It’s all fun and games until you finish anime in your backlog!
Thank goodness, I made another dent in my backlog! Two to be exact!…Which has limited me to getting around to other titles, but hey, I can get to them now! So this week will only talk about the series I finished. And some stuff I plan to watch now. So let’s get to it:
Completed
Kimi to Boku
Rating: 7.5 out of 10
In the end, I’m glad I kept Kimi to Boku (called You and Me on Crunchyroll) on my to-hold list. No, it’s nothing special, or at least it’s first season, but it certainly was an interesting show were cute boys supposedly do cute things. Though I have no idea if any of the boys were actually all that cute.
I don’t think Shun’s younger bro would classify as cute.
*on the list of things you'd expect your younger brother to say to you one day* pic.twitter.com/8Ai1x3RWHu
— kami-nomi (@Kami_nomi) May 13, 2014
Still, the episode (Ep 12) where he did appear was hilarious, and easily the best episode out of all them. Great timing, great scenes, etc. In fact, the last three episodes were probably the best in the series, with the appearance of Hanayo and the elementary kids in the last episode being very interesting and fun to Shun, Yuki, and Kaname respectively. It’s a shame what happens to them after that isn’t explored, but maybe I’ll see them again in Season 2.
Another episode I liked was when Takahashi, a girl crushing on Yuta, appeared. That was also a pretty nice, if kind of bittersweet (and somewhat a weird), episode. Combined with a few episodes like this and some interesting music composition, I like where Kimi to Boku went. It’s no NichiBros, and not as good as it to me, but this stands out fairly well from the rest of the slice of life series that attempt to do something and…do everything in a boring way.
From The New World
Rating: 8 out of 10
Ultimately, I came to rating it an 8 thanks to the…I guess the last 6 or 7 episodes where events actually happen, the motivations and hidden agendas are revealed, and it’s all executed to a solid manner. So, now that I finally finished with last year’s secretly underrated title as dubbed by many, it’s time to give my take on it. First, the negative:
No way I’m forgiving this show for using MSPaint. NUH-UH!!!
Ok, in all seriousness, I think the biggest weakness of From The New World are its characters. I could not care about most of them for 2/3 of the series. I could not care about what happened to the Monster Rats until their motivations became clearer. Basically, this is an anime where you’ll see the characters, but because of the time skips and their deaths and stuff that pertains to the story, actually getting behind a character was difficult. Combine that with some down moments in regards to story elements and a lack of memorable music, I can’t actually place this as one of the top anime series in recent memory.
…I CAN, however, recommend that you do watch this anime because it’s still very good. While the characters themselves aren’t that interesting, what actually happens to them is. The first thing that I liked, when it happened and by the end of the series, was when certain characters “vanished” or died, they were never brought up again. Like I made a mental note to see if a certain character originally in the Kamisu 66 group would ever be talked about again, but they weren’t because of how the Education Committee is able to manipulate memories. You’d think though, that there would be a crack. Aside from one crack — except it happened with an important character to Saki — it never happened. And then, when people do die, they are either briefly acknowledged, or you attempt to believe that they’re still alive until it hits you in the face that, “Yep, these characters are gone.” It’s a little touch that I liked, and it helped progress the story.
Another touch in regards to the characters — which is thanks to the story – is that it uses doubt better than a good portion of anime. I mean, we like to guess what happens in any anime, but in most anime, it comes off as predictable and mundane. This anime uses that against you just enough so that you can’t immediately jump to conclusions, which is why I was able to finish it. Also, while some will probably disagree, the development of Squeara/Yakomaru was great, even if his personality was kind of unbearable. But it’s thanks to the tone and direction the series was going for that Squeara managed to evolve the way he did.
Ultimately, the story was the big winner here. Time skips and yuri and yaoi romance aside, there was a lot that happened over the course of 25 episodes that may or may not have had issues coming together, but it certainly provided food for thought and a lot of head scratching. It kept my interest for the most part, and when it was all over, I felt the journey ended too soon, with characters we never actually see again having their lives end without getting to know them. And for that, the story really was the one thing that held most of the show together.
So, if you’re in need of an anime that won’t distract you with unnecessary elements (I mean it doesn’t even bother having an OP, it just drops you right in) and has an entertaining story, From The New World was made for you. If you’re also into Sci-Fi, you definitely need to watch this show. If you’re not that into Sci-Fi, like me, then you may be lukewarm on this show, but still find some elements that you’ll appreciate and respect a lot. In other words, you need to at least try and watch this anime.
Now, onto some more additions to my watch list, excluding Phi Brain and Magi (which I still have yet to watch!)
Plan To Watch
Eccentric Family (Uchoten Kazoku)
Watched: 3 out of 13 episodes
Plan to Watch: All of them again
This was a title lauded up and well loved by some people I follow on Twitter when it started. But through the first three episodes, I didn’t see anything that was worthy of being lauded about. So instead of following with everyone else, I decided not to struggle and put it on my on-hold list. By the end, while there were some who didn’t like it, it was still praised well. Well, now I get to see if some time off will allow me to actually like the show, or if this story and pacing was the cause of me giving up so early.
Girls und Panzer
Watched: 4 out of 12
Plan to Watch: Episode 2 to 12
I have the weirdest history with this show. I watched the first episode, fell asleep, then dropped it and put it out of my misery. Then after hearing everyone praise the heck out of this show, I resurrected it and put it back in my on-hold list. (See, peer pressure works, honest!!!). I then was able to watch it on TV since it was on Anime Network on Demand, and watched up to 4 episodes. I failed to watch any more than that because laziness.
Well, no more laziness. It’s time to get back on the tank train or something!
Little Busters!
Watched: 3 out of 26 episodes
Plan to Watch: 3 out of 26
I haven’t finished a Key anime work since Kanon 2006, and that was back when I was in high school or freshman year of college. In other words, it’s been a long time since I’ve finished one. And Little Busters! is supposed to be the best of them all…as a VN at least. However, aside from a few people, and most importantly, at the end of the 26 episode adaptation, Little Busters! was not well received as an anime. So needless to say, I have no idea what I’m gonna get into when watching this show. I guess I’ll find out.
Poll
Yep, I still have my original list going on, but what’ll happen after that? So continue to vote in this poll, and make me watch something good!…I hope.
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.