So, now that we're now half way through the Summer 2014 season of anime I thought that I'd share my thoughts on the crop of currently airing shows. In short, I feel that the major titles have been a disappointment and despite the fact that there are a number of decent shows, for the most part this season is distinctly unremarkable.
[Aldnoah.Zero]
This of the most anticipated titles of the season due to pedigree of the staff working on the project, namely the director Ei Aoki (
Wandering Son,
Fate/Zero,
Girls Brazo) who has proved himself to be quite the up and coming star. Oh, and this show was also being touted in some circles as a
Gundam Killer, although I don't know if anyone ever actually believed that was a serious claim.
While Ei Aoki has certainly delivered in terms of the overall direction of the series I can't really say anything particularly pleasant about this title. From the very first episode the show was filled with clumsy exposition and extremely thin characters set against a potentially interesting (but implausible) backdrop of a asymmetrical war between Earth and Mars. You know the idea, the Earth forces and completely out-gunned by the technologically superior, but far smaller in number, Martian forces leaving plucky and cunning kids to hatch clever schemes to defeat their overpowered opponents. Throw some political intrigue and cute girls into the mix and you have yourself a series.
Unfortunately the series has so far failed to deliver on making the Martian forces interesting, or the Earth fighters competent. Instead everyone in the Universe is an idiot except the main character, Inaho. Watching Inaho single handedly cripple the solar systems most powerful robots with a piece of chewing gum and a shoebox could potentially be enjoyable but unfortunately our leading man has the charisma or a styrofoam cup. The other main character, Slaine, is barely any better than Inaho, people only seem to like him because he's not a complete asshole, unlike practically everyone else in the Martian army. He's got about one characteristic, and that he's kind of a good guy, I guess. The rest of the cast are all one note and completely forgettable.
I don't care about anyone in this series. That's always a bad sign.
[Terror in Resonance]
Watanabe's other show, you know, the serious one. While I can't say that I'm particularly fond of the writing in this series either (why must the cast have so little character development?) and there does feel like there's a certain missed opportunity (the show is a lot more conservative and traditional then you'd expect) this show at least succeeds in doing what it set out to do: be a solid genre exercise. With great music.
Unfortunately, I, and others, probably wanted a bit more out of the show then a really well made genre piece, but there you have it. While this isn't a bad show by any means I can't think of a reason why I'd ever recommend it to anyone. It's just kind of
there. Say what you like about
Kids on the Slope, but at least that show had an extremely solid core cast and some truly amazing moments (that music festival). This series really lacks that kind of core emotional centre which, once again, is a big problem. I feel like this series
could have that kind of emotional centre if it was open with the backstories of the protagonists, but in the service of being a genre piece it has to play games with the information it dishes out to the audience and make everything part of a greater mystery.
This is a mistake. We need a reason to care about the characters, also see
Aldnoah.Zero.
[Sailor Moon]
Perfunctory.
[Sword Art Online: II]
Watching this show week to week makes me feel like the creators don't even understand the appeal of this show. I mean, it's a with wish-fulfilment fantasy, right? It's a somewhat sad wish, but it's pretty clear I think - be the most badass game ever, beat all the badies and have every girl fall in love with you. Simple, right?
Except that this show seems to think that it's a serious drama. It spent what felt like an eternity just establishing the basic set up of Kirtio's 'mission' and the world he be exploring, then it spent even more time exploring the traumatic life of new girl and in the most recent episode we were even gifted with dramatic insight into Kirtio's fears and regrets.
Zzzzzzzzz.
I don't care. I can't care. Kitio is a Gary Stu, don't try to pretend that he's a character and stop trying to pretend that you're a drama. I'm supposed to be seeing stupid action video game stuff like fighting and more fighting. This show shouldn't waste all its time on this false gravitas, you aren't fooling anyone. it should just stick with what it's "good" at, then at least it'll be entertaining to hate-watch it.
[Tokyo Ghoul]
Episode 1 had some nice animation, pity I couldn't see it because of censorship..
[Barakamon]
Well this is a surprise. A pleasant, well made and good looking comedy about an artist from the city moving to the countryside with, of course, wacky antics ensuing. This is good stuff. I don't really have anything bad to say about this show whatsoever.
[Space Dandy - 2nd Season]
While I still think this show is kind of uneven that's just the nature of any anthology series. Easily the most creatively rich title to come out of Japan in years.
[Sabagebu!]
While I enjoyed the way this show opened and the character of Momoka, I feel that this title peaked really early and just hasn't been as good ever since. It feels like a lot of the jokes run themselves into the ground quite quickly and the production values are spotty at best.
[Nozaku-kun]
A very competent comedy about a teenage mangaka. That is all.
[Stardust Crusaders]
JoJo's is still an enjoyable show, with flashes of brilliance, I do feel like they could have really sped up the pacing of this adaptation while losing relatively little in the process. Apart from that, I have no major complaints.
So overall, not bad, but I can't think of anything that I'll be putting on my "show of the year" list.
