Show of the season (from The News Thread)

Hmm, strange - was sure I'd seen it confirmed somewhere that it was running for two cours - but maybe it is just 12 eps and that's it.
 
Lutga said:
Hmm, strange - was sure I'd seen it confirmed somewhere that it was running for two cours - but maybe it is just 12 eps and that's it.

It seems a few shows were victim of this, I'm sure I saw a 24 episode count for Charlotte, but it looks like 13 and an OVA now...

If Ushio and Tora's episode count drops, I will be pissed off...
 
I've been quite disappointed by Rokka; it's an interesting idea but I'm not invested enough in the characters to be all that upset over the drawn-out mystery, and I have my suspicions over the outcome which will disappoint me if I'm right. That and I just want them to go out and start doing something instead of bickering endlessly without trying to reason it out.

My favourite show is actually technically from last season; Arslan Senki has been a real dark horse given that I found the old series quite forgettable. I've also been loving Durarara!! though a large part of that is that I'm a massive Shinra nerd.

R
 
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VoxPhantom said:
No mention of Working!! s3? It's been brilliant, firing on all cylinders as the story heads to its conclusion.
The first season still isn't available in the UK is it? I'm quite interested in watching the series but I'd rather see the whole thing in order than start with Season 2.

I guess I might pick up the NISA release at some point. I wonder why there's no Blu-ray for the first season though.
 
Smeelia said:
VoxPhantom said:
No mention of Working!! s3? It's been brilliant, firing on all cylinders as the story heads to its conclusion.
The first season still isn't available in the UK is it? I'm quite interested in watching the series but I'd rather see the whole thing in order than start with Season 2.

I guess I might pick up the NISA release at some point. I wonder why there's no Blu-ray for the first season though.
I think season one has expired on Crunchyroll in the UK. Viewster seem to be picking up a lot of catalogue shows lately so maybe it'll show up on there soon...

I believe the first season being DVD only was due to it being one of NISA's earliest releases, as they only started doing blu-rays in mid 2011, whereas Wagnaria came out at the start of the year. I'm hoping for a re-release on blu-ray at some point!
 
VoxPhantom said:
I think season one has expired on Crunchyroll in the UK. Viewster seem to be picking up a lot of catalogue shows lately so maybe it'll show up on there soon...

Season 1 was never made available for the UK on Crunchyroll, it was US & Canada only as far as I remember. Crunchyroll got it back but I don't know if it's up or it's still blocked.

Since Viewster managed to get Toradora! I wonder if they'll get Wagnaria!! as well.
 
Can't say I've been watching much this season, but Baby Steps Season 2 has been hands down the show I look forward to more than anything at the moment. It's absolutely superb.
 
Problem with Arslan is that I just know the ending isn't going to be satisfactory at all. This needed something on the same scale of LOTGH to be worth it. The india arc was such a waste of time too.
 
I will have to concur with Smeelia in saying that my favourite show this season is Non Non Biyori Repeat. Every episode is a joy to watch and I look forward to it each week more than anything else. It's definitely the ultimate anime to chill-out with.

A close runner-up though is Jitsu wa Watashi wa (Actually, I Am). It's a typical harem comedy so you can see how the overall plot will play out right from episode one, but the characters are all very likeable and the jokes are well pitched and never fall flat. The whole show is just so well done that you can't help but love it.

Choosing a third place from the other stuff I've watched is tough. Shimoneta started out strong but ran out of new jokes halfway through and is really quite average now. Gate is still pretty good and a strong contender, but I always think how much better this concept could have been done. Baby Steps and Arslan continue on as always, good solid shows that you can rely on to be entertaining each week. Idolmaster is kind of boring and I barely notice it when I'm watching it. But it's Ranpo Kitan that is the biggest surprise for me, it's completely weird and bizarre yet grows more compelling with each episode, so if I was going to give third place to anything, it would probably be this.
 
Are we counting shows that continued? Cause I'm still loving My Love Story & Food Wars.

I'm watching: Prison School, Shimoneta, School Live, Monster Musume, Actually, I am, Himouto! Umaru-chan & Overlord.

There's two shows ( Snow White & Gangsta ) I want to continue once they're over (I'm 95% sure those two will be my top 2 when I get round to finishing) and the likes of Durarara & Working (I loved Servant x Service so Working is something I very much want to watch but don't think the first season is legally available?) where I have to watch (a) previous season(s) first. I'm hoping the physical release of the second season of Durarara fixes the animation issues I've heard about so I'm waiting for the A/L release.

My favorite's are Overlord & Umaru. Overlord is great fun, at first I was a bit meh but episode 3 sold the show for me and since then I've been loving it. The part with the revelation of the Wise King of the Forest being a Giant stupid Hamster was beautiful.
Umaru wasn't even on my radar, I stuck it on when I had nothing to do one time and discovered I loved everything about it.
 
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Now that all of the series' I was following this season have ended, I think I can rather confidently say that School-Live! and Himouto! Umaru-chan are my joint shows of the season. Both are on complete opposite sides of the emotional spectrum, but both did what they did excellently. I've actually always found zombies and "zombie apocalypse" stories to be incredibly boring, but School-Live! managed to present them and mesh genres in a way that really worked.

For reference, the shows I watched this season were: Charlotte, Durarara! X2 Chapter 2, Food Wars, Gatchaman Crowds insight, Himouto! Umaru-chan, Monster Musume), School-Live! and Symphogear GX. I am currently two-thirds of the way through Shimoneta, but won't be able to finish that one until I get my laptop back from repairs. If I had to rank them, it would be something like:

1: Himouto-Umaru-chan!
1: School-Live!
3: Monster Musume: Everyday Life With Monster Girls
4: Food Wars
5: Durarara!! X2 Chapter 2
6: Gatchaman Crowds insight
7: Symphogear GX
8: Charlotte

Charlotte would have probably made it to 5th place if not for the time-leap stuff and where the series went after that. Conversely, Gatchaman Crowds insight would have likely been right at the bottom if not for its last few episodes. Also, while I did enjoy Durarara!! X2 Chapter 2, I don't think it really held its own as its own thing; it felt more like a bridge between the first and third cours.
That ranking isn't to say that any of the series' were bad - even though I've complained about Symphogear GX in other threads, I still enjoyed it. Well, Charlotte's last leg was pretty bad, but that's about it.
 
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I'm not going to go into extreme detail but here's my picks from the Summer season. I didn't watch every show out there (I didn't watch Gangsta or Shinometa) but I saw a good handful which is the first time I've seen so many in one season.

Best Underrated Show:
Classroom Crisis - 7/10
If there's one show that honestly surprised me this season it would be Classroom Crisis. The show did suffer from its odd pacing in the first half but when the second half begins it actually got even more interesting and the story gets much much better. The show left on a very good note with only one minor problem (the love triangle but you could argue it's a harem ending for him haha). It's a shame this series won't sell well but I certainly would be happy if Aniplex of America would release it on Blu-ray, at least subtitled if needed.

Best Overrated Show:
Charlotte - 6/10
The show had a great start but when the Maeda feels come in the show suffered from the exact same problems as Angel Beats! The last episode should have been its own season or a couple OVAs while it recycles the usual time travel and cop outs from previous key series. The other issues I've had was the inconsistent logic about her brother's condition, time travel effectively ruined the point of that episode and they didn't even go through it until a mini montage at the very end, bloody hell. Pretty much I liked the first 6 episodes and then it went downhill. The hype may have also killed the show for me.

Best Show that Completely Missed the Opportunity to be on Top:
God Eater - 6/10
The art and music are great and I like the characters but the story was rather disappointing (and different to the game's version) and this series had quite some potential to be really big but just didn't get to it in the end. At least it helped increase my interest in the video games.

My Top 9 Favourites:
01 - Prison School - 9/10
02 - Overlord - 8/10
03 - Monster Musume: Everyday Life With Monster Girls - 8/10
04 - Jitsu wa Watashi wa/Actually, I am... - 8/10
05 - Gakkou Gurashi/School Live! - 8/10
06 - Classroom Crisis - 7/10
07 - Durarara!!x2 Ten - 7/10
08 - Gate - 7/10
09 - Okusama ga Seitokaichou!/My Wife is the Student Council President - 6/10

Summer shows that I missed out but will be watching in the future:
Gangsta.
Himouto Umaru-chan
Rampo Kitan: Game of Laplace
Rokka -Braves of the Six Flowers-
Shinometa
Ushio & Tora
 
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I'd have to go.

1) Rampo Kitan - Game of Laplace
I know it's a mess, I don't care. I really enjoyed it, and I do not feel guilty. Not a single bit.
2) Prison School
3) Ushio and Tora
Easily the most consistently good show of the season, but rarely did it cross the line into brilliance.
4) Durarara!!x2
This season started crap and got better, hopefully they can continue the upward trend for the final arc.
5) Charlotte
I absolutely hated the last three episodes, but I'm tempted to say the first 10 or so make it worth it.
6) Rinne
Not bad and there are occasionally very clever jokes scattered in, but it is alarmingly middle of the road. I'll probably watch the second season though.

I'm still massively behind on Gangsta. and GOD EATER, but at the moment GOD EATER would tie for 6th and Gangsta. would probably tie 4th. I quite GATE 4 episodes, but I mean to go back and watch it at some point, as it seems like it would be better marathoned.
 
Non Non Biyori Repeat is still top for me, it was consistently entertaining and compares well to the first season. I haven't really watched too many shows from this season so it's possible there could be something I'd enjoy even more but I'd say that's unlikely.

The continuation of Ore Monogatari/My Love Story was very strong and I thought it finished well. It's tough to say if this half was better than the first, the show has been so consistently great that it's hard to pick favourites. I'll almost certainly pick up a release of this one and it'd probably be my favourite of the season if not for Non Non Biyori Repeat.

I did enjoy Himouto! Umaru-chan quite a bit too, it was certainly a pleasant surprise. I'd say there was only really one particularly weak episode and it was generally quite good with a couple of particularly strong episodes. There's a good chance I'll watch it again at some point.

I found Wakaba* Girl mildly enjoyable, I liked Wakako-Zake more than I should probably admit (though it's something like 24 minutes for the whole season) and I watched Danchigai but it never really stood out.

I think that's all I've watched so far from this season. I do intend to at least watch Gakkou Gurashi/School Live! at some point because it seems I'd enjoy it (probably in the next couple of weeks). There are a few others I might try to catch up on as well, including things like Overlord that haven't had a proper UK stream. Overall, it does seem like there have been some pretty good shows.
 
I'll keep this simple since most of what I said in my previous post is still true now that the season is over. The only thing I would add is that Shimoneta did improve in the last two episodes, though it didn't quite reach the same heights as the early episodes. This season as a whole has been better than I expected, certainly much better than the previous season, and I hope the next season will be as good.

1) Non Non Biyori: Repeat (9/10)
2) Actually, I Am (9/10)
3) Ranpo Kitan: Game of Laplace (8/10)
4) GATE: Thus the JSDF Fought There - first season (8/10)
5) The Heroic Legend of Arslan (8/10)
6) Baby Steps - second season (7/10)
7) SHIMONETA: A Boring World Where the Concept of Dirty Jokes Doesn't Exist (7/10)
8) The iDOLM@STER: Cinderella Girls - second season (6/10)
 
Imo:
1.Rokka no yuusha (8/10)
2.Arslan (8/10)
3.Akagami no shirayuki hime (8/10)
4.gangsta (7/10)
5.god eater (6/10)
6.charlotte (4/10)
7.Overlord (5/10)- (kinda illogical I know but I dropped overlord so smh)
8.Chaos dragon (3/10).
 
If we're rating:
1. Gakkou Gurashi-9/10
2. Non Non Biyori Repeat-9/10
3.Himoutou! Umaru-chan-8/10
4.Charlotte-8/10 (Still have yet to see last 2 episodes)
5.Gate-DNF-N/A
 
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