With Justin on his backlog adventure, Muse on school and stuck in Jury Duty, and writers convincing themselves this season sucks, 3 writers took some time to share what’s been their best spring anime of the season at the halfway point. What’s your best spring anime this season? Feel free to share in the comments while the 3 answer these set of questions.
What’s been the best new anime for you so far?
Sjw (Weekly blogger of Mahouka): Isshuukan Friends (One Week Friends). I like its slow but steady pacing and the kind-of-sweet budding crush of Hase on Kaori. I don’t buy the selective amnesia thing, it’s stretching the credibility a bit but there is some progress on that front as well. If they stuck with only the three initial characters I was going to say that this show was going to lose its momentum soon, but fortunately Kaori’s world is beginning to open up in recent episodes so there is definitely some hope in this respect.
Naru (Anime and manga blogger): Soul Eater Not. To be honest, it wasn’t an anime I was expecting to like as much as the other shows I’m watching at the moment, but since I’m not exactly enthralled by the choices we have for this season and Soul Eater Not does take place in the same universe as one of my favorite shounen…it happened. Plus, we get to see the main characters interact with the heroes of the main series and why wouldn’t I love that?
Kuuki (Go for Broke Columnist): Haikyuu. It’s been a while since 20 minutes felt so short. I have always been weak when it comes to sports anime. As long as it has well written characters, which it usually has, I can watch any sports anime. Usually I don’t because I know I’ll become completely obsessed but I’ve been told so many times how awesome Haikyuu was that I watched and don’t regret it a single time. Haikyuu is awesome, it has crazy, yet believable characters. I am actually surprised that it is, for once, realistic. Sure there are crazy players but everything stays in the realm of the possible. Even their personalities and appearances are rather normal.
I still don’t like volleyball though.
What’s been the best sequel so far this season?
Naru: Jojo: Stardust Crusaders has been the best sequel so far, and I highly doubt anything can top it. And I’m not saying this just because I like Jojo (okay, maybe).
Kuuki: I wanted to say Puchimas, but I’m going to be serious and say Mushishi. Mushishi is awesome, it’s so peaceful, yet a bit creepy. It doesn’t change at all from the first season and this is what is really great with this series. Another good thing is that you don’t even need to watch the first one to follow.
What’s been the biggest disappointment?
Sjw: Of all the shows I’m currently watching — note it’s only 4 — I think Nisekoi wins this one hands down. I watched the first one or two episodes of Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks) and Hitsugi no Chaika (Chaika The Coffin Princess), but quickly dropped them so I’m not sure that would count.
Naru: As I’ve mentioned earlier, the shows we have this season aren’t as great as I thought they were, and as a result there were a lot of disappointments. If I was asked this question two weeks ago, I would have said the second season of Love Live was the biggest disappointment out of the things I’ve started since the episodes were hard to get into, but now Captain Earth has managed to completely confuse the heck out of me (and of course disappoint). From time to time, whenever I feel like it, I force myself to watch a recent episode.
Kuuki: Sidonia no Kishi (Knights of Sidonia). It’s exactly the kind of thing I usually like, yet, it ended up being boring and I dropped it after two episodes. I am pretty sad about this, I wanted to like it, I really tried. But in the end, the characters were bland, the thing wasn’t very well written either and I didn’t like the animation either.
What’s been the biggest surprise of the season?
Sjw: The award of the biggest surprise out of the four shows I’m watching would go to both Bokura wa minna Kawaisou (The Kawai Complex Guide to Manors and Hostel Behavior) and Isshuukan Friends, but considering I’m only watching four shows I’m not sure this could be counted as an award. Mahouka is pretty much what I expected it to be.
Naru: WIXOSS was a surprise. I didn’t like the first two episodes at all, however after being nicely forced to give it one last chance, I ended up liking it enough to continue watching it every week. I’m not sure whether or not I like how creepy the anime is though.
Kuuki: Nanana’s Buried Treasure! I read nothing about it when I started, judging from the first episode I expected something entertaining but nothing special. I figured it would be a normal tressure searching anime, with a nice tight-knit group of friends and what I got was something completely nuts. It has pretty crazy characters, betrayals, surprises, explosions, gun fights, a blooming love story, and a ghost who likes pudding. Judging from the last episode I have seen I expect even more craziness. I am definitely excited about the next episodes.
Finally, what are the three titles you’ve been looking forward to watching each week?
Sjw: This one is easy – Isshuukan Friends, Bokura wa minna Kawaisou and Mahouka in probably this order.
Naru: Jojo, Kamigami no Asobi, and Soul Eater Not. Why I watch Jojo every week is obvious, Soul Eater Not too, however why do I expect KamiAso is a question I’m not sure I can answer clearly. Probably because the heroine has more personality than I’ve ever seen in any other otome game adaptation?
Kuuki: Haikyuu obviously, Nanana’s Buried Treasure and the last place is a tie between Soredemo Sekai wa Utsukushii (The World is Still Beautiful) and No Game no Life.
Your Turn
- What’s been the best new anime for you so far?
- What’s been the best sequel so far this season?
- What’s been the biggest disappointment?
- What’s been the biggest surprise of the season?
- Finally, what are the three titles you’ve been looking forward to watching each week?
You don’t have to answer all of them!
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.
