The Anime that you should be watching this season!

 Some anime will be mentioned that aren't in the tags! You can thank Blogger and its stupid character limit for that!

With Spring season rolling around and a flush of new anime sweeping away winter's favorites, many of us are lost. So many anime this season, whatever shall you do? That's what you asked three weeks ago when the season started, and now that I'm sure you have found the answers I'm here to tell you if you were wrong or right. Whether you think you picked the right anime to watch this season, you know that you can trust me, because this is the internet after all, well with that said, let's go!

Mekaku City Actors--- In it's current state, I think this anime is not only more confusing than End of Evangelion and trying to figure out how the hell J.C. staff produced Dai Shogun, it's also freaking enjoyable. You see for the past four weeks a friend of mine has been doing nothing but telling me how excited he is about this anime. So by the time it released on April 12th (I was force fed the information), I was more or less as hyped as he was. I'd love to give you a quick synopsis, but really your guess is as good as mine. I would say it is worth a shot, if not because my friend described it as a modern day Higurashi, if not because it has a Hatsune Miku ripoff in it, then because it's made by Shaft.

Gokukoku no Brynhildr---While the meaning behind the title makes as much sense as Kill La Kill, here's the anime I was really hyped for this season. Does the title Elfin Lied ring a bell? Described as 'gore porn' the anime remains one of the more...interesting anime I've ever seen. I'd also read the first chapter of the manga, so I was pretty damn interested. The basic concept is that a boy is met face to face with a person almost identical to the childhood friend that he is convinced he killed ten years before. Aside from an interesting concept, the anime features a solid history, being behind Elfin Lied, Wizard barristers,Maoyū Maō Yūsha and ...that's about it. When I said solid, I meant like pudding solid. They're also behind some of the worst anime I've ever seen (more accurately, tried to see) Queens Blade, Ikkitousen and I wanna be the strongest. From what I've seen voice acting is pretty damn good, animation is fantastic, haven't paid much attention to sound, but I do like the opening. The strongest thing this anime has going for it is its concept and atmosphere. Both of which are excellent and give me high hopes for the rest of the series.

Captain Earth----No, no, no, it's not what you think! This isn't Captain Planet, no matter how much Google images tells you different. This is the latest original work by Studio Bones, which in my opinion is the best studio that produces original work (non-adaptations) on a regular basis. Yep even better than Sunrise, come at me bro. To boil it down to the basics, then anime is about a boy named...Daichi? Who is the son of a pilot who sacrificed his life fighting of aliens...or something. Yes, in typical Bones fashion, you will not know what is going on until halfway through. One of the best and worst things about Bones, is it's accessibility. They're for the idea of showing rather than telling. All of the terms that they use will become clear after enough characters have used them. Until then, the anime is more confusing experience than watching Inception with a hookah (No, all you of you who just thought of what I know you thought of, look it up) Overall, however it is worth seeing if only for the amazing production values. Seriously, the entire nation of Japan could be eating filet Mignon for breakfast, lunch and dinner, if they had that kind of money. 

Bokura wa Minna Kawaisou---This was the surprise hit for me. I had no idea that this was coming out, and it's become my favorite anime this season. Due to a number of things, due in no small part to it's interesting characters, super artistic animation, nice score and Kana Hanazawa, Bokura wa Minna Kawai has really stood out to me. We have a serious lack of straight up romance anime these days. Before you take me away to the place with the soft pillow walls and nice people dressed in white again, allow me to explain. We have a severe lack of romance anime that are purely focused on a singular relationship. Sure plenty of anime come out every season tagged with the word 'romance', but usually they're also paired with the word 'harem'. I will fight you on this; I do not believe that a harem anime can ever beat out a straight up Romance anime in that category. I'm not counting love triangles here, by the way. Especially with the third episode, this anime has had me both laughing, and on the verge of tears (slight exaggeration). The basic idea behind the anime is that a boy wants to live on his own while his parents are away. They ship him off to the Kawai Complex, an apartment filled with people stranger than those you see on bad touch warning ads. Humor is a seriously subjective subject, but check it out—at the very least, you'll only be wasting time.

Ryuugajou Nanana no Maizoukin---I'd give this a recommendation because of its interesting concept, but I haven't watched enough to say differently, I'm sad to say.

There are a good amount of other series that have me excited, but none of them have wowed me enough to give a solid recommendation. Things I think have potential are; Black Bullet, Atelier Escha & Logy ~Tasogare no Sora no Renkinjutsushi~, Hitsugi No Chaika, No Game, No Life, Knights of Sidonia, Akuma no Riddle and Soredemo Sekai wa Utsukushii. I'm still trying to figure out whether Irregular at the Magic School (or whatever it's called) is going to turn into a harem or not. If you're wondering why Jo Jo isn't here, it's because I'm talking about new anime—not sequels.

As always, Thanks for taking the time out of your day to read this.  It does mean a lot to me. Obviously these views are subject to change—this being a first impressions of sorts. For all i know, Captain Earth could become a crock of Sh*t and Dai shogun could...not in a million years.  As a way of making up for the eight days of absence, I'm going to upload the Golden Time review this week, even if it kills me. Hope to see you next time!

Gundam Build Fighters Anime Review

Hold up a sec, first off why am I reviewing something that I've never even mentioned when I've been procrastinating on doing the Golden Time. Well...I'll be serious for a second here—originally this blog was supposed to promote anime I think deserve more attention or bring a different perspective to what I perceive as a one sided argument...I say as I do a super-positive review of Kill La Kill.

What is Gundam Build Fighters? Fanservice. This is pure fanservice. Want to see what would happen if Big Zam went up against Gundam X, Gundam Wing, and the Strike Freedom? You got it. Want to see the F91 Imagine go up against Exia. We have you covered. Hell there's even a reference to the original Gunpla anime with the new and improved Bearguy. So needless to say, if you haven't watched Gundam, this'll be the worst possible entry point.


Animation---I was kinda disappointed... It's not bad or anything, but I recently I watched the first episode of Captain Planet. So any kind of visual spectacle that Build tries to pull feels sub par. That it does look good, that's for certain. It just isn't as good as AGE or Gundam 00. Though part of the feeling of the battles. They aren't as epic a spectacle as the other gundam series, instead taking on a lighter tone.

At this point you're probably wondering, 'why bother watching it?' To that I say situations. A lot of the fight scenes are a lot more fun in some ways. Nowhere else in a gundam series will you see Gundam racing, playing baseball or

Plot-- The concept of the anime is that Gundam have become an international sport—the international sport. Each person builds a model gundam called a Gunpla. The Gunpla's strength comes from the quality. Now without even getting into how ridiculous it is that Gundam become the international sport everyone craves, I'll introduce the characters. You've got Iori Sei, a master builder and Reji, a master fighter. Together they dream of making it to the championship...The rest of the plot is kind of irrelevant. There is technically a over-arcing plot, but it's introduced and resolved so quickly, it's best not to pay attention.

Now I have to talk about the last episode because frankly it was both the worst and best episode of the series. You can't get any more fanservice if you combined Freezing, Kill La Kill, and To Love Ru.  Now of course this is from the perspective of a Gundam 00 fanboy, but...Exia! They have freaking Repair Exia in here? What more do you want?! At the same time, the shoehorning of a plot into the anime is utterly shameless. It made no sense, led to more questions being asked than answered and just...it was bad, let's leave it at that. 


Sound--If there's one thing that I can trust Sunrise in, it's the sound department. It's fantastic. The little things are what counts. When a gundam goes into trans-am the exact sound clip plays, gundam make that sound when their eyes flash, it really all plays into the nostalgia factor. the soundtrack's all good, mixing electronic with soundtracks that fit whatever nation the fighter they represent. Don't take my word for it

Voice acting is...you don't really come here for the drama and heartbreak now do you? It's not like it's bad or anything;it's just not anything that'll blow you away. Oh and if this isn't the most gay opening to an anime I've ever seen, I don't know what is.



Characters----Cheese. I don't think that characters are really the focal point of the series, but they're all more or less the stereotypes you'd expect from this kind of anime. Yeah there are some touching moments, but overall they're pretty static. There's little to no character development, but there doesn't need to be. Like I said with Kill La Kill; They all are interesting enough to play their parts. Pretty much every character is worth seeing onscreen, and you'll really never find a character that you'll be bored to tears with. So yes, the characters lack the depth of other gundam protagonists, but we also don't have any kind of Marina Ismail in sight.

The controversy---For those of you who don't know, there's been a huge backlash against this anime by hardcore gundam fans—not all of them, mind you, but enough that there are flame wars in the comment sections. Is this a good gundam series...no. It doesn't have the kind of character development, the complexity, the political intrigue, the intensity that other gundam series hold. That's why I have to classify as something else. You can't really compare it with the other gundam series; they're too different, but for the same reason that I love G gundam, I also love this anime. It's a ton of fun, a love letter to anyone who has spent time with the gundam franchise over the course of its 30+ run. It's a nice break in what seems like the same thing recycled over and over again. I could tell you exactly what's going to happen in Gundam AGE without even seeing it. It's something completely different that doesn't rely on some other series for inspiration...yet it's all about fanservice... As much as I love Gundam 00, it took a lot from Wing. As much as I liked Seed, it took a lot from the original. 

 What Build lacks in intensity, it makes up for in crazy events, like gundam baseball (still can't get over that). What it lacks in a plotline it makes up for with smaller more personal arcs that are resolved much quicker, what it lacks in scale it makes up for with all of the cameos, and what it makes up for in character development it makes up for with interesting characters and no Ismail.

Is it worth watching?  If you've ever watched a gundam series, the answer is a definite YES! If not, I'd recommend watching at least one other gundam series before this. Likes, follows and stuff are much appreciated, and are always welcome. Thanks for watching, and hope to see you next time.