Another halfway point of a season of anime, and another post sharing my thoughts on what I’ve thought about it all up to this point. Before I start talking about specific shows, I just want to say that I feel that this particular season of anime has been incredibly strong – perhaps one of the best I’ve ever experienced. There’s plenty of slice-of-life for those who prefer a more laid-back place, and the action shows are proving to be fun to watch.
Though I’m not watching everything that is airing this season, what I’ve seen has certainly impressed me. Now, let’s take a look at the individual shows.
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable
Josuke Higashikata and his Stand, Shining Crazy Diamond
This has been pretty great so far, and I’m looking forward to seeing more Stands and their weird and wonderful abilities in the future. I’ve actually read a bit of the manga for this, so I do have a little bit of familiarity with it so far. However, I didn’t finish reading before this started airing, so I’m sure there’s plenty of other surprises in store for me.
Ace Attorney
You can never have enough pointing in Ace Attorney
Fairly faithful to the games, along with some minor pieces of anime original material. It’s great seeing all the characters’ mannerisms recreated perfectly, and watching witnesses break down as Phoenix unearths contradictions in their testimonies is always fun.
Also, Aoi Yuuki as Maya Fey earns bonus points from me.
My Hero Academia
Izuku Midoriya, also known as ‘Deku’
This has been pretty enjoyable so far. It’s actually took a little while to get to the ‘academia’ part, but watching Izuku grow with aid of his hero All Might has been pretty neat. Izuku has also had some pretty impressive moments, even if they do come at a cost to him – for the moment, anyway. Hey, this is a shonen anime, I have no doubt that Izuku will gradually go on to get better at using his Quirk.
Pan de Peace!
…I’m hungry.
Needs longer episodes. Other than that, it’s a cute bread-themed slice-of-life anime, no pun intended. There isn’t really much else to say.
Kumamiko – Girl Meets Bear
A rare instance of Machi not suffering…
Whilst some people are fans of Natsu (that would be the bear, not the Fire Dragon Slayer from Fairy Tail), I just wish he would relax and let Machi experience the city – she knows nothing about it, and not letting her go isn’t exactly helping the problem. Natsu does have his moments, but sometimes he comes across as somewhat overbearing – and yes, that pun is on purpose.
The humour here is hit and miss. The trouble is, the ‘miss’ stuff doesn’t qualify as humour and is just awkward to watch. The humour that doesn’t rely on Machi’s suffering is all right, I suppose.
Sailor Moon Crystal Season III
I’m not sure, but I think Sailor Moon might get an upgrade this season, if this part of the opening is anything to go by…
This third season of Sailor Moon Crystal completely blows the first two out of the water, and we’ve only had 6 episodes at the time of writing. Yes, I’m enjoying it due to the marked increase in yuri, but this season just has a better feel to it overall. Sailors Neptune and Uranus are without a doubt stealing the show, and I’m liking the bond forming between ChibiUsa and Hotaru. Also, I already liked Sailor Mercury (favourite of the inner Sailor Guardians), but that transformation whilst diving out of the 13th floor into a swimming pool increased my appreciation of her even more.
BAKUON!!
Raimu introducing Hane to the wonders of motorbikes – whilst Hane maintains a firm grip on Raimu…
Despite not being a motorbike person, I’ve found this to be incredibly enjoyable. I’ve also learned a fair bit about bikes, since there’s a whole lot of details brought up here and there. I really enjoyed seeing the girls go on a road trip together, and I like the dynamic between Onsa and Rin. If you follow me on Twitter, you’ll see that Raimu is my current avatar – she’s my favourite character of the bunch, probably due to reminding me of Top Gear‘s The Stig.
Cerberus
The cast of Cerberus is actually quite varied
Whilst this is a game adaptation that isn’t going to set the world on fire, I do have to say that I have actually enjoyed what I’ve seen so far. We’ve got a good old swords and sorcery setting, which I do like. Hiiro is more or less a typical shonen protagonist, complete with some kind of inner hidden power, but I don’t mind that.
I’m still waiting to see the catgirl, Erin, use her bow/harp combo weapon outside of the opening. Unfortunately, her thing seems to be fleeing before any trouble starts…
Crane Game Girls
Definitely one to watch if you want to learn how to conquer crane games
Here’s an odd one, from the people who brought us JK-MESHI!. Three girls believe they’ll become idols by playing crane games, but by successfully mastering different techniques they’re actually preventing meteorites from colliding with the Earth. Since this a fairly unique concept, I’m actually enjoying this a little more than I did JK-MESHI!.
Onigiri
Only the female characters are voiced in this one.
This is just shorts featuring video game humour. There really isn’t much else to it. Moving on.
Anne-Happy
Young Ren and Hibiki
I only thought of this as not too bad at first, but then we got the episode featuring the younger versions of Hibiki and Ren. That was easily a high point for this series, and I don’t think that episode will be topped – still, I might be proven wrong by the end. Overall, fairly enjoyable, though not my favourite slice-of-life show this season.
Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress
One of the best female characters of this season, Mumei
Without a doubt, my top pick of the season. Yes, it bares many similarities to Attack on Titan, but when it’s as good as it is, who cares? Also, the production values and soundtrack are top-notch – Wit Studio are certainly proving themselves to be an incredibly capable studio. Mumei might just be my favourite female character of this season, and Ikoma is certainly no slouch when it comes to the males. Without a doubt, this a show that I highly recommend. If you enjoy watching humanity fight for survival, then this will be right up your street.
High School Fleet
This is only a fraction of Mike’s harem the crew of the Harekaze
Previously known as Haifuri. I wonder what prompted the name change? Anyway, think Girls und Panzer, but replace the panzer with schiff (for those who don’t know German, replace the tanks with ships – though to be honest I used Google Translate, so I could be wrong on that one. Feel free to correct me if that is the case). It didn’t take long for Akeno Misaki and her crew to get into trouble, and the drama just kept coming. They did eventually catch a break, but it didn’t take too long for them to get right back into the thick of the action.
Much like with the tanks in Girls und Panzer, there’s a lot of little details about the ships thrown in here and there that really shows the people responsible for this know what they’re talking about.
Flying Witch
One of the other best female characters of this season, Chinatsu
This might just be the most relaxed anime I’ve ever watched, and I love it. Though I watch it on Saturday nights (due to that being the time in the UK when Crunchyroll releases it on their site), it definitely feels like perfect viewing for a lazy Sunday. Without a doubt the star of the show is Chinatsu, who at times often reminds me of Non Non Biyori‘s Renge.
There’s no drama or tension to be found here – just a witch and the people around her going about their everyday lives. This is my favourite slice-of-life anime for this season – and I seem to fall in love with it even more with each episode I watch.
Three Leaves, Three Colors
The title refers to these three
Here’s another schoolgirl series. This isn’t too bad, but I find personally that it doesn’t have a unique selling point, unlike Anne-Happy‘s misfortune or BAKUON!!‘s bikes.
Still, what I have seen so far has been enjoyable enough. The characters are all right (except for one in particular…) and their interactions are fun to watch. It’s just that I don’t feel that there is anything there that really makes it stand out for me – perhaps you feel differently.
So that’s all the stuff that started airing this season, so let’s move on to the stuff that first appeared in previous seasons.
Assassination Classroom: Final Season
Things have taken a pretty interesting turn for this one
Yep, the title changed from Second Season to Final Season, because things are rapidly moving towards the conclusion. We’ve learned of Koro-sensei’s past, and there were some conflicting views within the E-class that they settled in true Assassination Classroom style. The fight between Nagisa and Karma was particularly good.
One Piece
Remember when the Straw Hats were all together? That seemed like so long ago…
Still in the Dressrosa arc, though the pace has been upped a little bit and things are rapidly moving towards Zou. We’ve had our climax, and the Straw Hats are about the leave Dressrosa. However, the Marines have began to make their move, so we’ve got a bit of action coming up.
Hoo boy, was the Dressrosa arc dragged out beyond belief. With the upcoming One Piece Film: Gold, I’m hoping we get a mini-arc to promote that, just to give the manga a bit more of a chance to move forward.
Dragon Ball Super
Super Saiyan Blue Goku powering up with an old technique – that led to an incredible battle against the assassin named Hit
The tournament between Universe 6 and 7 was incredible, with Vegeta actually receiving a lot of focus. Vegeta’s fights against the enemies from Universe 6 were actually really great to watch, and the final proper battle of the tournament was amazing.
Whilst we’ve had a tournament between all 12 universes teased, it seems we’re going to have wait to see that what with the announcement of the return of Future Trunks. Oh, and an enemy called Black Goku… (or maybe Goku Black, I’ve seen it used both ways)
Maho Girls PreCure!
Mirai and Riko belong together
I’ve been doing episodics of this one, you know? Still, might as well share my thoughts on it here.
I love it.
The Magic World stuff, Mirai and Riko’s relationship and the mascot characters are all great. Whilst I’ve enjoyed some episodes more than others, there hasn’t actually been anything I’ve really disliked thus far.
If Maho Girls PreCure keeps going like it is, I feel that it will definitely invade one of the top 3 spots in my personal PreCure ranking.
That’s everything I’ve been watching for this season, and for the most part I’m finding it really good. I’m not watching everything that is available this season, so if you feel that there’s a show worth checking out that I haven’t mentioned here, why not leave a comment?
Or you could share your own thoughts on the shows I have mentioned here. Everyone’s going to have different opinions on these things, and I would like to hear what others are making of this season of anime so far.
Rory Muses 
I’m really enjoying Lost Villge (AKA Mayoiga) myself. The mystery is very interesting, and the show is so fun you’re always left with a “Wait, it’s already over!?” once the ending starts playing. It’s a 24 minute show, so it’s not like it’s actually short. The first episode was a slow start though, I admit.
Kiznaiver has been another really great one. It’s really interesting to have a premise of people connected by pain (physical isn’t where it stops….)
PriPara is just fantastic. The unfortunate part is that episodes 64 on are not subbed in English yet. Really sad that such a great show isn’t getting subbed. I watch it with JP subs, so having EN subs makes no difference to me, but it does greatly reduce the possible audience.
Between that and Highschool Fleet I struggle on what I like more. PriPara is currently not as exciting, but that’s because the arc’s just begun. Highschool Fleet will be hitting its end when PriPara will be beginning to get into the real meat of the arc. And it’s always fun to watch middle and elementary schoolers take care of a baby xD Though, OG won’t like this one much probably, because she acts like a real baby. I think that makes it more fun, but ah well.
Anne Happy is my current favorite SoL show running this season. Flying Witch I haven’t seen yet. It’s on the list. I already played a lot of catchup this last week, so maybe this week it’ll happen?
Ah, and the current arc of Yugioh Arc V is going quite well too. Very plotty, and just a lot less “OPPRESSION” that the Synchro Arc was like.
Lost Village and Kiznaiver are probably a couple of shows I’ll pick up later on, maybe at the end of the season when the other shows I’m watching come to an end. Both definitely sound quite intriguing.
If the rest of PriPara’s episodes get subbed, I’ll probably check it out. Though I do have plans to watch a couple of other long running shows before that – I’m about a quarter of the way through D. Gray-Man now, and then I think I’m going to do the rest of Hunter x Hunter after that. Who knows, maybe PriPara will have subs for every episode by the time I’ve finished those two shows?
This is definitely a great season for slice-of-life fans.