day and whatever is released for Armored Trooper Votoms every Saturday. Those other shows besides Votoms are Fullmetal Alchemist (2003), Giant Gorg, and Genesis Climber Mospeada. You can read more on my feelings about them in my weekly Monday posts and more full form in reviews later on. Mostly Mecha March. Hope you fun, everyone.