Wednesday, January 03, 2018

The 4 Strongest Autumn (2017 Anime Favorites)

Autumn 2017 might in fact be the hardest of the seasons to decide a favorite four for. Mostly because the shows I had to compare were trying to do different things. Plus I always felt kind of bad no matter what show I ended up putting in the foruth slot because there was always an alternative competing for attention. Seriously this was a strong season for me with some decent surprises. Ultimately after a long period of second and seventh guessing it came down to the following four.

Urahara
I was drawn at first to the series by the visual style. I figured at the time even if this had ended up being a weaker series of the season, it would at least be nice to look at.  The first few episodes of the series were about what you'd expect. Set up episodes and example episodes of the format it's based on.

However pretty soon the series started to delve into the subject of creativity and things related to it like originality and copying. We also got some well timed nightmare fuel and some interesting speeches about the whole process. We also got a Shrimp. Well, you can't win everything I suppose. Then again one could argue the Shrimp himself qualifies as nightmare fuel anyway.

What also helps the series is the role of the main trio. Each of them had a purpose both in terms of story progress and the mesage the show was trying to send. Then you had Misa herself who served the purpose of representing those who needed to learn the lesson. In fact, Misa's role is part of the reason the show worked.

Sadly one downside to the show is that it often felt padded out. Like they wanted to end an episode on "Point B" and in order to make sure they didn't reach Point C by mistake they'd drag out how long it would take to go from Point A to Point B in the story. This made a couple of episodes suffer as a result. Still the episodes in question did have their moments.

Konohana Kitan

Let's get the negative out of the way first. While I do enjoy the episodes about the "Guests of the Week" and they do serve a good purpose, I wish more time had been spent on Yuzu and Satsuki's relationship, Or heck the relationships in general. Ren and Natsume got so many moments. Still I'm glad to have gotten the "Guests of the Week" moments anyway because some were quite touching.

Still we know the moment the show truly became good. When it introduced the Doll of the series, Okiku (or whatever she wants to call herself). I pretty much took an instant liking to her in part because I do like Dolls. Sure they can be creepy, but anything can be creepy when drawn to be so.  In all seriousness, I wouldn't mind a series of shorts focused on her doll like adventures in the world.

Over all this series was very good and it was definitely one of the shows to look forward to week after week. Hopefully the series ultimately does end on a good note for the various pairings the show has set up. Not that I have an idea how far along the manga is. Nor do I have any confidence for S2.                           

Love Live Sunshine Season 2                   
This series to be honest on occasion tries too hard. In fact, it reaches the point where I almost expect them to pull back the camera and reveal the entire thing was actually a stage play. Regardless, at least it's trying too hard to have a positive message as opposed to any of the far worse alternatives that they could have gone with. Like trying too hard to be super negative about everything.I definitely don't need another. No, if I say the name of the show it will haunt my nightmares again.

I will admit I had some early worry for the series because once again it was time to reyccle the same issue from last season. Thankfully they resolved the issue in a way that actually feels kind of grounded.  The direction they went in ultimately justified that plot thread happening again.Plus it made the final episode a lot better than it would have been otherwise.

Also it helps this season that Ruby got to shine. She even got a love interest who by the way got one of the best outfits I've seen during a musical number in the series. Seriously Leah has such a good outfit her and she's amazing in general. Hence forth she gets to represent the series. Yeah, I' have no ulterior motives here. Seriously though Ruby has a girlfriend now. Dreams come true.

 Blend S
We come to the final of the four that made the list. The cast in general is "wrong", but I think the fact they're wrong is part of the point. None of them are meant to be perfect whether it's when they wear their masks for the sake of the Cafe or when they act at their true selves outside of their work settings. They're all flawed in some ways. Ways that can be fun and yes ways that are sadly rather bad...

I like the characters in general, but I think my favorite characters are Kaho's boobs. Ok being serious here, while Kao is great the real girl of the show for me was Mafuyu. Yes, I'm choosing the jaded girl that's toally older than she looks (We promise please don't arrest us) Not that I have room to lecture them due to liking her type of character. Never said I had moral ground to stand on.

Sometimes the show could say things that made me shake my head. Especially when the Manager talked. Yeah, he's probably the weakest character of the series. Even if you compare just the guys, the other two guys in the show are better. So it's not my bias towards girls here. At least not alone anyway.  That being said on rare occasion even the Manager got a decent moment in the show.

Finally, let's mention Maika herself. Her smiles alone wouldn't mean much. It's the actions she took while trying to smile that really sold it. Be it actions she took that could be misread as evil or actions that were in fact evil, but she herself wasn't able to figure out that was the case. Now if only Maika could have a better love interest for herself. Not that I have any idea who I want her paired up with.
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So the Autumn 2017 was pretty good. I actually had a hard time finalizing the last slot. In fact, it was always the last slot that was the problem. I wonder why. I know why, don't answer that. Still with this entry, we now only have one more to make about Anime 2017. The entry where I focus on my favorite show of the year. Which is of course not going to be mentioned in this entry.

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