Monday 16 October 2017

Summer Anime Round-Up

Hai guys! 
So. I watched quite a few new anime series for the Summer season, and I thought it'd be fun to do a round-up blog post, with what I thought of each one. Kinda like mini reviews! Which ones I loved, which ones where a bit of a miss for me, that kinda thing! Because the chances of me ever reviewing an anime episode by episode are super slim, let's be real! I'm gonna be starting with the ones I liked at the top and steadily going downhill....

Katsugeki! Touken Ranbu

Okaaaay so I freaking loved Katsugeki! Touken Ranbu! I gave it 5 stars in the end. There was an episode or two that gave me pause but I looked forward to each and every episode of this. It's my first time watching anything Touken Ranbu, and I really enjoyed the music and the art and the animation. There where lots of badass fight scenes, and I loved the historical aspects too! Super hoping for a second season, although I do know they're doing movies! Yaaaaay! 


Elegant Yokai Apartment Life

So, for this one, I hit a couple of episodes that where kind of eh but overall I really enjoyed the first cour and I'm looking forward to the second! I ended up giving it 3.5 stars but that might change with the second cour, we'll see! I thought it was a lot of fun, it makes me chuckle, the art is cute, and there's even a hint of creepiness to it when it comes to some episodes. The plot moves forward well but does sometimes stall a bit! 


Knights & Magic

So, I'm still watching this there's like two episodes left because I'm watching the dub, and I still can't decide how I feel about this show. Like at first I was all yaaaassss it's like Transformers: Fantasy Edition, but like..with people controlling the autobots, and then we hit a part of it when I was struggling to make myself watch it and I kinda watch it but I'm messing about on my phone if that makes sense? It's engaging me more as of episode 10 but we'll see what happens, I've given it a 4 so far! The art's really good, and it has a fab opening theme...or so I think!


Chronos Ruler

Righty. There's one more episode left of this and for the most part I've found it fun and interesting, and a little bit different. The character art is cute, and it's quite colourful, and I  liked the settings. The plot's interesting if not a bit confusing at points, and it's driving me mad because I want to know who Mina really is?! Is she really Kiri's mother?! Like I doubt it but still! The first episode really hooked me in and blew me away, but then it reached a point midway when I was a bit eh. I' beginning to wonder if I wasn't in an anime slump actually! But anyway, it's finishing, it's been quite the journey and I'd actually quite like a second season! I've given it a 3.5! 


Princess Principal

This one was quite the surprise of the season, I wan't too sure what it was going to be like. I went in expecting one thing and it ended up being a little bit different! The episodes jump from case to case going to different points in time! I wanted to watch this because I'm a sucker for anything steampunk or even a liiiitttlee bit Steampunk! I found myself getting so hooked in to this show! The art, the world, the characters...badass female spies..it was everything I'd hoped for and more! I ended up giving it 5 stars and the series is a lot of fun, check it out! 


Saiyuki Reload Blast

I'm not going to lie....I didn't realise there was an entire Saiyuki series, so I went in to this without having watched any of the other Saiyuki shows..I mean, I got on with it okay. I wasn't confused or anything, there was a flashback that filled in their history so if I am missing anything...I wouldn't know! Like I don't even know if it's supposed to be watched without having seen the other ones, I just thought it sounded fun. The art's not quite as cute as everything so far, and it's kinda dark too! I liked the way the characters where drawn, and the pace of the show was really good. There was plenty of action, some nice flashbacks to flesh out the characters, and a great finale! I gave iiiiittttttt 4! 


Gamers!

Gamers! is probably the single biggest surprise show for me. I don't usually do slice of life, but as a gaming nerd I kinda figured I'd watched the show and relate to it or something. Like I thought it might be fun but the first couple of episodes I was thinking "Okay...I think I'm going to be dropping this". I usually give an anime 5 episodes to wow me before I drop it, I reluctantly carried on watching to give it it's 5 and you know..it wasn't that bad I was just thinking it might not be my thing. Buuuuttt once we hit like episode 4 I was hooked. Gamers! is really freaking hilarious. Like..it makes me laugh out loud and I have been known to be nearly crying with laughter when I'm watching this. I've actually ended up really loving this show because of the humour, and it's pretty relatable too! I'm praying this gets a second season and as I write this I'm about to go and watch the finale episode which I've been putting off for as long as possible! Totally gave this 5. 


Hitorijime My Hero

And thus we have my first foray in to BL. I wasn't actually sure what this was when I first started watching it but I was there for the romance either way. The first couple of episodes, and a certain characters behaviour was kind of questionable. But from like episode 4 I was hopelessly hooked and I had ships and I binge watched the entire backlog of episodes I had left...then had the agonising wait until each new episode. I just really like some romance okay, and I don't care what form it comes in! I gave it 4 stars because the first couple of eps really had me side eyeing Hasekura. 


Classroom of the Elite

At the time of writing this, there's one episode left to watch, and unless something mind blowing happens in the finale, I'm giving this 3.5 stars. I was kind of expecting things to be a bit darker or something after the big reveal in episode one about how the whole thing works. I was kind of envisioning a Lord of the Flies aspect to it, and we did hit that when it came to the final arc of the series. It just wasn't quite what I was expecting and there was a thing with this one character threatening the other that wasn't really resolved, and I don't know. I feel like this entire story is a prologue to the real stuff happening. If that makes sense? The art was interesting though.


Convenience Store Boyfriends

Literally only decided to watch this because I fancied something light and cute and I'm a sucker for some romance. Considering I don't usually do slice of life type shows, I actually got surprisingly in to this. I'm watching the dub so I've got 2 episodes left, but I've given it a 3.5. I'm not a big fan of the art in this, it and the animation really aren't the best, but there are some cute warm and fuzzy moments which was my main motivation for watching this. One of my issues with this show is that the opening and closing makes it look like there's about 6 couples/romances. The show only really goes in to two of them, the others are featured but I feel like we only get a glimpse and you want to know more and see how it turns out, but you don't. You get the one glimpse for like an episode and that's it. I'd have liked the other stories to have been fleshed out a bit more...or just not included because it started to drive me mad at one point!


Welcome to the Ballroom

For those who don't know, I used to be a dancer, so when I saw a dancing anime I knew I had to watch it! Sure it's ballroom and not ballet or anything else I did...but still. I wasn't that big a fan of the art style, but I liked how the dancing was animated. Not so much a fan of how one dance that's only a couple minutes takes like the entire episode, and I did find a few episodes where my attention was wandering. I guess I didn't get as hooked or as invested as I wanted because I've dropped it and won't be watching the second run of episodes...I'm kinda sad it didn't wow me to be honest! I did give it 3.5 though. 


Dive!!

I was envisioning this filling the Yuri on Ice shaped hole in my life but I basically ended up forcing myself to keep watching it. Like I feel like there was some BL baiting and once it became obvious that wasn't going to happen, and all the silly drama at the beginning was over...I got kinda bored. I literally forced myself to finish it because I was curious as to how it was all going to turn out. So...I gave it 3 stars but it was kinda disappointing. 


A Centaur's Life

Unpopular opinion swiftly incoming. I know a lot of you guys loved this anime. I started watching, I loved the opening and it all looked good...but I just couldn't get in to it. And normally I'd give a show five episodes to wow me...but I dropped this after one. I just couldn't see myself getting in to it and it was a struggle to watch just the one episode and I was barely paying attention as it was. 


Cleak Freak! Aoyama-Kun

I was getting really in to this at the beginning, it seemed like it was going to be fun and it did make me chuckle quite a bit.....but I ended up having to force myself to watch it and losing interest quite quickly. I dropped it after 6 episodes and gave it 3 stars! 


In Another World With My Smartphone

To be quite honest, I dropped this after 1 episode and gave it 2 stars....I'd say more about it but I genuinely can't remember much of the episode. It's all a blur and I think I was on my phone most of the time because I was bored....sorry guys! 


Fastest Finger First

I thought this would be quite fun, and it was for a little while, but I got bored of it quite fast. This was another one that lasted 6 episodes before I dropped it and I gave it 3 stars...I'm just not a fan of having to force myself to watch an anime and I couldn't face forcing myself through another 6 episodes when my interest had dwindled preeettyyyy fast! 


Regalia: The Three Sacred Stars

In the least mean way possible...all I have to say about this anime is that I gave it 1 star and I only made it 5 minutes in to the episode before deciding I was done and dropping it. 

Restaurant to Another World

Everyone and I mean everyone that I've seen talking about this show has been raving about it. So I watched it because I figured it might be fun...but it hit 5 episodes and I still wasn't that bothered about it, it hadn't grabbed me...and then I was forcing myself to watch it and hoping I'd end up loving it because everyone else has. I didn't. I basically used the time to catch up on my Instagram comments and draft posts and wasn't paying attention at all. It did make me hungry though! I gave it 3 stars aaanndd made it to 8 episodes before dropping it.


Altair: Record of Battles

Okay, so, I love the anime Heroic Legend of Arslan. Like it's one of my favourites...and I was kinda thinking "ooohh this is going to fill the Arslan Senki hole in my life" and I was all eager to watch it but I just didn't click with it. I gave it a 3.5 and made it to seven episodes before I had to quite watching it because I was forcing myself to watch it each week and then I just had a backlog of episodes and I just couldn't bring myself to make myself watch them! I did like the art though and there was some good intrigue going on...it just wasn't enough to keep me hooked.


Vatican Miracle Examiner

I was expecting good things from this, it sounded freaking awesome. It was creepy and a bit chilling at points and I was getting so hooked on this but then it reached a point when it started to let me down. It got boring, I wasn't as invested as the story arcs continued, and I was once again forcing myself to watch it. I gave it 1.5 so it's kinda a miracle itself that I made it to 9 episodes. I was going to force myself to finish it because I was close to being done with it but....I just couldn't do it. 


So it's been a bit of a mixed bag for the summer season of anime, I have to say my favourites really where Touken Ranbu, Yokai Apartment Life and Gamers! So not the ones I thought would be! Curious to know what you guys favourite of the season was! Comment, or tweet me! 

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