Rate the last anime you watched out of 10

Police in a Pod
Equal parts workplace comedy and straight police procedural, this show has a ring of authenticity that some other police anime lack, thanks to the author having worked in law enforcement for a decade. The show's comedy and drama elements both work well, but it has an unfortunate habit of placing them too close together at times. Each episode typically adapts two or three standalone stories, bolted together with no particular theme, so it can be focused on lighthearted workplace drudgery one minute and the minutiae of examining a corpse the next.

I don't normally comment on a show's OP and ED, but it's worth mentioning that they are misleading, throwing fan service shots into what is otherwise a generally reserved series that would feel more at home alongside live-action cop shows than other workplace anime. It's only the jarring tonal ping-pong that drops this show from an 8.

7/10
 
Arte
Yet another show that has been misattributed as Slice of Life on MAL. At this point I'm convinced that label gets slapped on any anime that doesn't revolve around fight scenes. Be in no doubt though, while Arte's tale of a young noble girl who runs away from home to become an artist doesn't involve overt fisticuffs, the story has more in common with sports anime like Hajime no Ippo than it does with SoL shows like Yurucamp. The trademark SoL genre traits of minimal conflict and loose plot structure are nowhere to be found here.

Set in renaissance Florence, Arte's quest to become a professional artist is met with constant roadblocks due to the overwhelming sexism of the time. Armed with borderline genki girl tenacity, Arte bull rushes her way through each obstacle, often becoming literally bruised and bloodied in the process. This results in a classic battle anime fight-then-bond cycle where Arte's unwavering drive and spirit turns today's opponents into tomorrow's friends. The first episode even follows the classic sports anime trope of the grumpy master setting the cocky young whelp a seemingly impossible test because he thinks she's underestimated the hard work and guts required.

If the show does have one problem, it's in setting the bar too low for itself at times. By setting the story in a time and place even more sexist than modern Japan, we end up with a cast of characters who spend the first several episodes being baffled that a girl would attempt to do anything other than bat her eyelashes at potential suitors, which can get repetitive. While this does present strong conflicts for Arte to overcome, the story can come across as being a little too pleased with itself for having her accomplish... well, basically anything. It's not too much of a blemish on an otherwise engaging story, however, especially when this is one where the protagonist views even falling in love as just another obstacle getting in the way of her career.

8/10
 
Arte was my favorite anime of the season when it aired. I would really love to see a second season made for it. I've already watched my Blu-ray twice and showed the series to my mother, who also very much enjoyed it too.
 
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Baccano
Spoilers ahoy so be careful

A pretty bizarre show this one. Set in 1930s America, it's a tale of immoral immortals, mafia and an assortment of other weird folk getting mixed up with and mostly trying to kill each other. It's almost Tarantino-esque it's blend of brutal ultra-violence and comic humour, but it's tone more cheerful, it's a very cheerful show. It's as light and breezy as it is grim-dark nihilistic, and it's as imaginative and clever as it is very stupid.

It flits haphazardly back and forth between a few years, but chuffing through it's core is a long train ride where various factions bump into each other, get into a big fight and we watch the breathless chaos unspool with each episode. To be honest I can't particularly recall what they were all even doing on the train and what their various motives for the bloodshed were, it was either hazy to begin with or became so in the midst of all the madness. There's a fair bit of mystery and hanging threads that this show doesn't ever elucidate, whether its by design or by dint of the story coming from a novel series, I don't know, but it does give you something to mull over and lets your imagination fill in the blanks. Why each character is such a crackpot and what they're really after is mostly left unexplained. I guess the ensemble cast is far too big (some of the characters named in the OP barely get a couple lines of dialogue in the whole show) to go in depth in any of them. And the characters don't in any way behave like real people would. And yet, they are interesting and fun and feel like they do exist within their own self contained universe and have elaborate histories written for them that we're just not privy to all of.

The heart and most likable of the lot are Isaac (voiced perfectly by none other than Masaya "Vash(da man)" Onosaka) and Miria. The goofy, unrelentingly chirpy robbers who don't realise they're immortal. Despite all the somewhat disturbing violence in the series, it's the optimism and happy go lucky attitude that comes across the strongest. The show doesn't really condemn any of its villains (apart from I guess Szilard). By far the evilest character in the show, apart from child-torturer Fermet, is possibly worse child-torturer and assassin the so called Rail Tracer, and yet we're informed he has sense of justice, albeit warped, and he even comes out of it all with a star crossed lover inexplicably waiting for him.

But even more than Isaac and Miria, if this show was one of its own characters, it would be Elmer, the fool who tells Sylvie to laugh it off when her lover is killed and then tries to appeal to the heart of a murderous psychopath by doing a handstand. Baccano seems to say, life is awesome fun and immortality would be rad but since we can't be immortal don't sweat anything nor all the awful homicidal maniacs. It's not an attitude I can ever adopt myself, but between all the winces, B! did make me laugh, and I appreciate that.
7.5/10

Note: This is based on the 13 episodes of the main series. I still need to watch the 3 OVA, and I may come back and add an addendum if needed.
 
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Tsukimonogatari

It's Monogatari being Monogatari. A welcome return to the status quo after Hana bored me. I wish Deishuu Kaiki was in it though. 8/10
 
Blood Blockade Battlefront

I enjoyed this quite a bit. Based on the manga by Trigun author Yasuhiro Nightow. New York has inexplicably merged with the fantastical 'alter-world' three years ago and Leo a young boy with the all seeing eyes of god has fallen into a job at a secret agency that works to keep the balance or some such. Most episodes are pretty much self contained romps through this mad world, but there is also a vague overarching plot humming away in the background that has something to do with magical siblings William and Mary Macbeth. While I haven't read the source material, from this show it certainly seems that Nightow has continued on his trajectory towards embracing all out imaginative excess, this is potentially even more maximalist than Trigun Maxium ended up being. Although in a way there is also less to this as it is stripped of the gravitas that the Trigun manga and anime both managed to have despite its goofiness. This is more of a straight up zany sci fi fantasy action comedy, and while all the cast are impeccably cool and fun there isn't really a whole lot to them beyond their zane, we're not treated to the backstories of many of them, just the scantest titbits here and there. The show simply isn't of that character driven disposition, it's too busy coming up with wild new monsters and action packed scenarios with the breathless excitement of a hyperactive child buzzing off e numbers. Honestly half of the time I didn't know what was happening, but I didn't care either and was happy to watch it with a big stupid grin on my face.

BBB does rarely try to get sentimental every now and then but it fell flat for me, particularly in the last episode. Its feet are already too far off the ground by that point and its attempts are as overblown and ludicrous as everything else, the emotional highpoint of the show for me was probably Leo's friendship with a ravenous burger munching mushroom. But every episode is just a blast of unadulterated imaginative nonsense, and I enjoyed every one, they're all colourful sparkly little gems. Or maybe they're more like colourful little sweets, undeniably a joyous treat for the senses, but not a journey that will stick with me as Vash's did. 7/10
 
Gundam Unicorn
Of all the non-Tomino Gundam series, this one feels the most Tomino-esque. The likes of 0080, 0083 and The Origin lean heavily into the military SF angle, but Unicorn also embraces the spiritual and...well, the depressed nihilist aspects of Tomino's works. There's a classic Univeral Century setup: a boy stumbles upon a Gundam, is able to pilot it immediately because newtype, and finds himself embroiled in an all-out robowar between various factions. Also a longstanding antagonist picks up yet another accidentally sexual pseudonym (Full Frontal? Really?).

In so many ways, Unicorn could have been called UCporn, since it's full of references to earlier entries in that continuity both thematically and in its characters, factions, etc. In fact it pulls so many characters and factions from earlier entries (along with some new ones) that this ends up being one of the weaknesses of an otherwise strong series, since they're not all introduced properly and their agendas aren't always made clear. It hasn't been that long since I last watched Zeta and ZZ, but I still couldn't remember who Londo Bell were and how they fit into the political landscape. That said, if you're into Gundam for the epic robot battles then this isn't a problem, since Unicorn features some of the best giant robot action ever animated. Considering it's a relatively recent show, I was pleasantly surprised to see most of the mechs hand-drawn, and the attention to detail is stunning. You get a real sense of the power of the artillery these things are lugging around as they smash each other to pieces and beam rifles melt through armour like a soldering iron through butter. It's glorious.

In terms of characters, the protagonist is fine. Unlike many a UC pilot he has more on his mind than just beating the enemy or getting back to his normal life, though he can get a bit one-note at times. It's nice to see Mineva Zabi turn up as a character with her own agenda, considering that she had just been a puppet in her previous appearances, though she spends too much of the series being damselled. The rest of the cast would all feel at home in a Tomino series, and in fact probably fare better here due to Unicorn's stronger sense of pacing compared to some of the franchise's meandering 50-episode series.

Probably the most Tomino thing about Unicorn is its focus on the evolutionary potential of newtypes as a way for people to understand each other, and the tragedy that this understanding is often only possible after they die and their souls are set free from worldly attachments. The idea that people would get along better if they all just died is as Tomino as it gets. On the other hand, pushing the newtype angle so much results in the one aspect of Unicorn that feels a bit un-Gundam. As trump card mechs, Gundams usually ride the line between military hardware and super robot, but the titular Unicorn Gundam is pure super robot, especially in some of the crazy feats it pulls later on. This is part of why, for all its military SF dressing, there's something of a fantasy quest feeling to Unicorn. That's not a complaint, since it gives a distinctive angle to a franchise that can often feel homogenised, though it is an odd choice for an entry that was designed to harken back to the UC series of old.

Overall though, this is a solid series that fits well into the UC continuity, and is elevated to excellence by some of the best mech action I've ever seen.

9/10
 
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Hard agree on a 9/10 for Unicorn - Bannagher (?) is a good protagonist with his heart in the right place (even if he's the source of some melodrama now and then) and the newtype angle gives us some beautiful heart-to-heart moments. The action is stellar at all times as is the presentation. I like the clash of ideas and the battles that result of them - I just wish the story were more hard-hitting and isolated/independent from franchise trappings.

Still, one of my favorite mecha things ever, I think. The HUD porn and enemy tracking from within the cockpit puts you in the action like few series can.
 
Cautious Hero

It was probably a mistake watching this so soon after Konosuba. I really really liked that show, but this one just couldn't match up. CH is kind of similar to Konosuba, but it's totally ruined by one of the most horrible "hero" characters (the titular cautious one) I've ever seen.

The show has some Danmachi vibes, with a load of goddess characters. Like Danmachi, the main goddess here is friendly, mostly useless and has her boobs hanging out all the time (I don't know how much of the rest of CH is similar to Danmachi, because I can't remember a lot about it).

Visually, it's OK - it never looks especially good and there are a lot of shots where characters look weirdly off-model, but it's never a total mess.

The story is about what I expected. There was nothing especially surprising or exciting or amusing, but it was still alright. The whole thing was just spoiled by the hero.

I liked the OP and the ED - they've both got good songs and the ED has Ristarte dancing in Love Live-style CG, which looks very cool.

Ristarte is a really nice character. She's pretty similar to Aqua from Konosuba, but Ristarte is a bit kinder and more gentle.

There are two kids, but they don't really do much (and the dub voice for the boy makes him sound about 40).

The hero character was an absolute ass though.

I'd misunderstood the idea of the show - I thought the hero would be really nervous and panicked to be in a weird world, so he was overlevelling (like me in most JRPGs). The idea of an overpowered character who's awkward and nervous appealed to me (maybe there's another show that does that!)

Unfortunately, he's horrible. He's abusive and racist and willingly kills innocents/destroys towns/just behaves like an absolutely awful person. It's not in an "Oops, I didn't mean to do that lol!" style - he does it on purpose. He's meant to be cautious though!

He also repeatedly slaps a woman in one episode - some of those are "self defense", but he also hits her multiple times just to stop her from talking.

The only worse hero character I've ever seen in anime is the one in Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero (I guess at least this cautious guy isn't a relentless sex offender). It was hard not to root for the villains most of the time. I'm sure that wasn't intended. I guess we're supposed to find the guy funny, but it really didn't work for me.

In the last two episodes, there's a sudden effort to paint him as a good guy who was just acting mean - but it's too little, (far) too late.

Overall, it's an OK series. With a less repulsive "hero", it would have been pretty good (mostly because of Ristarte), but that guy just drags it down - 4/10
 
Boogiepop Phantom

I love getting suckerpuched by the quality of a series and it was certainly the case with this one. Listen to this: a mysterious horror slice-of-life anime. Isn't that genius?

Also, the structure will remind you of Durarara!! where you have a main narrative thread every episode and a few key events - then the point of view along with plot progression and world building gets passed along like a baton between characters as you come to a deeper understanding of what the hell happened. Only this was what, 99/2000?

It's gripping and creepy and maybe even a little scary, surprisingly. "Surprisingly" because of the medium but there was a scene with a certain Snake Eye that was so well done, so well-built up that the result gave me creepy shivers. I think that was a first for anime.

Visually and aurally, it knows exactly what it wants to be and it's not pleasant - it gets under your skin, it looks awful (not technically) and it sounds, as Dai put it last page, nauseating at times.

Crazy series. Did I mention one of the best OPs I've heard lately and a banging ED? Because who doesn't like that feeling of never skipping an OP?

9/10
 
Demon Price Enma (2006)

A compact, four-episode horror series about a pair of ancient yokai exorcists chasing murderous demons in modern-day Japan, Demon Prince Enma is a ‘dark and gritty’ remake of an older children’s series (it’s Go Nagai though, so ‘children’s series’), but it conveys what it’s doing so effectively that you really need no context beyond what it gives you.

The story and characters bring little that we haven’t seen before, but its lurid, giallo-inflected story is told stylishly, with unremittingly dark and claustrophobic cinematography, and it’s very economical in a way that I think would make this a lot more accessible than many of the other anime based on Go Nagai properties. I would also give it credit for frequently managing to be genuinely unsettling, without going overboard on gore (be warned though, it is quite bloody).

I’m curious to see if the newer Enma series (a more faithful remake of the original) gives the story any more context, but I would easily recommend this to anyone looking for a solid horror outing that won’t require a big investment of time.
 
Gundam Thunderbolt: Bandit Flower
The original Thunderbolt had a pretty basic story about a bitter feud between two pilots, but it worked well to lend some weight to all the action. Bandit Flower doesn't have that. In fact, Bandit Flower doesn't really have a plot at all. It feels like a 90-minute compilation of all the action scenes from a 12-episode TV series (or maybe three random episodes from the middle of a series) with almost no connective tissue between them and, critically, little indication of the specific objectives for the various battles. With no context to lend it any sense of drama, it's reduced to the narrative level of a kid bashing action figures together.

It does continue some plot threads from the original, but none of them are significantly advanced or resolved here. It ends on something of a cliffhanger, and it's pretty clear that the Thunderbolt sub-series was meant to continue beyond this. Unfortunately, while there was only a year between December Sky and Bandit Flower, it's now been five years since the latter with no sign of another chapter being in development.

With little internal plot development and no sense of closure, all that's left is the action, of which there is a lot. As ungarnished roboporn goes, Bandit Flower delivers. The mech scenes are top-notch, with an obsessive attention to detail and plenty of variety in the battles. That element alone raises it above mediocrity.

6/10
 
Dai said:
Gundam Thunderbolt: Bandit Flower
With no context to lend it any sense of drama, it's reduced to the narrative level of a kid bashing action figures together.
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Much as I think I came away with a slightly more positive impression of Bandit Flower, I wouldn't disagree with that. It's a perfectly fine action film, but that, in part, is likely the problem.

December Sky felt like it had something to say about the stupidity of war and pointless loss of life, but I think it also reached a natural end point for that story (even though I did go into it knowing the source manga was still running beyond it) and following on from there with gung-ho action that largely handwaves or walks back the cost of the first film seems like a weird disconnect.

It's a bit like going from First Blood to Rambo: First Blood Part II...
 
Mobile Suit Gundam Wing

This was one of the first anime shows I ever saw and I thought it was one of the coolest things ever.

Years later, I've come to the realisation that it definitely isn't one of the coolest things ever. It's OK though.

The main problem is that it's just so miserable and dull. Obviously war is awful (I know this because we get told at least 17 times every episode), but Wing is just so depressing.

There's far too much Phantom Menace-style political chit-chat and not enough excitement. I want to see the robots fight, I don't want to watch old men sitting around chatting about treaties and total pacifism total pacifism total pacifism total pacifism total pacifism.

Four of the the five main pilot characters are all miserable - most of them spend the whole show displaying zero personality, but there's also one who just cries all the time.

Then there's Duo who's easily the best character. He's almost permanently cheerful and really brings some joy to it all. Of course, this makes him look like a total psycho compared to everyone else (and he also likes calling himself The Angel of Death), but never mind that. He's excellent. The show could have done away with the other four pilots and put all the focus on him and it would have been so much better.

The female supporting characters (on both sides of the war) are mostly pretty good. Relena can be a bit of a bore, but she's bearable - other characters like Dorothy and Noin are far better than Heero and the rest of the dull pilots.

The original MSG series seemed to have a lot more characters with personality, like Fraw Bow and Sayla (and my personal fav RAMBA RAL). Even the very young kids running around added a bit of lightness that's really missing from Wing.

The dub is kinda hit and miss. Most of the characters sound bored and a few side characters veer straight into comedy. Sometimes it felt like I was watching a joke dub.

It's really really nice visually. The whole mid '90s aesthetic really appeals to me and Wing didn't disappoint. It always looked very good and there were never any messy or ugly scenes. Characters, settings, robots and stuff - it all looks fantastic.

The OPs and ED are some of my absolute favourites ever - especially the ED. All three songs (it changes to a different OP for the last nine episodes for whatever reason) are all memorable and enjoyable. The ED (Relena hanging around with lions and rhinos and stuff) is absolutely nothing to do with the story, but it's really cute and the song is a masterpiece.

Overall, it's not a horrible show, it's just a bit of a letdown. It looks good, sounds good and has amazing character names like Milliardo Peacecraft. It's just not interesting or exciting enough.

I never want to hear the words "total pacifism" ever again - 5/10
 
awadama fever said:
Mobile Suit Gundam Wing

This was one of the first anime shows I ever saw and I thought it was one of the coolest things ever.

Years later, I've come to the realisation that it definitely isn't one of the coolest things ever. It's OK though.

The main problem is that it's just so miserable and dull. Obviously war is awful (I know this because we get told at least 17 times every episode), but Wing is just so depressing.

There's far too much Phantom Menace-style political chit-chat and not enough excitement. I want to see the robots fight, I don't want to watch old men sitting around chatting about treaties and total pacifism total pacifism total pacifism total pacifism total pacifism.

Four of the the five main pilot characters are all miserable - most of them spend the whole show displaying zero personality, but there's also one who just cries all the time.

Then there's Duo who's easily the best character. He's almost permanently cheerful and really brings some joy to it all. Of course, this makes him look like a total psycho compared to everyone else (and he also likes calling himself The Angel of Death), but never mind that. He's excellent. The show could have done away with the other four pilots and put all the focus on him and it would have been so much better.

The female supporting characters (on both sides of the war) are mostly pretty good. Relena can be a bit of a bore, but she's bearable - other characters like Dorothy and Noin are far better than Heero and the rest of the dull pilots.

The original MSG series seemed to have a lot more characters with personality, like Fraw Bow and Sayla (and my personal fav RAMBA RAL). Even the very young kids running around added a bit of lightness that's really missing from Wing.

The dub is kinda hit and miss. Most of the characters sound bored and a few side characters veer straight into comedy. Sometimes it felt like I was watching a joke dub.

It's really really nice visually. The whole mid '90s aesthetic really appeals to me and Wing didn't disappoint. It always looked very good and there were never any messy or ugly scenes. Characters, settings, robots and stuff - it all looks fantastic.

The OPs and ED are some of my absolute favourites ever - especially the ED. All three songs (it changes to a different OP for the last nine episodes for whatever reason) are all memorable and enjoyable. The ED (Relena hanging around with lions and rhinos and stuff) is absolutely nothing to do with the story, but it's really cute and the song is a masterpiece.

Overall, it's not a horrible show, it's just a bit of a letdown. It looks good, sounds good and has amazing character names like Milliardo Peacecraft. It's just not interesting or exciting enough.

I never want to hear the words "total pacifism" ever again - 5/10
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I enjoyed Wing 20 years ago, but it hasn't aged well. Last time I tried to watch it I think I gave up after about five episodes, or whichever one had Wufei shouting endlessly at a woman about how she was rubbish because she was a woman. By that point each member of the Gundamstreet Boyz had been given their introductory spotlight episode and I remembered how lame they were.
 
Dai said:
I enjoyed Wing 20 years ago, but it hasn't aged well. Last time I tried to watch it I think I gave up after about five episodes, or whichever one had Wufei shouting endlessly at a woman about how she was rubbish because she was a woman. By that point each member of the Gundamstreet Boyz had been given their introductory spotlight episode and I remembered how lame they were.
Click to expand...
This is the only Wufei scene I remember from the whole show:


Absolute nonsense!
 
Komi Can't Communicate (season 1)

I'd already read (and liked) the first few volumes of the manga, so I knew what to expect - and the anime didn't let me down.

It looks really nice and it's got a great cast of characters. I could even relate to some of them (example: Komi is extremely nervous and has no friends, just like me).

The episodes have a nice variety of scenarios - they mostly cover all the standard school anime tropes (Shopping! Pool visit! School festival!), but the characters are awesome and the situations are funny so it all works really well.

Some of the early episodes suffered a little from Netflix's hit and miss subs (there's a lot of onscreen text and most of it wasn't translated at all), but it suddenly got better about a third of the way in.

The OP and ED aren't too amazing either.

...but those are just minor complaints. It was a really enjoyable show. It's nothing groundbreaking, but it's a lovely series and it does what it does really well - 8/10
 
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Demon Slayer: Mugen Train Arc

I gave the first season 10/10 a few pages back - this one isn't quite as good, but it's not really fair to compare seven episodes to 26.

Even with a shorter length and less variety in settings and characters than the first season, it was still excellent.

It looks amazing, the story and action are exciting, the characters are great - the dub is perfect and the soundtrack is really really good too.

Demon Slayer is one of my absolute favs - 9/10
 
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