Winter 2019 Anime At The Half Way Point?

Is it me or does it seem like some shows are starting to air earlier and earlier each season and having weird episode lengths? Do some studios just want to break up the seasonal format and do whatever they want? I’m kind of all for that. Especially since a lot of people are complaining about Netflix disrupting it as well, might as well just not make it a think anymore. As a seasonal watcher who enjoys watching new seasonal shows every three months, there is a certain kind of monotony that comes from shows moving in and out without much staying power. That’s a post for another day though. Let’s talk about some seasonal anime.

A Handy Guide for how I feel about shows:

Watch These Right Now: Seasonal Favorites; Highly Recommend.
Then These Next: Maybe not as high quality as the first category, but still pretty enjoyable.
Ok: What it says on the tin, maybe preferable for those who are into the genre the show is from.
Can’t Recommend: I’m not even sure why I am watching it besides learning something from it.

I think this is the first time I’ve defined all of this for everyone, so I hope it’s helpful! I try my best to be positive about everything, so this rating thing is an attempt to maintain that in some sort of way. Being fair about how I feel things along with the criticisms I have for certain shows.

Watch These Right Now:

-Run With The Wind-

We are now in the second cour of Run With The Wind and now it’s competition time. All the emotional pay offs from last cour are leaking into this cour with a larger sense of drama behind it all, and it’s great. Maybe it’s not as visually interesting, but the fact that this show is animating a lot of other runners alongside our crew is amazing. With our relatable bunch of college students making it towards their goal of running in the Hakone Enki, sports anime couldn’t be much better for me right now.

-Mob Psycho 100 S2-

Do you know what else is making a bunch of massive pay offs since it’s first season? Do I need to really say anything, because the title is above this paragraph. This show is going into a very introspective route by Mob exploring sorts of consequences and possible trouble that will happen if he want out of control. It’s fantastic stuff and with all the experimental visuals of Mob Psycho still being there, then I can’t help but recommend this show too.

-Dororo-

This is re-adaptation of one of Tezuka’s famous works and it’s pretty interesting and great. From what I read, this show is taking the more modern approach by going the darker route, and I think that’s for the better. A story of a samurai and a boy wandering around the country side is pretty standard by this point in our time, so doing something to change it in some way is a good choice. So far, it’s focus seems to be on the effects of war, which the samurai period is a perfect time to do it. Also, it’s visually beautiful with awesome openings and endings, so there is that too. I hope it keeps up, because I am not so crazy about Mappa shows anymore.

Then These Next:

-JoJo Part 5-

I am not having as much with Part 5 as much as I did with Part 4, but it’s pretty great. A lot of awesome battles, good character moments, with some awesome animation from time to time. Still, not a lot of characters are thrown into a scene or interacting with each other at once. They only get one or two focus episodes, then are put in the background so it’s not a developed cast, but still pretty plain jane and boring. Even the designated JoJo hasn’t gotten much screen time.

-The Promised Neverland-

This show seems to be the seasonal darling and all I can say that it’s pretty good. I think it’s been over hyped by a lot of manga readers. Still, it’s pretty good. I’ve seen this sort of story with orphans being stuck in a feeding pin like scenario before so nothing was shocking for me. Still, I like mind game anime and this one seems to be decently well constructed and very interesting visually. So yeah, thumbs up.

Ok

-Price of Smiles-

Price of Smiles is a decently executed mech show so far and that’s about all I have to say about it really. The theme of war and how it started is different then usual, having childhood innocence facing the facts of war is nothing new but done ok here, and the cg for the mechs is pretty decent.

-Boogiepop and Others-

What an interesting, complicated, structureless, and fun super natural show. I like out of order stories in anime. Durarara and Baccano are somewhere within my sphere of influence of favorite shows, and I think this show influenced those? I’ve been ready to get intoxicated in Boogiepop’s world and be utterly confused by it until I figure out every Friday. It’s not the best thing ever, but it’s interesting enough to keep watching.

Kaguya-Sama-

Watching two “genius students” trying to get the other to confess their love for them through galaxy brained antics is fun, but it can also be very one note and boring. I think this is yet another adaption of something that was over hyped by manga readers. Man, we need to stop them. The show is entirely watchable and everything, but it’s even better when it allows it’s characters outside of the student council room to experience life and develop themselves. That doesn’t happen often enough.