By now, I'm pretty sure everybody has moved on from these shows already but I'm still going to give my thoughts on them anyway. I've already locked myself into this so I guess it can't be helped. This post will contain the rest of the shows that I watched. This way, I won't have to post it later when even more people wouldn't care.
Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate
When I first went into this show I thought, "Oh hey, another harem anime." Well, it is another one but that doesn't mean they can't be good and fun. It really surprised me how much I enjoyed this show. It's a typical high school slice of life setting but it offers much more. One thing that set it apart was the political intrigue. The bureaucracy at the school is set up in such a complicated way that it pretty much resembles a functioning government along with many conflicting views within the system. I found myself enjoying the politics shown in the show since it gave a new type of conflict for romance comedies to deal with. The comedy was really good too, much more well done than most. It had its cliche set of harem antics but it also had legitimately funny moments. Part of which was due to Yuuki's voice actor, who also played Oreki in Hyouka, and his delivery of lines that made it gold.
This is a visual novel adaptation so there were problems with pacing. The events that happened seemed like they were going to go in a certain direction but didn't. Certain issues that were brought upon were solved too quickly or completely ignored as time went on. I suspect because they had to lock Yuuki into a certain route and therefore had to ignore the rest of the harem. The route they chose ended up feeling a little underwhelming and it isn't my favorite of routes in the first place.
With that said, I really enjoyed it even though it had some flaws. It's a harem anime that's better written than most but that could be because it was a visual novel first. I guess it succeeded in its goal to make people interested in the source material, I know I am.
Kono Naka ni Hitori, Imouto ga Iru!
So how do I begin with this one. Hmm, I guess its poop. Hold on, let me finish! I went in to this show knowing exactly what I was getting into. A typical harem show with its own specific type of comedy. I like watching these shows sometimes. They're like junk food, you know its bad but its so good in what it delivers. How does it stack up to other harems? Not much. It was enjoyable at times but hard to get through at some points. The twist in the end was interesting but the build up was done poorly. Well, it's done so I got my fill of entertainment.
Campione!
Another battle shounen light novel adaptation with a diverse harem and comedy antics. I don't want to be too hard on this since it didn't really do anything bad. In fact, this is a lot better than a few of the other entries in the genre that we've had in the past. The animation was good at times and the comedy was good too. It just suffered from being too much of the same, which stems from trying to be like the rest that came before. I'm not a fan of the main heroine but I do like the rest of the harem. This show also had the gimmick of transferring magic through kissing, at least that was interesting. The action is kind of unimportant to me since it's just white knight protag going in and getting things done in a few episodes, not too different from the rest. It was enjoyable at least, I know I've seen much worse in the same genre.
Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon II
This was pretty good despite the daunting task of adapting those ridiculously thick "light" novels. A good mixture of sci-fi, fantasy, comedy, drama, romance, action, politics, war, etc. Yeah, it's really diverse in its storytelling but that's what makes it unique. That isn't to say that it's another LOGH but it's still good nonetheless. Personally, I'm not a fan of the action since it tends to drag too long and you know they're always going to win so there's never any tension involved. I did like the more slice of life and comedy segments throughout. The romance plots were also well done and had good resolutions for them. The political debate segments were pretty memorable and the soundtrack was really good just like the first season.
The common complaint, which is one that I had as well, is that it feels like a lot of the source material got cut and gives the impression that there's more to the story than what was shown. This was bound to happen, just look at those light novels. This leads to a lot of plot confusion even though the main story is pretty linear in the first place. Nobody was really expecting an exact adaptation since it would be way too long. It's still enjoyable without having to read a wiki. If you're watching season 2 then you should know this by now.
I'd say that it was really fun but I'm planning to rewatch this someday since I know I missed a few things in my first viewing. I'm slowly starting to understand what's going on in the story but it's not like I could explain it to you.
Eureka Seven AO
It's rare to see such a split opinion on a show like this. Even if people agree on one thing they'll completely disagree on another. The writing involved for me to thoroughly state my arguments and points would take forever. I'll just say this⎯ I liked it, much more than the first series. So good. I know that there's still two episodes left but I'll just leave it at that.
Kokoro Connect
Again, this has four episodes left but we won't see them until next year.
An enjoyable series that explores several interesting subjects and situations through melodrama. Yes, the entirety of the show is filled with melodrama. It isn't bad thing if you like this type of storytelling and I think it was done pretty well. I will say that it could've been better if it wasn't the main part of the story. The characters suited the show but they felt kind of uninteresting when compared to characters of other stories. The slice of life aspect attributes to this, which forces the characters to represent normal people. This is why I see it as an experimental story that explores how normal everyday people can react to these weird events. If you combine this with a different story then it becomes something completely different.
I did like this and it had some really good comedic moments. Worth a watch but it doesn't feel like it's anything bigger than that.
Gundam AGE
I guess that about covers everything. Next up is Fall season so be sure to expect a post on that.
This is a visual novel adaptation so there were problems with pacing. The events that happened seemed like they were going to go in a certain direction but didn't. Certain issues that were brought upon were solved too quickly or completely ignored as time went on. I suspect because they had to lock Yuuki into a certain route and therefore had to ignore the rest of the harem. The route they chose ended up feeling a little underwhelming and it isn't my favorite of routes in the first place.
With that said, I really enjoyed it even though it had some flaws. It's a harem anime that's better written than most but that could be because it was a visual novel first. I guess it succeeded in its goal to make people interested in the source material, I know I am.
Kono Naka ni Hitori, Imouto ga Iru!
So how do I begin with this one. Hmm, I guess its poop. Hold on, let me finish! I went in to this show knowing exactly what I was getting into. A typical harem show with its own specific type of comedy. I like watching these shows sometimes. They're like junk food, you know its bad but its so good in what it delivers. How does it stack up to other harems? Not much. It was enjoyable at times but hard to get through at some points. The twist in the end was interesting but the build up was done poorly. Well, it's done so I got my fill of entertainment.
Campione!
Another battle shounen light novel adaptation with a diverse harem and comedy antics. I don't want to be too hard on this since it didn't really do anything bad. In fact, this is a lot better than a few of the other entries in the genre that we've had in the past. The animation was good at times and the comedy was good too. It just suffered from being too much of the same, which stems from trying to be like the rest that came before. I'm not a fan of the main heroine but I do like the rest of the harem. This show also had the gimmick of transferring magic through kissing, at least that was interesting. The action is kind of unimportant to me since it's just white knight protag going in and getting things done in a few episodes, not too different from the rest. It was enjoyable at least, I know I've seen much worse in the same genre.
Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon II
This was pretty good despite the daunting task of adapting those ridiculously thick "light" novels. A good mixture of sci-fi, fantasy, comedy, drama, romance, action, politics, war, etc. Yeah, it's really diverse in its storytelling but that's what makes it unique. That isn't to say that it's another LOGH but it's still good nonetheless. Personally, I'm not a fan of the action since it tends to drag too long and you know they're always going to win so there's never any tension involved. I did like the more slice of life and comedy segments throughout. The romance plots were also well done and had good resolutions for them. The political debate segments were pretty memorable and the soundtrack was really good just like the first season.
The common complaint, which is one that I had as well, is that it feels like a lot of the source material got cut and gives the impression that there's more to the story than what was shown. This was bound to happen, just look at those light novels. This leads to a lot of plot confusion even though the main story is pretty linear in the first place. Nobody was really expecting an exact adaptation since it would be way too long. It's still enjoyable without having to read a wiki. If you're watching season 2 then you should know this by now.
I'd say that it was really fun but I'm planning to rewatch this someday since I know I missed a few things in my first viewing. I'm slowly starting to understand what's going on in the story but it's not like I could explain it to you.
Eureka Seven AO
It's rare to see such a split opinion on a show like this. Even if people agree on one thing they'll completely disagree on another. The writing involved for me to thoroughly state my arguments and points would take forever. I'll just say this⎯ I liked it, much more than the first series. So good. I know that there's still two episodes left but I'll just leave it at that.
Kokoro Connect
Again, this has four episodes left but we won't see them until next year.
An enjoyable series that explores several interesting subjects and situations through melodrama. Yes, the entirety of the show is filled with melodrama. It isn't bad thing if you like this type of storytelling and I think it was done pretty well. I will say that it could've been better if it wasn't the main part of the story. The characters suited the show but they felt kind of uninteresting when compared to characters of other stories. The slice of life aspect attributes to this, which forces the characters to represent normal people. This is why I see it as an experimental story that explores how normal everyday people can react to these weird events. If you combine this with a different story then it becomes something completely different.
I did like this and it had some really good comedic moments. Worth a watch but it doesn't feel like it's anything bigger than that.
Gundam AGE
I guess that about covers everything. Next up is Fall season so be sure to expect a post on that.
I actually enjoyed Imouto a lot because of Ikusu. She was pretty much the only reason I kept watching the show.
ReplyDelete>Fall season
We need to go wider.