Summer Anime Ranking! July 29th - August 4th
I’m back to business as usual (I hope) and we have a very strong summer season to work with, which is definitely exciting. I’m only covering the full length shows here, so unless otherwise stated Saiki Kusuo is still wonderful and hilarious, and Fudanshi Koukou is still problematic and disappointin and kind of gross. B-Project didn’t air this week and I didn’t miss it at all! Unless the next episode captures me completely, I think it’s pretty mch a given that I’ll drop it.Ranking goes from best to worst, although it’s worth noting that everything’s so fun this season, only the bottom three episodes of this week are what ‘d call “bad”
1. Cheer Danshi! (episode 5): Finally a cheer routine that doesn’t make me cringe with embarrassment! Even if the production continues to suffer, the writers are doing an absolutely outstanding job in fleshing out the characters and interspersing their individual conflicts and insecurities, while showing how their bonds help them move forward. The screaming scene on the roof was a blessing, and I loved that they all dyed their hair in different colors for their debut. It was a very fun routine and a powerful episode mostly for Haru who is finally working on his fears and trust, but also a well-taken opportunity to develop Gen and Ichiro. The team’s about to get bigger so I’m hoping they’ll be able to keep up with the growing cast.
2. Mob Psycho 100 (episode 4): The reason I loved this episode so much aside from the stunning animation and the excellent deadpan humor, was definitely thanks to the Body Improvement Club guys. Seeing them stick it out for their lil Mob instead was very sweet, when I kind of expected the poor thing to be bullied for not fitting on the team. These guys are true bros, and now I’m excited to see Mob retaliate on the guy who hurt his new friends.
3. 91 Days (episode 4): I loved this episode! It was fun and it definitely took an unexpected turn by making Angelo and Nero kind of start bonding while on the road. Of course Angelo is still very much all about his vengeance, and slowly gathering new clues from his unsuspecting would-be victim but I’m happy to see the characters and their relationship develop. I loved the little details like Angelos stomping on the gas just because, or his pick-pocketting skills. It makes it more interesting because the day might come in which Angelo will hesitate to pull the trigger on Nero, and that’s the kind of pathos I love in my media.
4. Battery (episode 4): Everyone in this show needs to dial it down on the confrontational attitude. Takumi needs to stop being so rebellious and selfish, but the authority figures around him also need to stop giving him reasons to act out. Like the senpai that tried to intimidate him, or the coach that for some nonsense reason wants him to cut his hair. I hope we see some characters finding a healthy middle ground to their squabbles soon. The drama is slowly unfolding in a very charming way, even when you can’t help feeling frustrated at how bullheaded everyone is, and it’s just inevitable to feel excited and happy when Takumi and Gou show the coach what they’re capable of. I’m very in love with their bond and with a lot of little underlying things that have been hinted at, I’m just very invested in seeing how these two boys will pull each other forward.
5. Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. Diamond is Unbreakable (episode 18) I have mixed feelings on this episode. On the one hand it was funny and light, on the other one, I wasn’t a big fan of seeing our heroes trying to con another person (or said person not fulfilling a stricken deal). Let’s see if the new episode gives this story a more exciting twist. At least it was buttloads of fun to see the three guys being completely ridiculous through and through.
6. Thunderbolt Fantasy (episode 4) It’s hard to find something to say about this one because it’s mostly dumb action fantasy romp,but really cool and exciting dumb action fantasy romp. I was disappointed that White Hair’s master was killed before we got to see him show his stuff, but the new side-villain’s cool and I’m eager to learn all the nasty deeds White Hair has done to earn so many enemies (I’m sorry that I’ll never learn the Chinese names, the difference in pronunciation makes it impossible)
7. Amanchu! (episode 4): I am so in love with this show. It’s so pure and beautiful and I relate to Teko so so much, her anxiety, her burning desire to make friends, to be social, to try new things, but not daring to actually do it because everything’s scary and what if they make fun of you. I love her, her entire character speaks to me so badly that every time I see her succeed and marvel at everything she’s experiencing I feel overrun with joy.
8. DAYS (episode 5): This was a sad and heartwarming episode, but mostly really sad because the crushed hopes and dreams of 3rd years who wanted to have one more chance to play at their sports club is an endless source of tears for me. I also call bull on Tsukushi getting into the team. I’d buy it if there were other first years in the regulars, seeing how those guys have grown so smitten with Tsukushi, but the third years just warming up to him so fast was hard to buy.
9. Arslan Senki Fuujin Ranbu (episode 5): I really really liked this episode! It was action-packed, with its great share of intrigue, and they did a good job introducing the new characters! I loved the fight sequence against the pirates, it kind of reminded me of the Battle of the Black Water in GOT. I’m also growing very appreciative of Gieve’s arms :D. The twist with Shagad was pretty much spelled out from his conversation with Narsus, but I’m interested in seeing how they’ll resolve that problem. Bonus points for Farangis slamming down the cartoonishly corrupt viceroy.
10. D. Grayman HALLOW (episode 5): Kanda arc is go, Kanda arc is officially go, my friends! Aaannnd the episode was super confusing? It starts very abruptly with the science division researching Alma, then a lot of stuff happens, then Allen appears, there’s a cut to black and Allen kinda reappears? It was weird. Kanda is still not Takahiro Sakurai which is always frown-worthy. But the story is getting good, the plot thickens and once again we’re delving into how low the Order can go to achieve their goals. I love the characters and the story, but I sure as hell would love to see them improve the way they’re telling it.
11. Amaama to Inazuma (episode 5) English-speaking people, what’s the difference between donuts and doughnuts? For some reason that bothered me throughout the entire episode. It was a cute one –like all the ones before it- so I’ve got no complaints. I particularly liked the introduction of Yagi (totally not because they looked like a gay couple in the screenshot below). I’m enjoying the new characters we’re getting. Now all I need is that the show starts moving some sort of plot forward, at least an emotional one (I really want to know what’s going on with Kotori’s mom)
12. Fukigen na Mononokean (episode 5)To be honest the episode felt a little disjointed but WHO CARES ABOUT THAT WHEN MOJA MOJA IS BACK (I reject America’s pathologic stubbornness on translating names). We also got some hints on Hanae’s “scary” side, which was interesting, I’m looking forward to see how that develops. But let’s not kid ourselves, the only thing that mattered this episode is that Moja is now a regular member of the cast <3333 I wonder if the Legislator is meant as an equivalent of Hoozuki no Reitetsu’s titular character, given how he wears the same clothes and smokes from the same type of pipe. But really, it’s all about the Moja.
13.ReLife (episode 5): Yes! Exactly what I wanted after episode 4! I love love loved how they resolved the misunderstanding between Kariu and Hishiro and that Kaizaki helped them, but ultimately let them fix things on their own. I do kind of relate to both of them, so I loved seeing them reconcile and become friends. Also, Yoake is a delight, I find him as fun as he is suspicious. It gets harder to hold back the urge to binge it –luckily I have 20 more shows to watch per week, god knows I’ve no time to binge anything-
14. SerVamp (episode 5): I’m certainly having a buttload of fun with this stupid series, but its breakneck pace is hurting it badly. It’s like the writers are in a hurry to assemble the full cast of bishonens to make sure to reel in the audience. In just two weeks we’ve been introduced to half a dozen new characters or more, three of which are dudes with short blond hair (one of them is Bara-Kise), plus two or three new plot threads. Slow down show! You have a charming cast, let it fucking breathe!
15. Binan Koukou Chikyuu Boueibu LOVE! LOVE! (episode 5): Let’s face it, this was basically a filler episode. You could tell there wasn’t much story to tell when they spammed us with all the stock footage available (transformations, attacks, etc etc). The only thing it had going for it where all those wonderful double-entendres with balls, and that it’s now pretty much confirmed that the evil twins look up to Gora and are jealous of Yumoto who gets all of his attention. That at least gives them an interesting motivation and now I’m genuinely looking forward to see how they develop as villains. The random conversations between the guys are still incredibly funny (especially the one about the Japanese names for sports), which is why I’m placing it above my queen Mikumo
16. Macross Delta (episode 18): Since Mikumo is my true queen and I’m team Mirage through and through, I’m getting a little bored with giving Freyja most of the spotlight. The plot of this episode didn’t make a whole lot of sense, and it feels like they’re stalling for time. If this were the first time Mikumo and Freyja were knocked out by the ruins that’d be interesting, but it’s not, so it doesn’t feel like the plot is moving forward at all. I did love Mikumo solo’ing Giraffe Blues (and if not for that I might have pushed this one lower), but I hope we start getting some sort of answers or endgame plan already
17. Orange (episode 5): The episode wasn’t bad per sé, it was actually pretty good to see Naho get more proactive and actually trying to change things and improve his relationship with Takeru. But this whole situation with Suwa reminds me too much of Chihayafuru, a show I dropped because Taichi was too good and deserved so much better. Also, I thought we were done and over with Ueda and I am pretty done and over with shows that present female love rivals as petty bitches. I know this is shojo staple, but it’s 2016 can we be done with this shojo staple already.
18. Tales of Zestiria the X: (episode 4/5): Just to clarify, this is technically the 5th episode, but because the first one was labeled Episode 0, the episode count was altered. And while the previous episode was cool and exciting this one felt like 90% filler and 10% suddenly turning the plot up to eleven. It was kind of boring because it wasn’t very clear what the point of the mini side-quest was. Then it seemed too soon to have another giant motherfucking tornado wrecking town. And one thing I have to say is that the dialogues feel like doing the tutorial on a videogame at least 75% of the time.
19. Berserk: (episode 5) I don’t want this to be a weekly complaint about the godawful CGI, but this week I noticed that they did something weird: while main characters remained in ugly CGI, unimportant characters were drawn in ugly traditional 2D. I’ve no idea what they’re even thinking. Other than that, Luca was great –she’s a great character after all- even if the weird no-nipples sex scene was, well, weird. But it’s hard to enjoy an arc that so strongly relies on the infantilization of Casca. Every time they make a point of showing her drooling, babbling like a baby or just showcasing how helpless she’s become frustrates me to no end, because she was such a great character. And that they used it for “comedy” to interrupt the sex scene was just… ugh. At least I’m glad they kept her skin color, which had been bleached out for the movies and the first episode of this show.
20. Handa-kun: (episode 4) Should I drop this show? It’s not doing anything bad per sé –I’m surprised at myself for putting it in the bottom. It’s just not doing anything period. I could barely get through this week’s episode. Particularly the second segment was all the cringe in the world (I really fucking hate those sort of misunderstandings), especially since the show has yet to provide any likable female characters. The joke that “Handa thinks everyone hates him but he actually has a legion of fans” is growing quite old, and mean, especially since the last segment of this episode showed how happy and excited he was after managing to speak to someone properly! If the show could go more in the direction of him opening up to people and realizing that people don’t hate him would make it all so much more rewarding, but I doubt we’re going in that direction and it just feels awful that the show makes fun of his insecurities. Idk, I think I want to drop it.
That’s it for this week folks.Let’s hope I can actually keep up with this weekly,since 20shows is becoming very challenging to keep up to. Let me know which are your favorite and least favorite shows of the season.
