Fall 2019 Anime At The Half Way Point

I’ve seen a lot of complaints from various portions of the internet who I won’t name complaining about this season and how it’s not that good and I am honestly sitting here wondering how can those people say that? I feel like I am watching a few more anime series this season then I did last season and I don’t feel dropping any of these shows anytime soon honestly.

Even the ones that I don’t feel are that exceptional have a lot of charm and energy in them that I can’t help but want to watch more of them. You can make the call of whether or not I am watching with a more critical eye then usual and I’m just going to say I don’t care. I think my mind is where it always is when looking at these newer anime series that have popped up. Sometimes, I just like things because I like them.

A second statement has been going around about how this is the sequel season and it is, but I feel like there are newer adaptations and series in general that make this season feel much more filled out then one would expect. With that said, I honestly don’t know how to rank the different anime seasons this year at the moment because there are a lot of things that I can’t help loving. You know what? I’m not going to make that judgement at all. I’m just going to watch some good anime.

Ok, let’s start with my rankings for this season! One little thing, I am not adding the new season of Bananya because the episodes are only three minutes in length and I don’t think it’s fair to judge that show with full length series. I am enjoying it’s short form jokes though. It’s cute and has some very fun stories that I can’t help liking even if they are very disjointed.

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.

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-Watch These Right Now-

Chihayafuru Season 3

Since this is the one show that I am writing individual episodic reviews of, are you really expecting something else? This show isn’t for those who haven’t watched the previous seasons obviously so I would suggest people to watch those before hand. Believe me when I say that’s not a flaw, but a gift. For those of us who have watched the other seasons, season three is on that same great level of the best parts of the previous seasons so far. The best part is that it’s still full of surprises at every corner despite having a similar formula each episode. The great characters and card slapping haven’t dulled since it’s absence and I am so happy about that fact.

LOGH Reboot S2

Maybe this is the show that I should really be writing episodic reviews about considering that I have watched the original series and now the light novels to a farther point then where the reboot is now, but oh well. Looks like I am the only one in my blogging sphere watching it anyway. With that being said, I’m glad I am watching this because it’s still a fantastic space opera with powerful qoutes, good characters, and meaningfulness behind ever corner with some awesome looking space battles on the side. It’s sticking really close to the light novel so it doesn’t has as much character flow as the original, but the story is still great so it’s worth it.

Vinland Saga

The first cour of Vinland Saga had a lot of great table setting and world building. Now, we are seeing all of that work producing aces every week. Especially since we are following morally conflicted but well crafted character at the end of his plotting rope with Thorfinn just going on the ride. It’s honestly very engaging stuff. The visuals are still generally great, the messages of anti war are still there, and I can’t help but look forward to more of it each week.

Blade of the Immortal

This is a new adaptation of an older manga that is basically True Grit but samurai and despite it’s somewhat formulaic episode construction, I can’t help but find myself loving it every week so far. All the character work is pretty fantastic and while the visuals are always visually experimental and fun, I can’t recall a bad looking episode at all. I didn’t know what to expect when jumping into this, but I’m glad I gave this one a look.

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-Then These Next-

Psycho Pass Season 3

After the not so good Psycho Pass Season 2 and the good movie from Gen Urobuchi, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this season. So far, I can’t complain about it too much. It’s been a very restrained mystery series that is soaking itself in the world of Psycho Pass and the Sibyl system. We also get a fun and decently developed cast of characters as well. I think the best part is you can probably get people who haven’t seen any Psycho Pass to watch this too. The episode length is strange because it’s double length which messes with the usual seasonal formula and I still have some questions about it’s world construction regarding the Sibyl system, but I still really like what we are given so far.

Gundam Build Divers Re:RISE

Here is another anime season following a very bad one and I really like this one too. Re:RISE is what the original Build Divers should have been. It has a very focused narrative with characters growing every season in very strong and measurable ways and arcs. With the way the divers and villagers of the current mission are going about right now, I feel like I am watching a season of Log Horizon with Gundams instead of fantasy rpg mechanics and that’s a very good thing. It is a little kiddy, but I can’t mark a series off for being what it is. It just makes the messages stronger and more genuine.

My Hero Academia Season 4

This is the fourth season of My Hero Academia. Do I need to tell you what it’s about? Right now, My Hero Academia is down this low because this season is still getting it’s gears running. When My Hero Academia is at it’s best, it can be measured about some of the anime running and this season definitely has the potential to do that once again. Especially with all the things it’s throwing at us right now. For now though, it’s still a good show that needs to find itself again.

No Guns Life

For all it’s hard boiled edges and such, No Guns Life is a solid cyber punk show and that’s about it really. I like the main cast because they are decently explored at this point with an ok-ly set up world, but it feels like it’s not given out all it could at this point. It’s very watchable and I enjoy it each week, but it isn’t trying to do anything ground breaking right now that gives me that wow factor which is why it is down here. (Plus the ok animation with grey and brown aesthetic, even on purpose is a little annoying in some ways.) Maybe I am being impatient, maybe I am not, but I feel like No Guns Life could be so much more.

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-OK-

Fate/Grand Order Absolute Demonic Front: Babylonia

F/GO is a series based on a mobile game and you can tell that with how fast the narrative moves and how characters just pop in and out. Still, the show is growing on me every week with how it’s slowly developing it’s characters and world more and more. Plus, this is a beautiful looking show from an art and animation stand point. I would honestly watch this show just because of the visuals. I’m glad there is a little more then that. Hopefully more narrative and things can pop up soon? Doesn’t have to though.

Stars Align

Stars Align is a soft tennis sports anime that has good sports anime, decent characters, and some believable amounts of emotional trauma to it. Unfortunately, I don’t think the sports and drama sides are talking to each other that well. Maybe that’s intentional considering the narrative itself with those two slowly jumping onto each other as time goes on, but right now it feels like two pieces of story that just don’t click together that well.

Ahiru no Sora

Ahiru no Sora is a sports anime centered on a short and ever positive guy pulling gang member like people in to playing a game of basket ball. There is a lot of strength and positivity to it’s narrative so far with some decent basketball animation with too much slow motion, but it’s very dragged out. That dragged out aspect almost ruins a lot of the emotional impact from it’s narrative. I suppose the fact that this series is going to be fifty episodes in length total is why it’s all dragged out. Still, there is a lot of good things going on and I really like a lot of the narrative beats going on too. If only they happened a little faster.

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-Can’t Recommend-

Nothing

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With that, I am done with ranking things for now. As is usual, everything could change her in a small amount of time. For instance, I could actually decide to drop a show OR some lower ranked shows could just start producing some fantastic episodes out of now and keep it consistent so that they move up the ranking. Anything is possible here which is kind of scary and exciting in some ways. This is why watching seasonal shows is fun. The expect the unexpected is in full swing here.

Thank you for reading this annoying long post, everyone. Until the next post.

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