Okay, so I noticed some people were doing rankings of this season's anime for the new thread, and I thought I'd quite like to do the same.
Unlike my usual tier lists, this one
is ranked from best to worst even within the individual tiers. Not counting DROPPED TIER which is listed in chronological order of drop.
Why I spent so much precious time writing this when I could have been using it to actually watch anime is beyond me. I suspect it's related to the reason most of Gaming-Side spends more time discussing games than it spends playing them.
…cajun, don't even think about quoting this entire post to respond to a single random entry within it =p
EPIC TIER
Kill la Kill
Every episode is amazing. Mako is the best comedy supporting character in the history of comedy supporting characters. Ryuuko is cute and awesome. The action is fantabulous. The soundtrack is okay.
Monogatari SS
The ending of
Otorimonogatari falls under this season, which grants the show automatic admission to this tier. It’s below
Kill la Kill because the latest arc has been underwhelming by comparison, but even then that’s only by comparison, and both episodes have had an awful lot to love.
Non Non Biyori
The quantity of cute in this show should be measured in gigatons. Renchon is the most adorabletastic character of the season. Komari is up there as well. The laid-back atmosphere and countryside setting (along with the direction and OST that paint this atmosphere perfectly) work well to differentiate this from other cute-girls-doing-cute-things shows of seasons past, as does the comparatively young age of the girls in question.
Hunter x Hunter
I love all of the Chimera Ant arc, but it’s starting to get into the
really good stuff this season. I am feeling more and more hype with each passing episode. King x Gungi x Komugi OTP.
LOOKING FORWARD TO EVERY WEEK TIER
Samurai Flamenco
The two main characters just carry this show so well. I love just watching them talk, and I love watching Masayoshi trying so earnestly to defend his “interesting” idea of justice, and for some reason I quite enjoy watching him in his actual career as well. I actually thought last week’s episode was weaker than the three that preceded it, mostly because of Masayoshi’s own antics being so thoroughly pushed aside by the hurricane of personality that is
. But it’s still goooooood.
Nagi no Asu Kara
Manaka is so gorgeous and adorable that I’m actually tempted to displace Renchon from her “most adorable girl of the season” pedestal for her. I’m not going to, but it’s close, and I think that alone speaks volumes. Definitely “waifu of the season” material. The two loli supporting characters are megacute, too.
As for the actual show, well, I know Mari Okada’s writing in general can be hit and miss (let us not speak of
Black Rock Shooter TV), but I really enjoy it when it’s on form, and I think this is the best work I’ve seen from her since
AnoHana. The character drama hits all the right notes, and it helps that the world and general look of the show is so enchanting. It’s a pleasure to watch each week.
NouCome
I’m frankly shocked that this has managed to place so high in my rankings, since it has all the hallmarks of a trashy show that I shouldn’t care about. Hell, I have trouble even remembering who its various characters are at times, let alone their names. But somehow the show manages to be so consistently entertaining despite all of that with its wacky comedy hijinks and everpresent-but-not-too-gratuitous fanservicey-ness that I find myself watching each episode with a smile glued to my face. It’s just mindless fun.
Golden Time
Kouko isn’t my type at all when it comes to waifus (in fact, to be honest, none of the girls in this show are), which is why it’s so impressive that I love her character so much and even manage to find her cute at times. She’s a whirlwind of personality (note to self: stop reusing metaphors; no, hurricanes and whirlwinds are not different things) who’s so overwhelmingly outgoing and decisive that even when she’s feeling depressed, lonely and/or vulnerable, she can still propel our main character along at a thrilling pace into all kinds of interesting situations.
Our main character himself, for his part, manages the feat of making the well-worn amnesiac trope feel somewhat fresh, and the chemistry between these two leads is just amazing. The supporting characters, though decidedly secondary so far, are also eminently likeable, and slot into the story very neatly indeed.
Basically I should really find some time to watch
Toradora, because if the characters, writing and romance are as good as in this one, coupled with character designs that I find far more attractive, I’m pretty sure I’d love it to death.
ENJOYING TIER
Galileidonna
Hozuki is clearly the best girl of the three leads, so I’m glad she seems to be getting the most focus. I am not at all biased by the fact that she is deliciously loli and depicted in less-than-fully-clothed state in both the opening and ending sequences. (Okay, that’s blatant lies, but she would still be the best regardless.) This show’s general fantastic feel, with its flying airship battles and sky pirates and quests for lost treasures, is quite appealing, and though it’s true that the narrative hasn’t really played that setting and quest plot to its full potential thus far, I’ve still found each episode to be plenty engaging in its own right. The fanservice factor helps.
Gingitsune
The peak of this show’s charm for me so far has been episode 2, in which FRIENDSHIP IS BEAUTIFUL. The episodes since then have felt a little more underwhelming, though by no means bad, and I’m hoping that the series will pick up a little more in the coming weeks (perhaps by giving a little more focus to the aforementioned friends). Either way, Makoto’s down-to-earth positivity (coupled with her cuteness, naturally) is infectious throughout.
Tesagure! Bukatsu-mono
This is such an pleasantly easy watch. The episodes are short in length and extremely formulaic: in each one, the four main characters choose a type of school club to discuss, and then proceed to, in order, talk about common tropes of such clubs in real life, common tropes of such clubs in manga/anime, and then come up with their own ideas for how these clubs could break away from those tropes in new and bizarre ways. It’s a entertaining formula, which is bolstered by the fact that the dialogue is all pre-recorded in the studio (with, I suspect, a large amount of ad-libbing), with the (CG) animation added afterwards. This gives the dialogue a very naturalistic feel that works wonders for its comedy.
Yowamushi Pedal
This sports anime has a pervasive
energy to it that’s infectious. It helps that cycling is one of the few physical activities that I enjoy a lot myself (though I very rarely find the opportunity to actually do it). The setup is simple but engaging, with the main character an otaku who is drawn into the world of competitive cycling by being entranced by the sheer enthusiasm of the other cyclists who meet (and who recognise his own surprising natural talent for the sport).
Though the vast majority of the cast is male, the one prominent female character (who doesn’t, to my eternal disappointment, cycle herself) is a real force of personality and very likeable, which does wonders to prevent the whole thing from feeling like a complete sausagefest.
The one thing I worry about is how well this show will manage to hold my interest once it gets out of these introductory phases and down to serious sporting business. The source manga is one of those very long-running series, with 30 volumes and counting, and this adaptation is scheduled for a relatively lengthy three cours. The show has done a very good job of making the sport of cycling itself feel interesting and engaging, but a lot of that is due to how new everything is to the main character, and I have to wonder if it will still seem so interesting once the novelty wears off, when the whole sport can essentially be boiled down to “stamina” and “going fast”. (
Tesagure! Bukatsu-mono actually called out the sport on this very aspect, that it doesn’t have the variety to work all that well in a dramatic narrative.)
Valvrave S2
lol
Kyousougiga
By all rights this should be higher up, since it is legitimately great stuff, but I find myself always feeling strangely reluctant to actually get around to watching each episode. I guess it’s the fact that it has that “high-maintenance” feel to it, inasmuch as it’s not something you can just relax and watch, it demands your full attention by virtue of its sheer unusualness. It’s also the fact that the show has been
entirely self-contained backstory episodes so far, so there’s no plot momentum to keep me feeling “hooked”, as it were. The show is still amazing and I have high hopes that once it gets out of this character-introducing, expanding-on-the-ONA-episodes stage and starts doing more of its own thing, it will develop into something I truly look forward to watching.
Tokyo Ravens
For the first three episodes, this show would have placed much lower on my rankings, and indeed possibly even been in potential danger of dropping. After the setting shift which did wonders for its narrative, and the introduction of a number of new characters including one who is another legitimate threat to Renchon for the title of “most adorable girl of the season” and should by all rights take over the entire show, I’m now wondering if I shouldn’t move it up a few more places. Possibly even a lot more places. I’m still unsure.
Outbreak Company
The chibis in the OP and end cards are adorable. The premise is lol. The monarch is loli (and tsundere). The spy is mofumofu. The meido is meido. The lessons are amusing. The narrative is nothing special so far, but still pleasant enough to hold my attention from episode to episode. The harem is haremtastic.
YuuShibu
Fino is adorable and genki and genkidorable, despite her frankly ludicrous quantities of lovingly-animated :chet and tastelessly shameless outfits (qualities which are shared by almost every female character in this show). I think the novelty of her cuteness
might be starting to wear off a little, but it’s still enough to keep me watching.
ENJOYING WITH CAVEATS TIER
Kyoukai no Kanata
In terms of how much I look forward to watching the episodes of this show, it should probably be quite a bit higher up. It’s KyoAni, with all the production values that entails. It has plenty of adorable. It has some GORGEOUS action. None of this changes the fact that I find the sheer banality of its writing to be actively offensive. I wish KyoAni were working on almost any of the other shows on this list instead. (But hey, episode 6 was fun!)
Yozakura Quartet
The first episode of this, the madcap introduction to this very interesting world and its host of characters cute and otherwise, really caught my attention and felt like a real breath of fresh air. Sadly, I’ve rather mellowed on the show since.
It’s not bad, by any means; the world is still unique and interesting, the cute characters are still cute, the special powers are still inventive, and even the narrative isn’t bad in any measurable sense. It’s just that I feel somehow disconnected from the whole thing, like it’s not fully engaging me. Like there are lots of interesting things happening, but I’m just watching them as an outsider, not quite following them properly and not quite sure how I should feel about them. I think it might be the way the show just throws this whole ensemble cast of characters at you and then the plot whisks you away with all of them in tow. I don’t feel like I’ve had much chance to become
attached to any specific characters, and their predicaments feel rather large-scale and impersonal.
Despite these issues, I still feel this is a good show and I hope it will grow on me a little more as it progresses.
Coppelion
Another series that I feel kind of bad for placing so low on the list. It’s very good, honestly. Both the self-contained dramas of the first few episodes and the more extended plotline of the last couple have been narratively engaging, and often quite emotional. The main protagonist is quite appealing with her no-nonsense attitude concealing just enough emotional vulnerability to make it clear that she needs the support of her friends, and I like Aoi too for her much-needed genki that’s a valuable resource in this desolate environment. The third protagonist…uhh…I can’t even remember her name >.> But still, the series has a unique concept and is appealing visually (even the infamous filters seem to work well for it, I find).
So the reason I’ve rated it so low is honestly just a matter of personal taste - this sort of gritty, semi-realistic, somewhat military-toned setting with only a minimum of actual science-fiction elements just isn’t really the
kind of series that appeals to me massively. I like it quite a lot for what it is, but its style just isn’t quite my thing.
One actual negative that I might propose is that the series’ narrative feels somewhat aimless. There’s not much in the way of an ultimate goal to work towards. The girls’ mission in ruined Tokyo is to rescue whoever they find, and maybe find out more about how this disaster happened in the first place along the way. The former is a task with no end, and as for the latter…well, it doesn’t feel like there’s any great mystery behind the nature of the disaster, to be honest, so there’s not much intrigue to be found there.
Machine Doll wa Kizutsukanai
If I was going to drop any show from this list, it would probably be this one. The narrative has the potential to be interesting in a very standard, by-the-books sort of way - the MC has a goal of revenge upon an enigmatic character for some mysterious reason, there’s a battle tournament leading up to this goal, and so on - but even those standard elements aren’t really being utilised all that effectively. Even the “murder mystery” of the initial arc was rather predictable and never felt all that engaging as a plotline.
So I’m still watching this for two reasons. The first is potential - because the show
does have an interesting “hook” in its main concept of magicians fighting using often-sentient dolls, the world itself does seem somewhat interesting, the whole battle tournament thing (if the series ever gets to that) could be fun, and so on, and so on. There’s a lot of
potential for the show to become at significantly more engaging than it currently is. It’s just not using much of it so far.
The other reason, of course, is the cute character designs of the girls; Yaya is absolutely precious and her obsessive devotion to her master keeps the show somewhat entertaining by itself, and there are other girls in there who are pretty damn cute as well. Charlotte’s tsundere moments in the last episode were pretty priceless, and we also have a stealth loli. A STEALTH LOLI. THIS IS A LOLI THAT CAN TURN YOU INVISIBLE. WHERE CAN I GET ONE OF THESE.
WHY WOULD YOU EVEN MAKE THIS TIER
BlazBlue Alter Memory
The pacing is awful beyond belief. The animation is even more awful. If I wasn’t a die-hard fan of the games and the characters, I would not touch this steaming pile of shit with a twenty-foot pole. As it is, I’m still somehow finding things to enjoy in it. Just about.
And for good measure:
DROPPED TIER
Walkure Romanze
Dropped halfway through the first episode because blehhhhhhh
Aoki Hagane no Arpeggio
Dropped after the first episode because mehhhhhhhh
Meganebu!
Dropped reluctantly after the second episode because I am watching too many shows and this one wasn’t quite good enough to justify spending my time on. The soundtrack with its vocal flourishes was wonderful, though. ALL YOU NEED IS M-E-G-A-N-E!
Strike the Blood 5
Dropped after five episodes because it was just plain generic and boring. Nothing about it stood out. Except Hosoya Yoshimasa, but one seiyuu does not justify an entire show.