Tuesday, January 02, 2018

The 4 Strongest Summer (2017 Anime Favorites)

Ah the Summer Season, the season of my birth. Thus it's important to me that at least some of the shows that season be good. Ok, I want shows in every season to be good. Regardless, I did manage to find quite a few shows to watch. Granted some of them in retrospect were a waste of time. It took awhile to narrow it down to four, but the following were the highlights of Summer 2017 for me.

Isekai Shokudou



The premise and set up the series was great because it allowed for a balance between the two worlds in terms of focus.  The Fantasy World is allowed to shine the nature of the fact each episode or half episodes focused on a few characters where we learn about them. Our World (Anime Version) gets to shine thanks to the resturant being a primary location and the fantasy characters reacting to it.

Some of the stories were better than others, but to be fair some of that might be down to my own biases. Hint, I'm more interested in Faries thant Dwarves. Athough even some of the character types I care less about on occasion managed to get some decent arcs. Such as the forementioned dwarves.

If I had a down side for this show. It would be that I wish Aletta had a larger role in it. In fact, I was starting to feel some level of disappointment due to her role seeming so small. Still we eventually did get more Aletta and some of the episodes made it clear why the set up the series had was for the best.

New Game!!



The previous season of New Game was one of my favorite series and this second season not only lives up to the first but surpasses it. It managed to take the groundwork set up by the first season and capitalize on it. Many relationships in the show got the push forward they needed and quite a few characters got some much needed development as well. There was some definite pay off.

For me the highlight of Season was probably Nene. Not just because the idea of her and Umiko as a couple is awesome, but even on her own Nene was an impressive character. Her arc is probably my favorite of the series. Or maybe it's just the one that got my attention the most. Take your pick.

Then there is also Aoba and the challenges she had to through this season. It was definitely emotion and you could really feel for her.  Sometimes I got rather frustrated over things, but it's the type of frusrtration I think you're meant to have. Kind of like when you're meant to hate the villain or cheer the heroine. If anything the challenge of this season is what helped make it stand out more.

Princess Principal



The first episode by itself to be honest wasn't that great. It got its job done as an example episode, but that was about it. Thankfully the second episode was a lot better and after that the series managed for the most part to keep up the momentum. It made good use of jumping back and forth between the time line.

Ange and Charlotte are one of the stronger pairs of the season too. The further in the series we get the better the pairing gets.  Meanwhile the rest of the girls help round out the cast and get several chances to shine. If I had to pick a favorite, I'd go with Beatrice beause of reasons.


Battle Girls High School



I will concede the first episode was cause for concern. We're essentialy thrown into what feels like the start of Season 3. We get introduced to so many characters at once. Then near the end we have the "New Girl" who had potential to overshadow everyone else and make the rest of the cast pointless. Thankfully some worries were unfounded. Key word is some.

For one thing, Misaki while problematic at first grew as a character. Other characters were allowed to shine and they even used the fact we're starting from a figurative Season 3 to their advantage as some characters were able to get good moments through flashbacks. Yes, I know some people don't like flashbacks, but it works here.

Sadly through the "villains" were kind of meh. I get what they were going for, but they just didn't sell it right. Granted one could argue the villains are mostly just there to be something for Misaki to deal with and thus provide a motivation. Even so they were disappointing.

I will say one of my favorite aspects of the story was the reveal on exactly who Misaki is and her over all role. Both because it's amusing and since the main girl to pair Misaki with is well Miki it raises so many questions.
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It took a lot longer to finalize this list than the previous two seasons combined. Hopefully Autumn will be easier. Hint, it's definitely not going to be. At least I have some idea what my favorite show of the year is and I think some already figured it out by process of elimination.

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