Currently Watching (Fall 2018 Edition)

[GingaDaiuchuu]

First Impressions

New For Fall 2018:

The first number and icon is the number of spots and direction the series moved on the given ranking. The second is the number and direction of possible grades it moved. The former is obviously only relative to the other series around it, and the latter may show a movement of "00" even if my opinion of it did go up or down, if it wasn't enough to change the grade.

00► 00► 01. JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken: Ougon no Kaze (A-)
00► 01▲ 02. Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume wo Minai (A-)
01▲ 00► 03. Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken (B+)
01▼ 00► 04. Fairy Tail: Final Series (B+)
00► 01▼ 05. Sword Art Online: Alicization (B)
03▲ 01▲ 06. Yagate Kimi ni Naru (B)
01▲ 00► 07. Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru (B-)
02▼ 00► 08. Irozuku Sekai no Ashita kara (B-)
02▼ 00► 09. Goblin Slayer (B-)



Everything that Ended:

01. Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume wo Minai (A-)
02. Banana Fish (B+)
03. Yagate Kimi ni Naru (B)
04. Irozuku Sekai no Ashita kara (B-)
05. Goblin Slayer (B-)



Everything I'm Watching:

00► 00► 01. JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken: Ougon no Kaze (A-)
03▲ 01▲ 02. Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume wo Minai (A-)
01▼ 00► 03. One Piece (A-)
02▲ 00► 04. Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken (B+)
02▼ 00► 05. Detective Conan (B+)
02▲ 01▲ 06. Banana Fish (B+)
02▼ 00► 07. Fairy Tail: Final Series (B+)
01▼ 01▼ 08. Sword Art Online: Alicization (B)
03▲ 01▲ 09. Yagate Kimi ni Naru (B)
01▲ 00► 10. Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru (B-)
02▼ 00► 11. Irozuku Sekai no Ashita kara (B-)
02▼ 00► 12. Goblin Slayer (B-)

Weekly Schedule:

Sunday (0):
Monday (1): Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken
Tuesday (1): Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru
Wednesday (1): Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume wo Minai
Thursday (1): Banana Fish
Friday (3): JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken: Ougon no Kaze, Yagate Kimi ni Naru, Irozuku Sekai no Ashita kara
Saturday (5): One Piece, Detective Conan, Fairy Tail: Final Series, Sword Art Online: Alicization, Goblin Slayer

[GingaDaiuchuu]

Top Anime of 2018

My Top Anime mentioned throughout this post is updated at the time of this posting and linked in my signature.

01. Gintama.: Shirogane no Tamashii-hen - Kouhan-sen (A-) My #36 anime of all time.
02. Boku no Hero Academia 3rd Season (A-) My #42 anime of all time.
03. Gintama.: Shirogane no Tamashii-hen (A-) My #45 anime of all time.
04. JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken: Ougon no Kaze (A-) My #52 anime of all time.
05. Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken (A-) My #76 anime of all time.
06. Violet Evergarden (A-) My #89 anime of all time.
07. Saiki Kusuo no Ψ-nan 2 (A-)
08. Steins;Gate 0 (A-)
09. Sora yori mo Tooi Basho (A-)
10. Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume wo Minai (A-)

As quick as the turnaround time is getting for movies, the most important ones still manage to straddle the year lines to prevent me from being able to include them on my end-of-year lists. Kimi no Suizou wo Tabetai will probably be my favorite anime of 2018, and Aniplex is getting it to us a mere five months after its Japanese premiere, but it happened to premiere late enough that that puts its American premiere in the next year. On an even more extreme example, Dragon Ball Super: Broly is coming to a wide US release a single month after Japan, but it just had to premiere with two weeks left in the year. Then there are still some TV series we don't get simulcasts for... even when the series is licensed before it starts airing, namely Captain Tsubasa (2018). Finally, there are some Chinese co-production ONAs from Tencent that there's been no indication we'll ever see an official English release for, such as Xiao Lu He Xiao Lan and Mo Dao Zu Shi.

All of this is to serve as something of a disclaimer that perhaps this rather disappointing-seeming Top 10 isn't entirely complete? We can't expect every year to be 2016 with an original film that never leaves an all-time Top 5 and maintains one of my only A+s, plus the second-best anime movie of all time that sits around the #10 position. But 2017 was plenty respectable as well, with series to hold my #17-19 spots with As, among many others. The highest 2018 gets is an A- at #36, and I barely got past half of the Top 10 of the year before I had to include anime that doesn't make it into my overall Top Anime list at all, quite the opposite of the embarrassment of riches I experienced last year.

What makes this list especially unexciting is that, not only are the first four all sequels, the first three are just new seasons of series that have seasons of that quality on a regular basis. #1 and #3 are both Gintama, which has six installments higher on my Top Anime list than anything this year, including one from last year. Hero Academia also had a season last year that I put slightly above this year's offering. So unfortunately, from simulcast TV series alone, it's hard to find any way to consider 2018 on par with 2017.

Why 2018 should've been the best year for anime ever, of course, is that we got new series of Steins;Gate and Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu, two of my Top 3 Anime of all time, in the same season! And yet, each was a disappointment, the latter much more than the former. Thinking about extremely promising seasons did, however, inspire me to come up with a Top 10 list for the greatest seasons of all time:

01. Spring 2011
02. Spring 2014
03. Fall 2006
04. Winter 2017
05. Summer 2017
06. Spring 2009
07. Fall 2015
08. Fall 2014
09. Spring 2017
10. Spring 2018

And speaking of Steins;Gate 0, in anticipation of it I ranked all the Science Adventure anime. Now that it and its special episode are out officially, I've added them to the ranking. Not the A+ or A that I hoped for, but it could be worse.

01. Steins;Gate (A+)
02. Steins;Gate 0 (A-)
03. Steins;Gate Movie: Fuka Ryouiki no D?j? vu (A-)
04. Steins;Gate: Oukoubakko no Poriomania (B+)
05. Steins;Gate: Kyoukaimenjou no Missing Link - Divide By Zero (B+)
06. Robotics;Notes (B-)
07. Steins;Gate: Soumei Eichi no Cognitive Computing (C+)
08. Steins;Gate 0: Kesshou Takei no Valentine - Bittersweet Intermedio (C+)
09. Occultic;Nine (C)
10. Ch?oS;Child: Silent Sky (C-)
11. Ch?oS;HEAd (C-)
12. Ch?oS;Child (C-)
13. Ch?oS;Child Episode 0 (D+)

Look forward to further discussions of specific anime on my list in the next episode of Fandom Post Radio (see links in my signature)!

[Buckeye]

Fall 2018 Simulcast Rankings: December

The Fall 2018 season is in the books, and as such it's time for me to form my final leader board for the season. I'm watching two simuldubs this season in Fairy Tail and A Certain Magical Index, so I'll base my assessment on simuldub episodes that came out during the month of December. I also watched the simuldub of SSSS.Gridman, but with that show only one week behind that it won't impact the rankings. With me having binged through Hero Mask, which is an ONA series, that it will be added to this list.

Touchdown
Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai
That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime
Fairy Tail Final Series
Banana Fish (Promoted)

Field Goal
Iroduku: The World in Colors
Golden Kamuy 2nd Season
Run With the Wind
Bloom Into You
Zombie Land Saga
Boarding School Juliet
SSSS.Gridman
Karakuri Circus
Goblin Slayer
A Certain Magical Index III
Sword Art Online: Alicization

First Down
Skull-faced Bookkeeper Honda-san
Uzamaid!
Ms. Vampire Who Lives in My Neighborhood
Double Decker! Doug and Kirill
As Miss Beelzebub Likes It

Punt
Hero Mask
Xuan Yuan Sword Luminary
RErideD

Fumble
Tokyo Ghoul:re (demoted)
Jingai-san no Yome

Rising

Banana Fish - The ending was just tremendous, and having an extra ten minutes to tell it goes to show just how highly this show was thought of. It's a challenge to adapt 19 volumes into 24 episodes, but this show does it perfectly as it helps that the animators were given a lot more wiggle room than normal, and that makes all the difference. Well done, MAPPA.

Iroduku: The World in Colors - This is another show with a very strong ending to cap off a show with amazing character growth.

Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san - I thought that this show would be getting repetitive, but it still managed to be very entertaining as the jokes never get stale. The educational value is especially great.

Falling

Tokyo Ghoul:re - My, oh, my! Just what the hell happened with this show? The manga is amazing, but adapting this into anime was going to be tough, and even more so after all the changes made in Root A. These final episodes are simply a classic case of trying to fit a square peg into a round hole and nothing in the anime made sense anymore. At least Root A was well-executed with the big problem being the concept, but re is an adaptational dumpster fire, especially in the second half.

Sword Art Online: Alicization - This show's drop is due mostly to one episode where it resorts to raping helpless girls, and that caused a firestorm of controversy. There were much better ways to get the desired effect than to have that gruesome scene of two lesser baddies having their way about to violate two helpless girls. Even if it was part of the light novels, they could have worked around that.

Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai - The storytelling was just weak for the final arc, but even so it's still above average, and because this is an entire body of work deal that it still retains the top spot of the season. Thus, it takes a small drop, but not enough to knock it from masterpiece status.

[Momoka Kibi]

Autumn 2018 One Cour Anime Feelings

For more detail on my feelings on the nine shows I finished this season see the two blog entries.

https://alyssasearrs.blogspot.com/20...nime-rest.html
https://alyssasearrs.blogspot.com/20...top-three.html

For just the list, see below.

9. Himote House
8. Merc Storia
7. Release the Spyce
6. SSSS.Gridman
5. Bloom Into You
4. Zombieland Saga
3. Akanesasu Shoujo
2. Tonari no Kyuuketsuki-san
1. Anima Yell

Multi Cour, I've been enjoy Hugtto Precure, Kitaro, Mahou No Pendulum (Which supposed ends next), Kiratto Pri-chan and Aikatsu Friends.

My four anime of the year would be Comic Girls, Anima Yell, Yuru Camp, and Jashin-chan Drop Kick. Ie one anime for each season. Oh throw in Aikatsu Friends as a fifth show that envelops the entire year.

Yeah, I know I haven't been posting in this thread for a long time. I've fallen out of message board posting in genral, need to fix that.

[Buckeye]

Post-Simulcast Report: December 16-31

Here is my last post-simulcast report of 2018. This will be followed by simulcast reviews, and then a post that evaluates ongoing shows as I have done away with my final season summary posts seeing that it's mostly to review long series, which I don't have much to say that's different from season to season. As this is the final post-simulcast report, lots of simulcasts (indicated with an asterisk) will be on this list as now they are in post-simulcast status, but no reviews will be made in this post. Furthermore, specials connected to TV series don't get reviewed. For the first time in a long time, the ongoing section is empty as I finished everything I watched an episode for except for ongoing simulcasts, and not to mention I took a break from those long-running stuff with Toonami going on break for the past two weeks.

* indicates Fall 2018 simulcast (will be reviewed in a separate post)
^ indicates rewatch

Completed

*Jingai-san no Yome: D

*Zombie Land Saga: B+

*Banana Fish: A-

*Ms. Vampire Who Lives in My Neighborhood: C+

*Uzamaid!: B-

*Boarding School Juliet: B+

*Steins;Gate 0 Special: C

*SSSS.Gridman: B

Beyond the Boundary Movie 1: I'll Be There Past: B
This is a recap of the TV series, and pretty much it hits on all the key points as a lead-in for the movie. Not really necessary to watch, but it's nice to have a refresher before going into the movie.

Beyond the Boundary Movie 1: I'll Be There Future: A-
With a somewhat underwhelming TV series, the movie is simply KyoAni doing what they do best and fixing up a number of problems that prevented it from reaching its full potential. The gorgeous artwork that KyoAni is known for simply does wonders for this film, all while the drama and character changes are well-executed. I question the story concept a bit here, but overall it was great and the storytelling is a huge improvement as it doesn't make things too complicated for its own good.

*Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san: B-

^Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphan season 2: A-
This season is an improvement over the first in that the plot was more focused this time with fewer chill moments that interrupted the momentum of the show in the first. Much like with the first season, the action is great, the drama is intense, and there was so much intrigue with the twists and the character deaths going on. In all, this season is a well-constructed drama as just about everything was clicking. There were a couple of problems here as there was pacing issues with the first half moving too slowly and the second half moving too quickly, as well overdoing it with the character deaths. In the end, this season improves on most of the important things.

Last Hope: C
This show has a great concept that kind of doesn't get told in the best way possible. The show has interesting drama, nice action, and interesting characters. However, the plot is just all over the place as this show wasn't exactly sure of what it wanted to be opting to spend so much time on stuff that really isn't essential to the main story at hand. This causes things to become disjointed and not cohesive. That said, it still carried some entertainment value with the setting.

*Xuan Yuan Sword Luminary: C-

Back Street Girls: C+
This show has an unusual and unique concept that makes this show stand out with transgender idols belonging to a yakuza. The comedy is really good, which is what makes this show worthwhile. But at the same time, the show just has poor animation, a fragmented story that it was trying to tell, and the tendency to repeat jokes. In all, it's all about the comedy, and it did that very well.

*Tokyo Ghoul:re: C

Aggretsuko (1-10, Christmas Special): B+
This is a fun and cute show as the animal characters are a great bunch, all while the jokes are well-constructed and entertaining. While great on that front, not so much on others as the show teases a lot of things, but never really seriously does anything towards that objective, all while some of the stuff just gets repetitive to a fault. But in all, it's a fun and worthwhile show to watch.

*Cells at Work! The Common Cold: A-

*As Miss Beelzebub Like It.: C+

*Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai: A+

Future Card Buddyfight X: All-Star Fight (1-8): C+
This season brings all the characters back from the previous Buddyfight series, and it was great to see them all, especially Drum as Buddyfight just wasn't good without him as the lead buddy. This made for quite a nice tournament and way to end Gao's involvement in the series. And seeing the chemistry between all the characters between the four seasons is pretty entertaining. While better than the last two seasons, it still pales in comparison to the first two as there wasn't much of a substantial story, but it does a great job in transitioning into the next series involving a new MC.

Hi Score Girl (1-12): A-
This show gets off to a slow start, but the show gets much better as it progresses as the show not only highlights the obvious negative impacts being a gamer is, but also the not-so-obvious positive ones as it leads to some tremendous character development and better outlooks in life. The show does a masterful job in incorporating real-life video games into the story, and it avoids a lot of traps that make shows like these so run-of-the-mill. Just about the only gripes with this show are the ugly character designs and the way the show ends, though knowing that more is coming leaves much less of a sour taste than it normally would.

*Bloom Into You: B+

*Iroduku: The World in Colors: B+

*Goblin Slayer: B

^Tales of Zestiria the X (13-25): B+
This show is much better than what one would expect of something adapted from a VG as production values are higher than what is expected from these kinds of shows as the animation is an amazing effort out of Ufotable, while the action is well-utilized, the character development is great, and most importantly, the story is well-constructed and does well as a stand-alone story so that those who are not familiar with the Tales franchise can just pick it up and enjoy it. That said, this show is far from perfect as the execution was pretty pedestrian at times, things just seem to not make sense, and then there is that Berseria part that just felt out of place and was used to market the upcoming game. In all, this show has been a nice surprise and the gorgeous animation quality does wonders for this show.

Hayate the Combat Butler! (21-52): B
This show does a great job in making fun of itself as it delivers with great characters, quirky comedy, and jokes that stay fresh all while utilizing censorship and stuff to add to the show's fun atmosphere. This show is not without its issues as the animation quality is pretty subpar seeing that it was done by a studio that is not very active today and that there's not much upward movement with the story as the comedy just overwhelms the story at times. In all, it's a fun show to watch.

The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. season 2 (18-24): A-
The first season was driven by its comedy as it was so amazing, but at times it got really repetitive. This season, it's much less repetitive and it's equally as funny. Pretty much, it's one of the best comedies out there as it especially does a great job with new character introductions and some seriousness at the end going to show that even though things are supposed to be funny, there's disaster to be had.

Tono no Issho (1-12): D-
This short just has very little substance, poor animation quality, and jokes that just are not funny. At least it did what it could with only 1.5 minutes to work with, but that's not exactly saying much.

Tono no Issho season 2 (1-12): C-
Pretty much, this is more of the first season, but having 3.5 minutes instead of 1.5 for episodes makes a huge difference, all while the animation quality is a huge improvement. In all, it is nowhere near as bad as the first season, but still a very forgettable short.

*Lord El-Melloi II Sei no Jikenbo: Rail Zeppelin Grace Note: C+

*Today's Menu for Emiya Family: B

Ongoing

None: Finished all post-simulcast shows.

Final Episode of 2018
Aria the Animation (13)

[Buckeye]

Fall 2018 Simulcast Reviews

And now, here are my final thoughts on shows that aired this past season. As always, it's a copy-and-paste job from the show threads edited to remove potential spoilers. Completed shows are listed in the order I finished, while Ongoing shows are in alphabetical order by English name.

Completed

RErideD: C
This show had a lot of promise at the beginning with a great mystery and a story concept full of intrigue. While the show delivers with great drama and visuals, as well as doing a nice job with the mystery aspect, this show totally whiffed on the pacing and character development as this show was trying to do way too much with just one cour to work with. Had this been a two cour series, this show probably would have been much better. In particular, the show just moved too slowly at the beginning while cutting corners on a lot of potential character development, leading to an ending that had the potential to be memorable, but instead was rushed and fragmented. In short, this show had potential, but failed to capitalize as this show just couldn't be adapted well with only a single cour's worth of episodes.

Hero Mask: C
This show is slow out of the gates, hit its stride in the middle, and then just blew it with the ending. Pretty much, this show does an excellent job with the drama, the mystery aspect, and the action, all while the artwork is pretty good. However, the story composition left plenty to be desired as it was all over the place at the beginning, but doing so in a way that draws attention. The middle part is where this show is at its peak and the drama takes off. But it got super-sloppy towards the end. It was a fun ride, but disappointing one as well.

Jingai-san no Yome: D
This is just another run-of-the-mill short with nothing really standing out and all the typical problems with shows that have this short runtime. The creatures were amusing, but that's just about all that's going for this show. The show just gets bland and repetitive, all while the characters are just there.

Zombie Land Saga: B+
This show didn't get off to the best of starts, but once it hits its stride, it takes off. The beginning was bogged down by gimmicks and repetitiveness, which didn't make this show stand out aside from the fact that the idols are zombies. But once the show started to focus on the characters and their backstories, that's when this show got really good as the character development made for a fulfilling show. The character development was especially great there, and that's when this show is at its best. That said, the slow start meant that Yugiri and Tae didn't get the development that I was expecting. In all, the show takes awhile to get going, but once it hits its stride it's great.

Banana Fish: A-
This show does a great job in representing a manga written in the 80's in a modern day setting. The story is great, the drama is excellent, the mystery is full of intrigue, the action is well-done, and the art style is a great representation of an old-fashioned shoujo work in a modernized setting. Above all, it did a great job in being efficient in adapting 19 volumes of manga into 24 episodes keeping only what matters, and cutting out a lot of the stuff that doesn't. That said, this show has some pretty big flaws in that the show's homosexuality stuff was off the mark, all while it really rushed through some of the stuff with the constraints on this show. But in all, it does everything it can to bring out the best this story has to offer from the 80's manga.

Ms. Vampire Who Lives in My Neighborhood: C+
Tthis show is your typical cute girls doing cute things show that does exactly what it needed to do, nothing more and nothing less. The show is a lot of fun to watch for the great characters, the amusing antics, and the decent character development. It's just that it's another one of those shows without any standout qualities.

Uzamaid!: B-
This show is popcorn entertainment as the comedy is great. However, while the jokes came out as funny, some of them are repetitive and in poor taste. That said, it does a great job in being a comedy on an overall level, all doing a solid job in character expansion. So in all, this show is great for laughs even if it is inconsistent, and while the character expansions get the job done, they could have been handled better.

Boarding School Juliet: B+
While this show is cliche-ridden and gimmicky, it's one of the few shows that actually utilizes it very well to produce a fun show to watch. The show is great for the characters, the relationships, the amusing antics, and the interesting story concept, all while doing a nice job in establishing relationship and advancing that of the main characters without seriously watering it down with those cliches. In all, it's a fun show to watch, and while it still relies on cliches, it does so strategically.

SSSS.Gridman: B
This show pretty much follows the formula of a typical Trigger show with the first half being a monster-of-the-week segment, and the second half being extreme chaos before the day is saved. The show stumbled at the beginning with a lot of blandness and a story that just didn't make much sense that will test one's patience. But midway through, this show greatly improves as things flow much better and character development really takes off. So to sum things up, this show is great with the action, the characters, the drama, and the concept, while on the flipside, the slow pacing and plot construction that are prevalent in the first half that keep this from being in elite company. In all, it's another highly entertaining show from Trigger as they continue to do great things.

Double Decker! Doug and Kirill: C+
This is an entertaining show for the characters, the irony, and the action, and for someone who really enjoyed Tiger and Bunny, this show does a nice job of reminding me of how great that show was. That said, while it was entertaining and was great on the technical side of things, the storywriting aspect was lacking. The show just simply dragged on all while the characters just didn't get enough development or expansion. And it's also trying too hard to be like Tiger and Bunny that some things just don't click. In all, it was an entertaining show for the characters and the technical aspects, but when it comes to the story, that's where this show could have improved on.

Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san: B-
This is one of the better shorts out there as it does an excellent job in portraying real life situations in a bookstore. The comedy is nicely done, and the jokes and skits are very amusing. But above all, this show has great educational value. Just about the only thing I had serious gripes with is the animation as it's pretty cheap and that almost convinced me to drop it. But it just needed some getting used to and once that happened, the show flew by.

Xuan Yuan Sword Luminary: C-
This show ended up being better than expected for shows based on source material of Chinese origin. It has interesting characters, great action, an intriguing story concept, and solid animation quality going in its favor. That said, this show is greatly hindered by poor execution with storytelling as the first half was just confusing with no sense of what this show is trying to be, all while the second half was just rushed. So in all, the action and characters made things worthwhile, and the story just shows why anime based on Chinese source material ends up flopping more often than not.

Tokyo Ghoul:re: C (B- for part 1, D+ for part 2, C overall)
This show is a poor adaptation of a great manga as Shuhei Morita's absence is greatly felt, as well as the way the stuff in Root A just doesn't mesh well with the season's content. The first half was decently adapted as it was clear what this show was trying to accomplish, but the second half was just rushed, fragmented, and full of plot holes that probably would have been patched up with another cour to work with. That made for a season so confusing and full of randomness that is exacerbated in the action scenes. That said, the show's content is great, the characters are full of intrigued, and the action itself is nice even if the story around it isn't. So to sum things up, the first half as just okay, but the second half was just a major rush job.

As Miss Beelzebub Like It.: C+
This is a show that has great characters and humor to make for a comforting show to watch, but beyond that, there wasn't much that this show brought to the table aside from the animation style. The characters are great, the humor is amusing, and the atmosphere is pretty inviting. But at the same time, while a strong story is not critical for a show like this, there should have been a bit more to it. Also, the humor tends to get repetitive to put a damper on things. In any case, it's an enjoyable show for those just wanting a relaxing show.

Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai: A+
This show does just about everything right with the storytelling. It's straightforward and while it's fast-paced, it works for a show like this as it means little time for sidetracks that would have been out-of-place and interrupted the flow of the story. But above all, the characters are what make this show great as they are all lovable and great people who just needed to tackle their inner demons. The supernatural aspect is well-utilized as that made this show really stand out. Just about the only gripe I had with this show is the way the last character arc was handled as it felt the fast pace wasn't the right call. In all, it's one of the best shows of the season in large part because of it's strong storytelling.

Bloom Into You: B+
This is a beautiful show with great animation, a well-constructed romance, nice character development, and a solidly-constructed story that sets a goal and doesn't lose sight of it. That said, the one major knock on this show is the pacing as it felt too needlessly slow with the numerous detours and stuff, and that led to an ending that just felt incomplete in a way. But it's a show that stays true to its identity all the way through, and that is the big difference maker.

Iroduku: The World in Colors: B+
This show is another visual marvel from P.A. Works as it made all the difference for this show that's all about colors. The animation is gorgeous, and the character development is simply amazing. While the end result was great, it did have some bumps in the storytelling aspect as it starts off really slowly and it seemingly loses sight of what this show is supposed to be about midway through, but never did it waste any time doing stuff that's not intuitive to the grand scheme of things. So bottom line is that this show's animation and character growth are a sight to behold, but the storytelling could have been better as the show was paced too slowly at the beginning, all while there are times when this show's focus wavers too close to getting away from what it is trying to accomplish.

Goblin Slayer: B
This show makes quite a strong impression with intense action, a great story full of intrigue and moral conflicts, and interesting characters going to show that this is not going to be for the faint in heart. While the show makes a strong impression at the start, it doesn't maintain the high standards it set itself up for and as the series wears on, it kind of gets away from its initial goals all while things get hard to follow. While the storytelling takes a hit as the series wears on, the entertainment value stays fairly high all the way through as it does a nice job in explaining the aspects of the world.

Today's Menu for Emiya Family: B
This show is pretty much a glorified cooking show using Fate/Stay Night characters, but it does a great job in being more than just that. The slice of life aspect was nicely done, and the character relationships and antics are all comforting and amusing. In all, a tasty and laid-back show worth watching for those who are into the Fate franchise.

Ongoing

A Certain Magical Index III: B
Pretty much, this is typical of a show in the Index franchise as the quality of the show varies by arc. The first arc was pretty strong, while the second and third arcs, not so much. Especially the second one where it feels out of place, or at least happening at the wrong time. That said, the characters continue to drive home the series, though I'm not completely convinced by the direction the show is currently taking.

Fairy Tail Final Season: A-
This show picks up right where season 2 left off and continues to do everything that has made Fairy Tail the great show that it is. The adventure aspect is stronger than ever, all while the mysteries and drama really pick up. So far, it has done a nice job in setting the stage for the final arc.

Karakuri Circus: B
This show has great action, a nice plot concept, and some great drama thrown into the mix to give this show a lot of intrigue. While it set itself up to be a show with great drama, it hasn't been consistently great as there are times where I feel like I'm watching two very different shows, so cohesion is something that could improve in the two cours moving forward.

Run with the Wind: B+
This show gets off to a slow start as it just introduces too many characters to keep up with, all while not really doing much to set things up for the MC. But the show improves as it does all the things a great sports anime show is supposed to do. The personal struggles have been nicely set up so far and hopefully that will help continue to drive character development moving forward.

Sword Art Online: Alicization: B
This show got off to a flying start as it got straight to the matter at hand, all while developing the characters without losing focus that has been problematic for this show ever since the Aincrad arc of the first season. It especially does an excellent job with the drama not revealing too much right off the bat, all while the characters go through quite a lot to get to these answers. That said, this show has run into problems lately, mostly because of that controversial episode where I'm reminded why the ALO arc was so bad, all while it spends too much time with characters that are not really relevant to the show. But hopefully things get better now after the info dump in the last episode that really changes things.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: A
So far, this show has done a great job in separating itself from other isekai shows. The characters are great, the fantasy aspects are done well, the character relationships are getting developed, and above all it tells an impactful story that is never dull with strategic use of comedy and lightheartedness.