Summer 2019 Anime At The Half Way Point

I just have so many good things to say about anime this season. I know that I am watching only eight anime this season, but I wouldn’t drop anything that I am watching for the world right now. Yes, even some of the shonen anime that I do have some problems with. The weird thing for me is that this is about the same amount of anime that I was watching last season. Maybe this isn’t the best sort of measuring stick, because I know that I am missing out on things like Cop Craft which I should get to at some point because it’s written by the same guy who wrote Full Metal Panic, but I do think that this season is just as good as last season.

So many people undersell Spring 2019, but I found plenty of things to watch myself. And this fall is going to have some good things too, but I think everyone likes to over hype and under hype things because they can. Or could it be because I’m a contrarian? Yeah, definitely starting to think that this is true. Either way, I can’t help but think about how good every season this year seems so far. Maybe I should quit waffling and talk about some Summer anime huh? Yeah, let’s do that.

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.

-Watch These Right Now-

Astra Lost in Space

I just can’t get over just how good things show is. It began rather modestly, but once Astra started moving, I just can’t get enough with it. Yes, it’s partially because I’m a science fiction person. It’s playing to my own sort of genre biased. I love the different sorts of environments they visit, because each biosphere at least feels like a working system. I also am really loving these characters and the mystery. Seeing these characters grow by surviving together is the stuff of wonder. Gah, I want this show to just be completely infront of my eyes right now. I know I can just read the manga right now, but I’m enjoying the experience of just watching everything because I don’t want to know what is going to happen next.

Vinland Saga

I could just say “Vikings the anime” and be done with it, but that isn’t enough. I just can’t say enough about this show’s world building and how deep it goes into every attribute of the story, the absolutely solid visuals, and all the slow but steady character development. Thorfinn’s journey and this anime (because it’s Thorfinn’s journey) is going to be long, hard, and sweeping like a fantasy novel, but as long as there is anime for this, I’m here for it.

Fruits Basket (2019)

Other then some episodes that weren’t as powerful as others and the fact that it’s meandering a little bit, I think fruits basket is still staying the course of being pretty great. It’s still so heartfelt and will make you cry just as much as the first episode. The crazy thing is that it Fruit’s Basket does this so incredibly easy that it’s almost terrifying.

-Then These Next-

O Maidens In Your Savage Season

I still feel like I am completely out of my depth in regards to some of this anime’s subject matter, because it’s an exploration of teenage girls hitting their sexual awakening, but I can’t help finding it relatable in some ways. Especially since everybody goes through that right? The crazy thing is how it does it. There is barely any fan service at all in O Maidens, which means that everything we are given through character experiences and their day to day lives. It’s also a bit of a romance anime, but one that is far from realistic and more mature then pure romances. I’m not usually a huge fan of Mari Okada’s work, but her writing it out of the park with this one.

Lord El Melloi 2 Case Files

I don’t think that anyone who hasn’t seen Fate/Zero should watch this one, but it’s more then a treat for those of us who have. This anime’s focus is on our main boy Waver, who has grown up since F/Z, solving magical mysteries that no other mages can with his assistant Gray. Why can’t any else do it? Because every other mage just has their head stuck on a certain area of their body and can’t seem to get it out long enough to get a new perspective on their lives. I do think that all the mysteries are pretty easy or lack cohesion that a lot of “whodunnits” do, but the character interactions are just good for me to look past. I’m so glad that I have more fate things to watch.

Granbelm

I’m keeping this one above the shonen series, because I think that this has more then a unique concept in some ways. In a fate sort of way, female mages fight every full moon in a differential dimensions using magical robots to decide who will become the princeps or “The Witch” and get their wish answered. Unfortunately though, I feel everything the show has established has been a little half assed. Yes, Shingetsu and Mangetsu have a good relationship and all the fights are great (including the mechs that I really like), but it’s like the writer knew they only had one cour and limits every physical and mental interaction with other mages because they have a time limit. They don’t want to go full on, full power because they don’t think they can resolve everything in enough time. There is so much potential here, but nobody wants to reach it.

–OK-

Fire Force

This show is a mostly solid shonen battle series created from the mangaka behind Soul Eater. While it’s fights are beautiful, the directional style is pretty great and expressive, and the characters are generally well developed, I do feel like the female characters need to be treated with some more respect. The fanservice on them is a little too high for my liking too. Still generally ok though.

Demon Slayer

This show’s second cour just hasn’t been as strong as the first cour. It’s still visually appealing from a battle level and the feeling horror is still great, but the character writing just has been off the mark. This mangaka either writes his characters too subtly or too loud and annoying and there is no in between. The demons and birds are better written characters then most of the people in this show now. I do think the character writing is starting to get better now, but it shouldn’t have had to happen in the first place.

-Can’t Recommend-

->Nothing<-

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So that’s it for seasonal shows. If you want to know what older or other things that came on netflix that I am catching up on right now, I’m somewhere in the second halves of After War Gundam X and Revolutionary Girl Utena while being almost done with Baki and Ingress. I am planning on watching Canon Buster and Aggretsuko next weekend because I haven’t watched the latest season yet. I’m also thinking of starting Cop Craft after done with Gundam X and Carol and Tuesday’s first half is appearing at the end of the Month on Netflix, so I need to be prepared for that too. That’s just a little bit behind the scenes of I’ve been watching. Now you know my insanity.

If you want to know what I’m specifically watching when, here is the link to my Anilist page.

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