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Sword Art Online Alicization: War of The Underworld episode 12 (complete)
This was a really average season for me and felt a lot more like Goblin Slayer than SAO. Disappointing which is a shame really but see how it finishes with the next one. 6/10

We Never Learn
episode 13 (complete)
Didn't like the ending.
This is possibly the last we'll get animation wise from this property and apparently they cut a lot more of the backstory stuff for other characters, so I might have a read of the manga at some point.
I get the feeling that was the point in the anime so this ones a 7/10 for me.
 
On the fifth day of Christmas my camping buddies gave to me 5 logs-a-burnin':
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OK, that's pushing it a bit and not the greatest gift 😅 I had a back-up with the amazing shot at the end which is roughly 5 seconds:
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Couldn't find a gif, but there's not much movement anyway just a camera movement

Carole & Tuesday (dub) eps 19-21
Episode 19 had some excellent performances, but I found some stuff a bit weird. Why have the big DJ set before the chilled music of C&T! Plus if C&T wanted to be a bit flashier I'd suggest a change of outfit, especially for the backing band. They're still in their normal clothes!
Episode 20 - Some big revelations. Angela is adopted! I bet it turns out that she's also from Earth.
Episode 21 - The light and the dark.

I get the feeling that was the point in the anime
It's the point with most anime, just some do a better adaptations than others. Actually some of the best cover the manga so well there's not a lot storywise to glean from reading the manga apart from appreciating the art. Death Note and FMA:B were almost word for word so it's not surprising that the anime turned out great from such great manga.
 
Assassins Pride (English Dub) Episode 8-9

If It's for My Daughter, I'd Even Defeat a Demon Lord (English Dub) Episode 7

Chidori RSC (Rifle is Beautiful) Episode 11 Finishing Runner-up is still nothing to sneeze at.

Vinland Saga Episode 24 Failed Negotiations (Complete. I need to admit something first. Historical anime's have never really been my thing, not because I've never had any interest in them, it's just that they've never really appealed to me. However, after watching this, my opinion has changed for the better.

What Wit studio has done with this is it has left me stunned. They have taken an infamous piece of history and presented it in a way that could only be described as being near identical to the real thing. This anime has had it all. Everything from the historical aspects, Treason, violence, schemes, twists, shocking deaths to how it even portrayed its cast of characters. The animation looks brilliant as well. Overall a very solid series from start to finish with how it has been depicted). 4/5
 
Babylon (Japanese audio) - Episode 8
Kemono Michi: Rise Up! (Japanese audio) - Episodes 11-12 (Completed)
VINLAND SAGA (Japanese audio) - Episodes 16-20

Streaming Backlog so far:
Babylon - 8 of 8 (remainder continues throughout January 2020)
Blade of the Immortal (2019 series) - 4 of 13 (9 eps behind, remainder continues throughout Winter 2020 season)
Cautious Hero: The Hero Is Overpowered but Overly Cautious - 10 of 11 (1 ep behind, remainder airs next week)
Fire Force - 15 of 24 (9 eps behind)
My Hero Academia Season 4 - 11 of 11 (remainder continues throughout Winter 2020 season)
No Guns Life - 4 of 12 (8 eps behind)
Vinland Saga - 20 of 24 (4 eps behind)
Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun - 10 of 13 (3 eps behind, remainder continues throughout Winter 2020 season)
 
Babylon episode 8 I wasn’t expecting video games to make an appearance as a plot point here.

Boruto: Naruto Next Generations episode 138 Head of the Hyuga family.

Rifle is Beautiful episode 11 Hikari hits.

Special 7: Special Crime Investigation Unit episode 12 Answers not easily given. (Complete. This wasn’t amazing but still kept me entertained each week.) 3.5/5

Vinland Saga
episode 24 The King is...(Complete. A historical anime full of bloodshed and vengeance that I enjoyed quite a bit. I appreciated the series taking time to breathe with its growing cast of characters, even if it did feel a bit slow in places. The ending here signifies that there’s still story to tell so I’ll look forward to seeing where things go, whether it be in another season or me seeking out the manga.) 4/5

Nightwalker: The Midnight Detective
episodes 9-12 (Complete. Pretty stylish and fun though the plot and concepts weren’t all that original and the last episode annoyed me with a massive cop-out. It’s also a series with some good episodes and some very average ones, as reflected in my overall rating.) 3/5

Non Non Biyori (Rewatch)
episodes 1-9
 
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On the sixth day of Christmas my camping buddies gave to me 6 Menchi Katsu (fried meat cake):
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Carole & Tuesday (dub) eps 22-24 (complete)
Come together, right now
Over me.
A mostly fun show with some great set piece moments like the finale, but I felt the plot was a bit off for me. Seemed to change tack a few times making their journey to the top too easy after the initial struggles and the political allegory was a bit too on the nose, and then the threat was dropped at the last moment. Character arcs were a little uneven, Angela probably had the most, but there were a few reveals out of nowhere, Carole's was quite interesting, but more could have been done with it and Tuesday got practically none bar what we knew right at the start.
Art and animation were very good, although maybe a few too many stills, sometimes with the same 5 or so shown a few times with no change in the reactions shown! All the songs were very good.
7/10

Vinland Saga
ep 24 (complete)
Le Roi est mort, vive le Roi! It didn't quite feel as impactful as thought it would, but that's probably because I knew what was coming and having just had a quick check it was pretty much beat for beat with the manga.
Maybe my bias from having read the manga, but that was excellent. A pretty spot on adaptation apart from a few anime original bits that I would say were pretty good.
The art and animation went a bit wonky here and there, but mostly pretty good.
9/10
 
I was going to post this in the Rate the last Anime thread, but it'd just be spam at this point, so here it goes:

Terror In Resonance 1-11 (END)

They certainly ended this with a bang. More than the sum of its parts, in no small part thanks to very strong direction and storyboarding, this was a great watch. Watanabe understands the importance of music and how much it can enhance the mood of a scene and you've got great examples all throughout not only his career, but this series as well.

The characters are not extremely profound and Lisa was a bit annoying and more of a plot tool than anything else, but there were some touching moments (seeing childlike emotion in Nine's eyes is a great example) and the pacing is sublime. The story is simple but presented in interesting ways.

Cool tidbit in the UE book was that Shibazaki was designed to look like an older Mugen from Champloo, designed by the same artist. Very glad to have snatched that!

This would probably not be half as interesting in the hands of a less capable director, but in this case it's an easy 8/10 for me.
 
Non Non Biyori (Rewatch) episodes 10-12 & Non Non Biyori Repeat (Rewatch) episodes 1-12 (Complete. On rewatch this series was funnier than I remember it being-some of the comedy and facial expressions were great. I’m hoping to be able to watch the film before Season 3 emerges.) 4/5, 4/5
 
On the seventh day of Christmas my camping buddies gave to me, a 7 letter word, BLANKET:
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Ha, really pushing it with that one!

Time to catch up with stuff from the Fall season:
SAO:A War of Underworld eps 0-3
Pretty bog standard recap episode, although it summed up what 24 episodes took to get through in 24 minutes quite nicely. Apart from the action stuff you'd hardly need to bother with the first season of Alicization!
The set up for this season seems pretty cool though, even if it took the first 3 episodes. Hopefully it doesn't suffer from the same pitfalls of the first season which meandered a bit in the first half and then got a bit repetitive in the second half.
Also I've just realised this is a split cour. Maybe I should have waited till just before it resumes to watch this part, but it's a show that finished in 2019, so on the off chance that it's good I'd want to keep it in mind for any award talk.
 
Cautious Hero: The Hero Is Overpowered but Overly Cautious (Japanese audio) - Episodes 11-12 (Completed)
VINLAND SAGA (Japanese audio) - Episodes 21-24 (Completed)

Streaming Backlog so far:
Carrying over from Autumn 2019 season:
Babylon - 8 of 8
Blade of the Immortal (2019 series) - 4 of 13 (9 eps behind)
My Hero Academia Season 4 - 11 of 11
Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun - 10 of 13 (3 eps behind)

Left to watch from Autumn 2019 season:
Fire Force - 15 of 24 (9 eps behind)
No Guns Life - 4 of 12 (8 eps behind)
 
Science Ninja Team Gatchaman - Episodes 19 - 27 (Blu-ray)

There's the odd filler episode but Gatchaman quite cleverly teases clues about Galactor's background and identity. You can quite clearly see where various 70s anime styles and tropes came from.

Lupin III: A Woman Called Fujiko Mine - Episodes 1 - 8 (Blu-ray)

I've owned this for some time and reading @Professor Irony recent musings on it prompted me to start watching it. It's a bit more adult and I'm quite enjoying it so far.
 
On the eighth day of Christmas my camping buddies gave to me, eight(een) Minobu Steamed Buns:
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OK, probably reached breaking point now!

SAO:A War of Underworld eps 4-6
Well at least they didn't use rape to show the bad guy was a wrongun, just child murder!
The battle so far has been quite impressive, apart from the odd wonky CG shot.

Special 7 ep 12 (complete)
Faith no more.
Could have been an interesting story, but not especially well done particularly the ending. A lot of the action felt a little lacklustre in direction.
The art was pretty good, I liked the character designs and the animation was fine.
6/10
 
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