Spring Anime 2019

[bomaye]

Link-kun

That time of the season again.

I haven't read anything yet, just going off of some titles I know are continuing.

EndlessA. Pokemon
EB. One Piece

Continuing 1. Black Clover
C2. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 5: Golden Wind
C3. Sword Art Online: Alicization

1. Karakuri Circus
2. Dororo
3. Gegege no Kitaro (maybe. In a packed season like this one I was starting to get tired of it, if this is another packed season I may finally dump it)
4. One Punch Man Season 2
5. Attack On Titan Season 3 Part 2
6. Bungou Stray Dogs Season 3 (Shonen anime where everyone's powers are named after authors and classic literature)
7. Fruits Basket (Simulwatch friend wants me to try it out, says it's got a similar feel to March Lion)
8.
9.
10.

Holy shit I actually have space on my list as a starting point

[bomaye]

Yu-No: A Girl Chants Love At The Bound Of This World 01

So apparently this is a Sega Saturn-era visual novel about alternate universes. My kind of trash on first blush, but I also don't want to be piling up too much trash this season

[Enail]

Oh, I forgot about this, oops.

I'd heard a fair bit about the original Fruits Basket anime when it was out, the impression I got was more like a lower-magic version of Magus Bride or Fushigi Yuugi, romantic fantasy kind of thing with excessive angst, many angsty husbandos and some humour. I'm deeply surprised to hear a comparison to 3Gatsu, I might have to check it out to see what's up with that. Though unless it really is 3Gatsu quality, it's probably not my thing.

Not feeling super-enthusiastic about Attack on Titan after last season, I'll keep it up, but if they don't get into some real action decently quickly, I'll probably start thinking about abandoning it.

Otherwise, there's nothing that screams "watch me," so that makes it pretty easy unless you land up rec'ing something.

[KMR]

I've been considering picking an anime to watch sometime after my schedule frees up, and Attack on Titan was at the top of my list of stuff I've been curious about. Would you say it's worth watching, even if the latest season's been lackluster? My brother's been a fan of the show, especially in its first season, so it's definitely been piquing my interest for some time now.

I'll have to check out season 2 of One Punch Man as well, although I personally was more into the show at the very beginning, when the concept was novel and hilarious, then was less invested when the show had to move past its reliance on a single gag and actually give itself a plot. So I'm not really sure how I will feel about it moving forward, but I'm definitely curious about where it's going to go.

[Enail]

Hmmm...I'd say Attack on Titan is very good at the things it does well, but I wouldn't call it a top-tier show. It's fantastic at intense action and has a lot of gripping mysteries and twists that get you invested, but the characters are fairly flat. When it's going well, that's not a problem because the challenges are intense enough and horrifying enough that you still root intensely for the heroes, but when it tries to do storylines that rest on character growth and slower-paced situations it can drag a bit, which was pretty much all of last season. I am (mostly) optimistic that they'll get back to the good stuff this season, though.

Also, don't watch unless you're  fine with gruesome things (or occasionally find them hilarious ). And an appreciation for hilariously bad invented European names will help

[bomaye]

Pretty much what Enail said. The world is the star, both in the characters trying to survive in it and the mysteries of why the world is like that in the first place. I would place some of the cliffhangers and plot twists as among the best in any anime I've seen (That episode has got to be a Top 10 episode of any anime, period). Characters are stereotypical (maybe by design, easier to experience the world through) but focusing on them too much makes things boring (which last season did almost exclusively).

Also maybe consider Yakusoku no Neverland/The Promised Neverland (don't look up a synopsis, it's better that way ), only 12 episodes, will continue sometime in 2020

Also also maybe consider Mob Psycho 100. It just ended, it was written by the same person who did One Punch Man. It's about a naive and completely plain teenage boy (nicknamed "Mob" because he looks like the rest of the mob/doesn't stand out in any way) who explodes with godlike psychic power when he gets emotionally disturbed enough,



and the Psychic Con-Man who's not actually psychic and just tricks him to perform exorcisms for him. It's funny and sweet and adorable and the social commentary is pretty good (it kind of revolves around the idea of people wanting to be special and how they focus on their own shortcomings instead of their strengths) and then every once in awhile shit goes crazy







If you know what Earthbound is, it's kind of that

[KMR]

Hmm, I do like action/fighting shows, worldbuilding, and plot twists, so Attack on Titan could wind up being right up my alley. Shame about the character stuff though.

Actually, my brother was also recommending Mob Psycho to me, so that's been on my list too. Maybe I'll end up checking both shows out at some point. Now I'm wondering which of the two my brother would recommend more strongly, will have to ask him.

Thanks for the input.

[Enail]

Let me know if you do Mob Psycho 100, I might give it a try, it sounds pretty good. Though, if you're a binger, I'm not going to keep up with that

[bomaye]

It's only 25 episodes all together and the manga's finished. There's apparently an OVA coming a bit later and there's enough leftover material from the manga to adapt a bit more, but probably not enough for a full new season.

[Enail]

"Only" 25 episodes, he says.

[bomaye]

Over the last week I've watched 11 episodes of Titans, 7 of Game of Thrones, 2 of Doom Patrol (awesome btw) and going on 3 of Babylon 5 Crusade, which is approximately the equivalent of 54 episodes of Mob Psycho 100

This also doesn't count the actual anime I've watched in that week, which maybe kicks it up to 60 (one of them was actually the end of Mob Psycho 100 )

[KMR]

Let me know if you do Mob Psycho 100, I might give it a try, it sounds pretty good. Though, if you're a binger, I'm not going to keep up with that

I am a binger, but it's usually different with anime. The way I "binge" is that I usually watch a TV show in the background while I'm gaming, generally with games that I've played enough where it's semi-automatic and doesn't take my full attention. It's not the best way to consume media because I do miss some things and don't get quite as immersed, but I get tired and restless after a little while if I'm just watching a show by itself, so if I watched stuff that way I wouldn't get through nearly as much content.

However, I can't really multi-task like that with anime, since I have to pay a lot more attention to read the subtitles. This, incidentally, is one of the main reasons why I don't watch much anime these days. So I'll probably end up watching it at a slower pace because of that, although if I do get really immersed in the show, I could just end up taking a break from gaming to binge a bunch of episodes.

Unless by "binge" you mean watch 1-2 episodes per day, rather than 1 per week. Because that I'd probably be doing regardless.

[Enail]

I'm a one-a-weeker, so yeah, that still counts as a binge to me

[bomaye]

Fruits Basket 1

Uwaaaaa~

This anime makes me want to melt into a cozy blob but it also gets eyes-watering sad at parts so then the emotional state starts blobbing too.

Somewhat reminds me of Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid mixed in with Ancient Magus Bride.

[Enail]

Fruits Basket 1 was suuuuuuper-shoujo, a little too much so for me, but also cozy and enjoyable to watch, and they do a good job of using humour to keep the "poor, beleaguered and yet always cheerful and hardworking and sweet" heroine thing from feeling too annoying. Also, I love cool delinquent friend and creepy psychic friend!  I'll check out next week, at least.

(Also the end animation sequence with everyone sleeping made me think of the Paranoia Agent end music playing and then I got creeped out)

[bomaye]

Link-kun

That time of the season again.

I haven't read anything yet, just going off of some titles I know are continuing.

EndlessA. Pokemon
EB. One Piece

Continuing 1. Black Clover
C2. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 5: Golden Wind
C3. Sword Art Online: Alicization

1. Karakuri Circus
2. Dororo
3. Gegege no Kitaro (maybe. In a packed season like this one I was starting to get tired of it, if this is another packed season I may finally dump it)
4. One Punch Man Season 2
5. Attack On Titan Season 3 Part 2
6. Bungou Stray Dogs Season 3 (Shonen anime where everyone's powers are named after authors and classic literature)
7. Fruits Basket (Simulwatch friend wants me to try it out, says it's got a similar feel to March Lion)
8.
9.
10.

Except for probably adding Kimetsu no Yaiba (still needs an ep or two to get into full swing but Ep 1 was promising), this looks like it might be full list. I probably would've kept up with Fairy Gone in a weaker season, but it's doing a bit of what JoJo's Bizarre Adventure already does, and JoJo's way, way better at it.

[Enail]

B-but your list isn't full, is this actually possible?!?

[bomaye]

I just started simul-rewatching SDF Macross with someone and Promised Neverland with someone else. do those count

[Enail]

That still leaves one slot!

[bomaye]

God

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is out there as it is, but the author really fucking snapped in Part 5/Golden Wind/Vento Aureo.

[bomaye]

We finished binge-watching Neverland.

Also it turns out SAO Alicization is continuing in October.

So my list is down two

Fruits Basket 2 didn't feel very eventful. It's kind of amusing how the characters take after their various animals but not very discussion-worthy I guess

[Enail]

It might really happen, a not-full list?! It's a miracle!

Agreed about Fruits Basket 2. It's alright, but not much is happening, and so far it doesn't have the depth or nuance of 3gatsu to make not much happening be compelling. And the "someone who picks fights with everyone and is always snapping and being mean to you probably just needs you to be more understanding, it's fine as long as they have good intentions deep down inside" message is one of those romance pet peeves of mine.  I'll keep trying it a bit longer but I'm not much grabbed by it so far.

[Hielario]

I almost rooted for Pesci at the end.

[bomaye]

That train segment was one of the best in the series that I've seen to date. The hook still makes me slightly nauseous

[Orca]

I usually don't watch anything with 12+ episodes, but it's hard when Jojo and One Punch Man exist...

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