What I'm watching in Fall 2019...
Continuing shows: My Hero Academia, Food Wars, Sword Art Online: Alicization - War of the Underworld, Dr. Stone, Fire Force, High Score Girl II, We Never Learn
Beastars [Netflix/Fansubbed] - This is my anime of the season so far, unless they bungle it down the stretch. If you've seen Zootopia and wanted more, this is basically a much more mature, character drama centered version of it. It's about an animal society and high school where carnivores and herbivores are somewhat segregated. The main character, Legosi, is a shy wolf used to repressing his scary carnivorous traits and slowly coming to terms with them as he becomes more involved with his classmates through the course of his club duties and the drama unfolding around them. Really great world building and characterization here. The animation is CGI but it's so well done and capitalizes on its strengths. Look for this one in a couple months on Netflix if you don't want to dig up fansubs.
Houkago Saikoro Club (After School Dice Club) [Funimation] - A sentimental favorite and surprisingly better than I expected. This is a show about cute girls playing board games at its core, but it does a great job of tying in back story and developing the characters through the games they're playing! And yes, these are actual games they're playing so it's a cool way to check out new games to try if you're into board games yourself! It doesn't hurt that the story takes place in Kyoto and features plenty of Kansai dialect. Everything about this show just speaks to my aesthetics. I love it!
Watashi, Nouryoku wa Heikinchi de tte Itta yo ne! (Didn't I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?!) [Crunchyroll] - The isekai train keeps rolling. I like this one because the main character is female for once, and because it's pretty funny. As the title implies, the protagonist asks for their abilities to be average in their next life, as they felt alienated in their previous life by their academic prowess. Unfortunately average is taken literally and while her powers are mid level compared to an elder dragon, they are still vastly superior to anyone around her, lol. So much of the humor revolves around her trying to conceal her powers and failing miserably. There's also a lot of references to other anime that I greatly appreciate.
Ore wo Suki nano wa Omae dake ka yo (Are You Really the Only One Who Likes Me?) [Crunchyroll] - I'm a sucker for good harem shows, but this one is quite different... in a good way! The main character is a guy who plays himself off as being completely oblivious of girls advances, but just when it looks like he's about to succeed at getting confessions out of them, it all blows up in his face. Actually nobody is very likable in this one as they are all kind of scheming and selfish, and it plays out in hilarious ways. There's also a "mind-boggling" bench that might be one of the greatest anime villains of all time (ok so it's more of a running gag). The show has so many twists that it's almost impossible to tell what's going to happen next, so I'm hooked.
Hataage! Kemono Michi (Kemono Michi: Rise Up) [Funimation] - Another isekai. It's by the same guy that did Konosuba. Not quite as funny as that one, but still pretty silly. This time a pro wrestler named Animal Mask gets summoned to another world midfight. It turns out he's a huge animal lover, so while the kingdom wants him to slay monsters he ends up taming and collecting them instead. Nothing special but I really like the characters and humor of it.
Rifle is Beautiful (Chidori RSC) [HIDIVE] - I really only picked this up because it's a Studio 3Hz show. Honestly it's not that great. Very typical club slice of life show about girls in a rifle shooting club (that's laser beam rifles like you'll find in the Olympics, not air rifles or ones that shoot actual bullets). I'm hoping the competitions are more interesting but it's kind of hard to portray any real tension in this kind of thing when there's nothing physical to show.
Azur Lane [Funimation/Hulu] - This show is kinda cringey bad, lol. Only watch it if you're into the mobile game it's based on, as it's purely fan service for people who play it. There is a bit of a story that would be interesting if they properly focused on it, but they're so obsessed with cramming as many characters as possible into it to please everyone. The first couple episodes had some good action but the animation quality has dropped quite a bit as it goes on. As a Kantai Collection fan (the original shipgirl game that this is ripping off) it's just a train wreck I can't look away from, but Azur Lane fans sure like it.
BLACKFOX [Crunchyroll] - Technically a movie and not a show (though it was originally supposed to be one), but I'll also put it here since you can watch it on streaming. This is far more representative of what Studio 3Hz can do. It plays out like a comic book character's origin story flick, with really well animated and choreographed fight sequences. Definitely check this one out if you want to see a ninja girl kick some ass against telekinetic powers. It's a blast!
The latest KyoAni show I've completed:
Kyoukai no Kanata (Beyond the Boundary) - This title seems to be overlooked in the pantheon and that's a bit of a shame as it's really good! It's a lot more action-oriented than most of KyoAni's work, featuring various battles between Spirit Warriors and monsters called Yomu, which manifest because of humans' negative emotions. The fights are outstanding, the camera work and animation is so dynamic for a studio more known for slow developing slice of life shows, proving that they really can do anything they set their minds to. Mirai has quickly become one of my favorite characters of all time with how adorable her design and her mannerisms are. The only negative is the last couple episodes are crammed with so many plot points as to be confusing, but the good bits still shine through. Also the follow-up movie was excellent and more than made up for it.
I also finally made an anime list thing where you can check out my scores from previous seasons. I'm still slowly backfilling it.
Burr11's Anime List - MyAnimeList.net