Monday, July 15, 2013

Summer 2013 Plans

To say that this year's spring season has been a disappointment would be putting it mildly. There has been so much mindless, idiotic, tedious or just plain bad anime; only two series that started in spring could, I feel, be called "good" without reservation, and even then one of them is beginning to slide downhill. Normally, the equinox seasons are the best in any given year, but that has really not been the case this time. So I'm glad for it to end, to be able to leave it behind.



By contrast, the summer season is looking hot (hurr hurr). There is a lot I'm really quite excited for, and many series that are looking quite imaginative and interesting. What the heck is going on? Did the schedulers accidentally switch the two seasons around? No summer should be looking this good!




List:



As always, red = nope, green = hell yeah, orange = sure, why not. Also, you should be using



* Tamayura: More Aggressive

* Stella Jogakuin Koutou-ka C3-bu

* Free!

* Kitakubu Katsudou Kiroku

* Rozen Maiden (2013)

* Love Lab

* Danganronpa - The Animation

* Senki Zesshou Symphogear G

* Servant x Service

* Genei wo Kakeru Taiyo

* Kiniro Mosaic

* Monogatari Series: Second Season

* Uchouten Kazoku

* Kamisama no Inai Nichiyoubi

* Blood Lad

* The World God Only Knows: Goddess Arc

* Watamote!

* Gin no Saji

* Kimi no Iru Machi

* Gatchaman Crowds

* And a bunch of OVAs and some films



And my thoughts:



Tamayura: Hitotose was pretty enjoyable, although it did take a while to get there. And I still consider episode 7 to be one of the most perfect episodes of anime I have ever seen, absolutely nailing the atmospheric iyashikei genre that it had, up to that point, not quite reached. So I'm looking forward to its sequel, Tamayura: More Aggressive. Also, its name is hilariously adorable. It's a peaceful, healing show about cute schoolgirls taking photos, and now it wants to be "more aggressive"? I love it already.



Gainax have not been good for a long time, so I'm feeling very cautious about Stella Jogakuin Koutou-ka C3-bu. The premise, however, sounds pretty interesting - military survival games at an all-girl's high school, although it's probably not a 'survival game' series - so I'm more than willing to give it a spin.



Free! is by KyoAni. Do I need to say more? Oh yeah, it's about high school boys swimming instead of moe school girls, so it has all the entitled homophobic manbabies in a tizzy. "Wah wah KyoAni is betraying their fans!" Please, if you think that you are not a KyoAni fan. I'm legit looking forward to this.



Kitakubu Katsudou Kiroku is about cute girls doing cute things while walking home, and has a hilariously contrived premise. The 'Go-Home Club' is basically a cute euphemism for saying you won't be joining any club but WOMP-WOMP turns out it's a real club at that school. And they walk home together. It sounds dumb, but if Yuyushiki has taught me anything, you can sometimes be really surprised by these series. I doubt it'll be anything worthwhile though.



Rozen Maiden (2013):



DESU



But seriously, I recently marathoned the first two seasons, and they were enjoyable enough. This is a reboot though, but I'm looking forward to it. It'd be nice to see how things are being changed and redone.



Love Lab is being watched for the same reason as Kitakubu Katsudou Kiroku, basically. Cute girls doing cute things, gonna give it a shit cuz why note. Also it sounds like it may have some yuri undertones, which thanks to Yuru Yuri and Yuyushiki is a thing I guess I'm now into ..



The source visual novel for Danganronpa - The Animation has been very well received. Very. This is gonna be a big series this summer. Also, it sounds pretty interesting. Sure, it's another survival game, but to escape someone has to kill somebody else and get away with it. If the killer's identity is discovered, they're executed. If they succeed, everyone else gets executed. Could be pretty psychological.



Senki Zesshou Symphogear G is the sequel to Senki Zesshou Symphogear otherwise known as "Nymphogear" or "Sapphogear" or "Incredibly, ridiculously stupid and hilarious". I'm not watching this because it will be good, because it won't.



Servant x Service sounds like a slice-of-life set in an office, involving actual adults. I'm down for that! Always nice to see a series about characters who aren't still in compulsory education.



Genei wo Kakeru Taiyo looks interesting. Really quite interesting. Stylised as hell, and somewhere between Touhou and Madoka. Also it's an original! Of course I've gotta check it out.



Kiniro Mosaic: see Kitakubu Katsudou Kiroku; Love Lab



Monogatari Series: Second Season. Hopefully it'll focus on Senjougahara this time and less on the porn.



Uchouten Kazoku is from the author of Tatami Galaxy and has character designs from the creator of Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei. Consider me hyped.



You remember when light novels were interesting and unique and experimental and ground-breaking? Me neither, but apparently that was true once, and Kamisama no Inai Nichiyoubi looks set to do something similar. Just from the synopsis, it sounds moody and atmospheric, focused on death and the supernatural but through a more romantic lens.



Blood Lad's manga was received fairly well, and it's meant to be 'seinen'. Why not, y'know?



The World God Only Knows: Goddess Arc is one I am VERY much looking forward to. We watched the first two seasons of The World God Only Knows at my university's anime society, and I loved it. There's a lot this season which I'm not that excited for, just optimistic, but this is one I am legitimately very hyped for, and can't wait to see.



Watamote! AKA It's Not My Fault I'm Not Popular! is about a young female otaku who plays fucktons of otome games - dating sims for girls. She thinks she'll immediately have a great life upon entering high school! She's wrong. Rather popular on 4chan, to the extent that the mangaka officially recognised them as being a significant fanbase. It looks set to be very cringe-humour-y, but I've heard good things about the source.



Gin no Saji is Moyashimon by way of Fullmetal Alchemist, in that it's about a guy going to agricultural school and is written by the mangaka Fullmetal Alchemist. I have absolutely zero problems with this at all. Also: it's the first new noitaminA series since last autumn!



I've heard good things about the Kimi no Iru Machi manga, but I don't knowthe premise didn't grab me. But I'll be giving it a shot regardless. Sounds like a bit of a dramatic, somewhat atmospheric romance, which is something I'm quite fond of.



I have no idea what to make of Gatchaman Crowds, but it does intrigue me. Looks fun, at any rate.



And of course there are all the OVAs for series I've been watching, and most notably the new Ghost in the Shell project: Ghost in the Shell: Arise. That should be worth a watch.



Everything else this season is a sequel, a spin-off or just plain unappealing. I think the only things I'm not picking up that I feel I maybe should are the sequels to Senyuu. and Recorder to Randoseru, both of which are shorts and neither of which are all that good.



I'm also open to picking up some other stuff, if they turn out to be good. But there's like, 3 series that I feel I could watch that I'm not, so that's unlikely to happen.



Good thing it's the summer and I have nothing better to do than sit around and watch cartoons all day OH WAIT I have a summer internship. Time to say goodbye to all my free time!
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