Continuing from last week’s post, here are the rest of my reviews for this season’s anime I completed (also threw in the final three episodes of OreImo since I haven’t discussed them yet)…
Free!
Despite the fandom-wide outcry that Free! stirred up when it was first announced, I went into it with an open mind. It sounded like it was just gonna be another school club slice-of-life anime, which is a genre I think KyoAni is very good at. I don’t mind if the main characters are girls or guys as long as I enjoy watching their everyday antics. And for the majority of Free!, I really did enjoy them. One thing about it that kept (male) viewers away was the fear of too much “man-service.” But after watching all of it, I wouldn’t say there was that much focus on the guys’ attractive bodies anymore than necessary for a show where the characters are always partaking in a sport that requires them to be almost naked. The main focus was of course the characters and their relationships and conflicts with each other. And I found just about all the characters likable. At first I thought our main man Haruka was gonna be another cold and aloof protagonist, but it didn’t take long to see that he actually is a thoughtful guy who values his friends – he’s just a tad on the quiet side and is maybe a bit too obsessed with swimming XD Makoto was a nice guy right from the beginning and Nagisa’s persistent cheerfulness was sometimes hard to take, but I basically liked him too. As I said in my first impressions about Free!, Rei was and still is my favorite. It was both funny and rewarding watching him try so hard to get better at swimming at the beginning, and then seeing him come through big time for the team at the end, really caring about the friendship of the other guys even though it wasn’t his problem.
Besides liking the main cast, I also thought Free! was well paced. The beginning episodes introduced us to the characters and we get to see a lot of their training, and at the same time got bits and pieces of their background before the main competitions started in episode 7. Nothing felt rushed to me and the series covered just the right amount of material for 12 episodes. And as always, KyoAni animation is a joy to watch and they did a great job making the water look shining and beautiful, and the guys swimming through it very realistic. Also in terms of visuals, I thought Free! had one of the best ending songs I’ve seen in a while. The whole Arabian desert theme was very creative.
Now I’ll get to the one thing I didn’t like about Free!, which unfortunately was kind of a big thing – Rin. When he first appeared and acted like a jerk to the other guys when all they wanted to do was rekindle their friendship with him, I thought “Ok, this guy’s a jerk, but we’ll probably find out why he’s that way. Maybe he had an abusive past or something, or maybe Haruka did something unforgiving to him when they were younger.” But when we finally did find out what Rin’s story was, I found it a flimsy reason to act the way he did. Sure, it’s a bummer for him that he wasn’t as good a swimmer as he wanted to be and probably couldn’t fulfill his father’s dream. But that’s absolutely no reason to act like a total dick to your friends who just want to help and understand you, calling them losers and going on about how you don’t want to swim with them again. At first Rin just confused me – why was he so hung up on having to win against Haru, to the point where he couldn’t even “move on” with his life until he did? That’s a serious obsession with a guy you’re currently being a jerk to every time he wants to talk to you about how you feel. Instead of clinging so hard to losing a little swimming match against your friend when you were kids, just let go already! And when he finally did win against Haru at the end of episode 7, and was gloating like an ass about how he will never swim with Haru again, with Haru looking obviously hurt by that, I was thinking “Alright, can you finally move on with your life and stop being a jerk now? And the reason you won’t ever swim with him again, even in just a friendly casual match or something is because…why again?” But Rin really pushed me over the edge in the last episode where he practically punched his kouhai, Haru, and anyone else who was just trying to help him. When he went from one extreme – screaming like a crazy man and pushing Haru to the ground, ready to beat him just for…being a friend, and then to another extreme when he saw the message in the sand and broke down and cried that what he really wanted…was exactly what the others were trying to give him all this time – buddies to swim with, I was like “This guy is freaking insane!” He could have avoided so much hurt for himself and his friends if he had just said that all those times they were trying to talk to him. I know the end of the series tried to make it seem like all is forgiven for Rin, but I’m not convinced. Crying and finally getting yourself together to say what you should have said a long time ago doesn’t erase all that time of being a jerk and practically punching people who just want to be nice to you.
I don’t mind jerk-ish guys in anime as long as they have a good side and there’s a reason for the way they act. Rin unfortunately didn’t have either going for him – we never saw him being good to anyone and he had no reason to act like such a sociopath. BUT! Despite my dislike for Rin, I really enjoyed everything else about Free!. As I said, I liked all the other characters and the story and pacing in general. Unfortunately Rin put a damper on my rating for the show in the later episodes, but the first half was enjoyable enough to still give the show a high rating for me =P
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Railgun S
It’s been a few years since I watched the first Railgun, but I liked it a lot, especially the characters. So of course I wanted to check out this second season, and while I didn’t like it as much as the first, I still enjoyed it. Unlike the first Railgun, which had a few different story arcs involving the different characters, Railgun S was basically divided into two halves – the first was the Sisters arc from the manga, and the second involving Febri and STUDY was an anime original I believe. The stronger one for me was the Sisters arc, which was longer and a lot more intense. I heard some people complain about Raigun S, the Sisters arc at least, because Mikoto is the only one of the main girls who has an active role – Kuroko, Uiharu, and Saten are kinda pushed into the background. But I didn’t have any problem with that because it’s revealing a very human flaw in Mikoto’s personality: that she’d rather shoulder the burden of everything herself rather than get her friends involved. Sure, I would have liked to see Kuroko and the others play a bigger role, but having Mikoto go it alone made sense for her character, so I wasn’t bothered by it. There were very good suspenseful and emotion moments in the Sisters arc: Mikoto’s battles against ITEM, how she slowly unravels the truth about the Sisters project, how she painfully keeps it a secret from Kuroko and the others, the heart-wrenching tragedy of how the Sisters were born and treated despite obviously having emotions…I thought it was all done well. I wasn’t sure I’d continue to like the Sisters arc when Touma showed up due to my feelings about him from Index, but he didn’t bother me much this time. The showdown with him, Mikoto, and Accelerator went kind of overboard with the gore and violence (I still don’t know how people can like the sadistic Accelerator), and when they showed that one quick scene of Accelerator’s past, it was like the show was saying “Aw, forgive him, he just needed love when he was younger!” and I felt that was too foamed in – it’s a little hard to suddenly forgive a guy who’s laughing as he’s ripping people’s legs off and dropping trains on them.
While I thought the Sisters arc was good, the second arc with Febri was…alright I guess. It had some cute moments between Febri and the girls, and the whole plot with STUDY and why/how they created Febri and Jani was interesting. Shinobu turned out to be a good character too (though I don’t know why they made her randomly say English words…it just ruins the otherwise seriousness of her character). The ITEM girls were just kind of “meh”…except for Frenda, she was very entertaining in her battle with Mikoto in the Sisters arc. At the end the show tried to make it seem like the ITEM girls weren’t “that bad” – that they were just being manipulated. But I dunno…like with Accelerator, it’s kinda hard to suddenly forgive Mugino after she was obviously getting a lot of pleasure beating the crap out of Mikoto. Speaking of the ending, the last episode with literally everyone coming together to halt STUDY’s plans was kind of over-the-top, especially when the girls started riding the big robots, but it was still enjoyable. I especially liked how it continued the theme of the Sisters arc – of whether one should shoulder the whole burden themselves or realize that they’re not alone and ask their friends for help, which is what Mikoto decided to do this time, passing on that sentiment to Shinobu. Finishing on that note was a nice way to conclude the series.
As a whole, I thought Railgun S was pretty good. While the second arc wasn’t as engrossing as the first, it was still fun to watch if you like the Railgun characters and world. Railgun S is more plot-driven while the original Railgun was more character-driven, so that could bother fans of the original. But I still thought it was a good addition to the franchise.
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Attack on Titan
Like Madoka was for 2011 and Sword Art Online was for 2012, Attack on Titan has been the anime of 2013. Even from just the first episode it wasn’t hard to see the potential the show had. I would say a lot of its appeal comes from the Titans themselves – the ambiguity of their existence in how they look human and yet aren’t, and the mystery of where they came from and what they’re capable of, lends itself to very suspenseful scenarios. And the other main appealing quality of the show is the drama. The tragedy that befalls the characters is merciless, the angst and emotions that arise come from gut-deep, the violence holds nothing back as characters get broken in half or smashed against buildings. The series has this “rawness” to it in terms of showing horror, tragedy, fear, and human weakness, which can be very engrossing when written well…and I would say the show is well written. While it of course has its share of flaws, like with how the Maneuver Gear works or things in the plot, without nitpicking I found just about every episode of Attack on Titan engaging and suspenseful. The only other anime that had me falling off the edge of my chair in suspense by the end of pretty much every episode was Death Note. The Titans offer fantastic unpredictability in terms of being antagonists, and how deep the emotions and tragedy run in the show is terribly entertaining (gendomike offers his own take on the show’s appeal too). In addition to other pluses like high-budget animation, Attack on Titan is also full of universal themes to carry its solid emotion – things like “The world is cruel,” “Anyone who can’t sacrifice anything can’t change anything,” and “Whether to trust your comrades or yourself.” They all fit in perfectly within the show, making it more thought-provoking while enhancing the drama.
With its great premise, themes, and direction, I would say the only weaker part of Attack on Titan (but still not bad) is the characters. Not in terms of the very important characters, like our main three heroes Eren, Mikasa, and Armin, or the captains like Levi and Erwin. But I felt that a lot of the “lesser” characters could have used more screentime. For example, Eren hardly spent any time with Annie and yet he feels so strongly about her in the final arc, or how they always bring up Marco and yet I can barely remember him or anything he did. But again, these weren’t any glaring issues. They introduced a lot of characters all at once, and 25 episodes wasn’t enough to develop them all while also moving the plot forward. But being a long-running series, I’m sure they’ll all get their chance to shine at some point. As I said, I thought the main cast was good. I’m not sure why Eren gets hate; considering his age and the horror he’s been through, he’s entitled to cry, yell, and be indecisive at times. I loved the episode that showed Mikasa’s backstory and that made her unfaltering dedication to Eren all the more believable. Even Armin, who seems like the weakest of the three, overcame his fear and was brave and daring in many situations. Levi is a fan favorite and I wasn’t sure what to think of him at first, but later on he showed some very admirable traits (though I did think he went overboard with beating up Eren in the courtroom. A few kicks would have sufficed but he practically beat the poor kid to death!) As I said, the side characters like Connie, Sasha, and Krista didn’t have as much development as I would have liked, but I was still able to sympathize with them. Hanji was probably my favorite – her obsession with studying the Titans was quite amusing (but she also had a deeper side to her too). I also would have liked to know more about the show’s setting. Does it take place in a post-apocalyptic version of the real world, or is it a totally made up world with its own history? How did the society they live in begin? What’s the deal with the Church people if someone must know how the walls were built? But again, these are all things that will probably be addressed later in the story if more anime is made.
To conclude, I can certainly see why Attack on Titan has been such a hit. While I don’t love it as much as the people who had to jump on the manga as soon as they watched the anime, I can agree that it’s a well made series with a lot of great qualities. Obviously there’s more to the story than where the anime ended, but so far a second season hasn’t been green-lit. I’m pretty sure it will be though and I definitely look forward to it.
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OreImo finale
I watched the final three episodes of OreImo back in August but decided to save my review of them until I posted my reviews of the other seasonal anime I finished (but I did review season 2 here). OreImo is certainly the type of show to elicit a lot of rage, whether it’s rage by people who hate the loli/siscon theme, or rage by people who are fans of the show but don’t like how things turned out. The final three episodes brought about a lot of the latter sentiments from fans who had stuck with the series all this time – namely, that they didn’t like how it ended. Personally…I didn’t think the ending was that bad, and as far as the final outcome with our two main characters, I couldn’t see it going any other way. For the first episode, I would say Kuroneko’s tragic rejection from Kyousuke was the highlight for me rather than Kyousuke’s confession to Kirino…the latter was indeed over-the-top with Saori and Kuroneko showing right at the right time and spot and conveniently having speakers to blare out Kyousuke’s confession all throughout Akiba. The second episode had some nice moments between Kyousuke and Kirino – it was refreshing to finally see her being nice to him after all this time! The quick confession/rejection with Kanako however was way too abrupt and just seemed like an afterthought – like they almost forgot she was part of Kyousuke’s harem too and thus had to quickly shove in closure for her. And then we get to the final episode, with the first half being rather painful and the last half being mostly satisfying to me. The first half with the “showdown” with Manami was pretty brutal, but considering the awkward love-triangle relationship between the three of them, I couldn’t imagine it turning out differently. The one thing I think Kyousuke could have done better is, rather than emphasize how much he loves Kirino (a “forbidden” love) he should have also emphasized that he simply wasn’t in love with Manami and just reject her the way he rejected Kanako. That may have been the better choice here, especially when he and Kirino simply go back to being siblings later on, and he could have avoided losing a lifelong friend. Maybe he felt that because he and Manami had been so close for so long, he had to tell her the whole truth. But either way, it was pretty sad. He should have at least offered to buy the poor heartbroken girl a new pair of glasses.
And then we get to the final conclusion of the series – Kirino and Kyousuke having a pseudo-wedding and then deciding to go back to being siblings. As I said, I didn’t think that outcome was anything outrageous. Not only could they not legally be married, but could they even find a way of living a normal life in a society where romantic love between siblings is taboo? Not only would that dad of theirs flip out and probably disown them, but they’ll just have to face rejection and shunning their whole life. So I think they made a good choice in deciding to go back to being siblings – they can still live together and love each other, but not in a way that people will look down on. Perhaps when they’re adults they’ll have the freedom to live as a couple and not worry about what people think of them, or maybe they’ll fall in love with someone else down the line. The important thing at the end of the series for me is that they were able to realize their feelings for each other and patch up their relationship, regardless of what happens in the future.
Despite the loli/siscon themes making me feel uncomfortable and perverse at times, as a whole I really enjoyed the OreImo series and felt it had a lot of genuinely good material about the trials and tribulations of being a closet otaku, as well as having incestuous love. It made me laugh, made me cry, made me smile and made me cringe, but it always entertained and I’m glad I stuck with it until the end.
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As always, I’m currently deciding on what fall ’13 anime to watch. Tentatively I’m gonna watch Galilei Donna, Golden Time, Kyoukai no Kanata, Coppelion, Little Busters, Strike the Blood, and Gingitsune (and Pokemon XY of course, as well as the just-released special). But most likely there will be changes to the lineup before I post my first impressions of them sometime within the month.
For now, I’m off to spend the day at Disneyland’s California Adventure (a slightly smaller Disney theme park right next to Disneyland). I’m especially looking forward to the nighttime water show, World of Color. It looks amazing on video so I can only imagine how breathtaking it is in real life =D
See ya next week~
I think perhaps you’re a bit hard on Rin. Being obsessive over beating someone else and getting so emotional that you take half-hearted swings at other people is just part of the MANLY context of sports rivalry stories. And other than that, apart from being totally unable to convey his feelings (pretty accurate to a hormonal teenager with self-esteem issues like him), what did he do that was so jerky? He definitely could have been a nicer person, but he showed softer sides, too, and the series was essentially based on him learning to be honest with himself.
Regarding OreImo’s little wedding set-up, it perhaps gave catharsis to the main couple, and allowed them to really work out the issues they were inevitably having, but it seemed to me they did it without a thought to the others around them or what it would do to them – and it ended up being very detrimental to almost all the others in the series’ daft harem.
LOL, maybe that’s why I tend to stay away from sports themed anime XD I don’t mind if someone’s unable to express their feelings due to being a hormonal teenager or whatever reason, but I personally found what he did – what I described in my review – jerky, mostly because he had no reason to be so hostile towards Haru, and even less towards any of the other characters. If they had been the ones who wronged him I would understand, but they were just trying to be nice to him and just plain have friendly conversations with him, and all he did was yell and be cold to them over and over. Guess that’s just my idea of being a jerk.
For OreImo, I can see how what Kirino and Kyousuke did could be seen as selfish, but to me it just brings up the conflict of whether one should do what’s best for the people around them even if means not being true to themselves, or be true to themselves, which would unfortunately harm those around them. But even if Kyousuke wasn’t in love with his sister, I don’t think he was in love with any of the other girls, so heartbreak for them was inevitable whether the one he ended up loving was his sister or another girl. The only person who really got shattered by the whole thing was Manami – Saori and Kuroneko are still friends with them, Kanako was accepting of Kyusuke’s rejection, and they stopped the whole ploy before their parents found out. So yeah, maybe they were a little thoughtless, but not extremely so to me.
I only skimmed the reviews, I didn’t want spoilers. Been REALLY busy with work so haven’t had time to watch anything new except for Watamote. But now with the government shutdown in effect, I find I’m effectively on a fully paid vacation… so I suppose I have all the time in the world now!
Free sounds interesting, I’m surprised there was a lack of “manservice” though. I kinda thought it might be a series bent towards fujoshi. Guess I should have done more research than look at a couple pictures huh? I’ll add attack on titan to the mix too. Maybe catch up on some old series… gosh.. SO MUCH TIME I’M SO BORED. What do I do with all this free time?
That’s cool that you’re on a “paid” vacation now! I heard the shutdown caused a lot of employees to not be able to work and therefore not get paid, but I guess some lucky employees like yourself can still get paid.
I highly recommend Attack on Titan and somewhat recommend Free! depending on if you like slice-of-life school anime and don’t mind if the main characters are guys rather than girls. I never get bored as there’s always anime to watch, games to play, and stuff to read online XD
Well I’m active duty military, but my current job REQUIRES working with government contractors. I’m attending what we call a c-school (extra training pertaining to specialties for one’s job, like learning specialized fire-fighting techniques or how to work with certain engines or whatnot), and all the instructors are contractors. So for now, my schedule has shrunk down to a couple hours every day of nothing much. I just finished watching the entirety of Shakugan no Shana in fact! A good day!
I’m glad you never get bored, that’s an lucky ability you have! I’ll try to follow your example. :3
And thanks, I’ll check out Free!, I’m a big fan of slice-of-life anime :). And I’m not too afraid of shirtless dudes. Plenty of that in my line of work hahaha.
That’s cool that you got through all of Shakugan no Shana =D Care to share your thoughts on it?
I absolutely loved it. I’d never before gone through it all in one go. It makes much more sense now!
I like how Shana actually grows throughout the series. Starts out as a pretty typical Tsundere, then has legitimate character growth. Very few series do that correctly/believably with Tsunderes.
Second season was a bit slower for me though, that hasn’t changed. I guess because one of my least favorite tropes is the incredibly common “clueless guy” trope. Like starting clueless is one thing, but remaining so is silly. And the majority of season 2 is exploring the relationship between the three. And I felt it was obvious who he should be with, due to being immortal and what not. Heh… I’m a sucker for practicality.
OVA’s were cute. The multi-parter was especially cool. I really like how they explored Shana’s character there, showing the side we often didn’t get to see whe Yuji was in the picture.
The third season, while oftentimes confusing with the bunches of new characters that I just KNOW are better fleshed out in the novels (one day *shakes fist in the air*), was absolutely magical. I think it was a good closing, and had enough action to keep me excited and pumped the whole way through. I’m good at coming up with my own theories to fit gaps, so while I’d like a better explanation of Yuji’s side of things, the series is named after Shana, not Yuji. :3
All in all, it was a very happy romp through one of my past favorite shows. Refavorited, if you will. ^_^
I can’t help but find people who say attractive guys being shirtless in totally natural contexts would turn them off more than a little childish. The Olympics or public beaches must be practically pornography to them. I thought Free! and Attack on Titan were pretty good. I totally get your point about the show treating characters like a huge deal when it seemed they’d only been given a small amount of focus beforehand. Part of it is the surprisingly subtle details in the narrative – you wait until the reveal probably halfway through the eventual season 2, and then see how much sense it makes in retrospect and how many little cues there have been all along.
“What’s the deal with the Church people if someone must know how the walls were built?”
Did you notice the final shot of the series? It’s tied into the answer to that very question. Probably. We’ll see.
I enjoyed reading your very reasonable and well-considered thoughts on Oreimo. In the end, I can’t say I thought the series was particularly good. I feel that at its core the series was always a generic, kind of lousy harem deal that distinguished itself by being a bit better than most and by concealing itself with good self-aware comedy.
You’re not interested in Kill la Kill? You gave Gurren Lagann the high rating of 8, and I thought you were hesitant on starting that series because you weren’t fond of mecha. I always find anime original series are worth watching anyway. The other title I’m really looking forward to is Kyousogiga, which should be an excellent follow up to the excellent OVAs. Anyway, Kyoukai no Kanata is out, so I’m off to watch it.
I agree with that you said about Free! in terms of seeing shirtless guys in natural context XD As for Attack on Titan, if you mean the scene in the epilogue of a piece of the wall breaking off and revealing a Titan inside, then I did notice it…though I’m not sure how it answers the question of how the walls were built or who built them (unless they’re built with Titans inside?) But anyway, I don’t have to know now if things are revealed later on. I look forward to an eventual second season.
My rating of Gurren Lagann is kind of an unusual case where I respect the series and can see why it’s good, but it’s personally not my cup of tea (too much testosterone maybe, LOL). But my initial disinterest in Kill la Kill is simply because I didn’t find the synopsis that interesting rather than having anything to do with Gurren Lagann – the premise makes it sounds like it’s more focused on senseless violence rather than depth of story and themes….but of course, I could be wrong.
It doesn’t answer anything; I just meant it sort of hints why the Church people are so fanatical about the walls: they have some weird-arse mysterious mode of construction where they have Titans inside them.
Well, the first episode of Kill la Kill was very TTGL-styled in characterisation, action and so on. Comparing first episodes alone, it was probably better. But yeah, if you weren’t fond of TTGL I can’t imagine you would be of Kill la Kill. The first episode of Kyoukai no Kanata was disappointing, sad to say. Generic and lame dialogue, writing, humour and the moe elements in Mirai’s character, but with plenty of room to pick up later.
Oh, okay…sounds interesting. I look forward to learning more about the walls whenever a second Titan season comes about.
Yeah, as much as I like to watch the very hyped anime, Kill la Kill just doesn’t seem like my thing. We’ll see though. I also just watched the first ep of Kyoukai no Kanata and agree with you that it wasn’t that impressive, but plenty of room to get better later.
As always, I enjoy seeing your takes on the series you’ve been keeping with. And while I’ve only seen Railgun and plan on watching Attack on Titan, I still like knowing what I might be (or not be) missing from these other shows! Quick question, are these shows that you do quick reviews on the only ones you’ve seen this season or just the ones you decided to write about?
The anime I review on the blog are pretty much the only season ones I’ve watched. Sometimes there’s a couple others I also watched but don’t review for some reason, like they’re a sequel to something I already reviewed and my opinion didn’t change much, but usually I don’t watch much more than what I review here besides the long running shows (like One Piece and Pokemon).
Hope you enjoy Attack on Titan!
I feel like a lot of anime viewers were pointing at Free! and laughing, but I feel no shame in saying that overall, I really enjoyed the series. It certainly isn’t perfect, but like you, I feel it has excellent pacing and is executed fairly well in general. And there’s no denying that the artwork is gooorgeous. KyoAni know exactly what they’re doing when it comes to their artwork and Free! is no exception. One look at the way the water was animated in the first episode and I was totally sold. As a competitive swimmer myself, I appreciate this aspect of Free! a lot. (I also adore the fact that Haru is such an unintentional dork. The guy takes himself ultra-seriously but is basically a nut-job, which personally I think is hilarious. Gotta love the idiot who plays it completely straight-faced.)
I’m in two minds about Attack on Titan. By and large, I enjoyed the show… I think. It definitely has some good points, including a truly epic soundtrack, some gorgeous animation (when the series bothers to show it off instead of throwing around awkward still frames for no apparent reason), and a pretty cool mix of characters. On the other hand, I’m really not a fan of the thick outlines used for the character designs, which strikes me as an odd way to go since it seems to create a more cartoonish vibe when nearly everything about this anime is supposed to be grim and bloody. That’s a minor issue though. More significantly, the scripting often comes across as stilted to me, like maybe whoever’s in charge of the writing forgot that you can’t just take all the lines from a manga and expect a conversation to flow smoothly when it’s transferred onto screen. Said scripting is not helped by the fact that at least in the first half of the series (not so much the second, fortunately), nearly every character literally has to yell their lines about 80% of the time. This got better in later episodes, as did the fairly horrendous pacing issues, but I still have to look at the overall picture and think to myself, “yeah, there were some fairly big problems there.”
Glad to know we feel similarly about Free! ;) I’m also glad Haru turned out to be a fun protagonist and not the aloof, stand-offish type I first thought he was gonna be.
I agree that the scripting of Attack on Titan could have used work. As much as I enjoyed the series, I did get a stilted feel to it sometimes. But I guess it didn’t bother me since I was more focused on the context of the story and what it was trying to convey rather than exactly how smoothly it was doing so.
From the look of it, it seems that Free got a bad rep as people accuse it as Fujoshi-crap. However, I thought it was a surprisingly enjoyable show that focuses a lot on swimming and rivalries. While it’s not perfect, I think it’s something fresh from what the shows they usually make.
As for Ore no Imouto 2 Finale, I admit that it was cringeworthy mostly because I was rooting for Ruri. Sadly, it didn’t happen and that Kirino kind of bothers me. On the other hand, at least they stick to their guns and not coping out by saying that they are not blood related, which I have to commend on since a lot of shows cop out for obvious reasons.
It’s stupid to automatically assume a show is bad just because the main characters are guys in a swim club, where they’re obviously not gonna be wearing clothes much. I know the fanboys who criticized Free! before even watching it would get mad if someone said a show starring girls in a swim club and always wearing bikinis was just fan-service crap.
I never even thought of that possible cop out in OreImo, of them turning out to not be blood-related. I’m also glad they decided not to go that route and instead had them really deal with the fact that they’re siblings in love.
I agree with all you said. Those are pretty much my views on the shows. Free was pretty awesome, and I believe I mentioned it before, it could have worked just as well if they were all girls instead of guys. The story was relatively neutral, but it was interesting to see it developed as guys… Which is not common. I did not have a problem with the fan-service, because I did not think there was much fan service. As you mentioned, it’s normal to see guys in swimsuits, when they are swimming… I’ve never seen KyoAni delve too much into fan service. I mean, their character designs are very attractive, and always well drawn and animated, but never exploited so openly (Mikuru is an exception, but that is an actual part of the story). So I had no problem at all. I focused more on the happy ending, and not so much on Rin’s Jerkiness, so I really enjoyed the show over all.
I loved Railgun S. I really like the character of Mikoto, and the other girls as just as fun. The Sisters arc was really well done, and really communicated well the atrocities that were committed. It was really good. As you mentioned, the Febri arc was a counter-point to the sisters arc, and did fit really well. The only problem I saw, was that they crammed the whole last battle in a single episode. I think it would have been better to do it in 2 episodes, so they could setup their defense, more info about the robot, the turning of ITEM, etc. It just felt far too crammed. 1 more episode there would have made things so much better… I really enjoyed it though, those 4 girls are really fun, and complement each other well.
Attack on titan, not much to say… You pretty much summed it up. Unexpected twists that keep you interested in the story, great animation, and just simply everything done so well it can easily trap you into the story, and the world. Very well done.
Oreimo… I have to say I cringed watching that ending. I have a sister, and I cannot fathom a relationship like that. I found those last 3 episodes quite shocking, and even disgusting at times… Yet, I believe the show was really well done, and boarded the subject in a good manner. Even offering a good ending, and a ‘way out’ for the protagonists. Kuroneko’s rejection was quite painful, I actually felt real bad for her (even if she’s not real). I cannot say it’s my favorite show (I had problems with it since the beginning), but it is a real good show, and different. The writers attempted something different, and I think they succeeded in giving us a well written show, and delivered very well. I will probably watch it again in the future… But let’s make that a *far* future. Good show, for those who are willing to approach it with an open mind.
I also finished watching Rozen Maiden, which was pretty good. It’s a show with a pretty slow pace, but it was well delivered, I would recommend it if you have a chance. Gen’ei o Kakeru Taiyou – Il Sole Penetra le Illusioni is another show that I found to be pretty good. Overall, we had some great shows this last season :)
I agree that KyoAni shows in general have little fan service – their focus is “moe” and cuteness rather than boobs, panties, and a lot of skin, and that’s fine with me XD
Agree that the last episode of Railgun S would have been improved if it was split into more than one episode. But for what it was trying to do – end with bang in a single episode – I think it did alright.
I’m glad you can appreciate OreImo’s writing and overall theme despite finding it disgusting XD I can totally understand people having a problem with the show – I had my share of problems with it too. But despite that, it did something unique with the whole siscon thing and had spots of decent writing, and I think that deserves some respect =P
Agreed. Even though I wasn’t satisfied with the direction of OreImo, it’s still a pretty unforgettable series to me. The funny/good parts still stick to my head like glue. :P
I agree that the Sisters Arc is the best of Railgun S. In fact, I would probably buy Railgun S because of the Sisters Arc, though the second arc was disappointing, much more so than the Poltergeist Arc.
Also, I thought the Sisters Arc in Railgun S was much better than in Magical Index. The two points of view seemed to be merged and made a lot more sense. For example, in the Magical Index version, Misaka 10032 was beaten badly by Accelerator, yet she was able to stand on her own, not looking injured, after Misaka tried to persuade her to get the other clones to help Touma. She could not possibly be hurt that bad if she could stand on her own. However, in Railgun S, Misaka 10032 did not stand on her own two feet and appear to badly beaten, like she should have been. Another thing that made more sense was why Misaka knew about the Level 6 Shift project and why she was depressed on the bridge where Touma and Misaka first met. In Magical Index, Touma finds out about the Level 6 Shift project and Misaka somehow knows about it too, but we never know why she knew.
As you can probably tell, the Sisters Arc gives me more problems with Magical Index than how uninteresting Touma was as a main character.
As for the complaint regarding Accelerator, I think it is valid, but only because the manga counterpart of the Railgun Sisters Arc seemed to place his flashbacks better. It was not that he needed love when he was younger, but he did not like killing the Misaka clones at first. That was where we start to see the change in Accelerator, though he was a sadistic freak when he was introduced.
As for the other shows, I cannot because I either have not watched them, or in the case of Attack on Titan, dropped it because it was getting treatment that other shows deserved more, like being one of the first subbed anime releases on iTunes.
Attack on Titan was the only summer 2013 anime that I watched and I have to say, even with it’s faults, I quite enjoyed it.
I agree with your point on the side-characters, I really liked some of them (Sasha, Krista, etc) and wanted to know more about them. Oh and Marco…when they made a huge deal out of Marco’s death I tried my hardest to remember who he was and then when they showed the flashback I was like “oh yeah! That guy that gave a few encouraging words and then disappeared.”, that seemed very odd to me, I wasn’t even aware the other characters really knew who he was but whatever XD
Yeah I was really intrigued as to when this took place, I though at first it might have been more of a post apocalyptic setting maybe? That idea seemed pretty cool to me, like civilization was at it’s height of technology then the titans come along, kill everyone, and humanity starts over at square one basically.
Surprised you didn’t mention anything about Attack on Titan’s pacing, complaints regarding the show were really similar. I didn’t feel them as much though since I watched it in a marathoning format, and while it definitely had some slow parts, Attack on Titan is without a doubt (very subjective) one of my favorite anime of 2013. The various themes under the violent surface help signify the dark and grimy world they were living at, and I admit while a majority of the characters don’t have much screentime to shine, the ones that get to, are great.
For Railgun S, indeed the Sister arc is definitely the better arc, seemingly obvious, as the latter seems like it’s an anime original. It was very interesting to see things from Misaka’s perspective rather than from Touma. Misaka’s feelings regarding being cloned and her integration into the plot feels gradual and natural, as opposed to Index where it feels rather rushed and forced.
I still don’t know what to make of Oreimo. The highlight of the series was during Kuroneko’s arc for me.
“Not only could they not legally be married, but could they even find a way of living a normal life in a society where romantic love between siblings is taboo? Not only would that dad of theirs flip out and probably disown them, but they’ll just have to face rejection and shunning their whole life. ”
All of this is true, but I find it quite odd that most of Kyousuke’s school friends seem to be fine with it (except for Manami).
Perhaps there might be an alternative end where Kyousuke chose other girls? Highly unlikely though, unless I’m playing the PSP game.
I enjoyed watching Free because I got to talk about it with a woman. Moral: Watching a good show about pretty boys that has some of the best reverse-fanservice I’ve ever seen, with a semi-frustrated female animeniac is a very enlightening experience.