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The Summer 2013 Anime Preview Guide


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Mad_Scientist
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 16, 2013 11:14 am Reply with quote
dtm42 wrote:
I know that ninety-eight percent of people have already checked out all the shows they want. But if you want to quickly find out what the previewers gave a show, here is a handy spreadsheet:

*Handy Chart Removed For Space*

Shows are listed in order of how many previewers covered them, then by average rating.

And yes, I did add my own scores, however they do not count towards the averages of the series. I was more pessimistic than I thought I was.


Interesting, thanks. Though now that you did that, it seems that Bamboo had some last minute ratings that aren't included. A 2.5 for Makai Ōji, 3.5 for Stella/C3-bu, and a 5 for Watamote.
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Etrien



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PostPosted: Tue Jul 16, 2013 11:29 am Reply with quote
Thanks for pointing that out, Mad_Scientist. I typically keep each reviewer's page open in separate tabs during the run of the guide and periodically refresh them, but I'd already closed all my tabs thinking the guide was completely finished.
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zensunni



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PostPosted: Tue Jul 16, 2013 12:08 pm Reply with quote
I just read Bamboo's review of C3-bu. She sums it up quite well. I love that she actually did airsoft games in college with her friends!

This show is my surprise of the season! I love it!
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Key
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 16, 2013 12:30 pm Reply with quote
Nice chart, dtm42. I also find it interesting that we had no consensus pick (defined as 3+ reviews all above 3 and averaging 4 or more) and only Makai Ouji as a consensus pan (defined as 3+ reviews all below 3 and averaging 2 or less) this season, although I feel that Hyperdimension Neptunia would have firmly joined the latter club had more of us gotten to it. I also find it interesting that between me, Rebecca, Carlo, and Carl we each had at least one title where we were more than a full point above the average.

Finally finished out what I believe to be all of the non-sequel premieres. A few thoughts on the ones that didn't make the Preview Guide:

Brothers Conflict - From the vantage point of someone who's definitely not in the target audience, this looked and felt like a fairly typical reverse-harem set-up. Not sure what to make of that talking squirrel that only the heroine can understand (or is that really the case?), but other reverse-harem series have done something somewhat similar; the fairy in La Cordo d'Oro, for instance. Definitely was not impressed with the female lead, though, either in character design or in so-pathetic-that-I-make-male-harem-leads-look-good demeanor, and the set-up seems contrived even by harem/reverse-harem standards. Having what looks like a transvestite in the mix could be an interesting twist, though. 2/5.

Kimi no Iru Machi/A Town Where You Live - Didn't care for the artistry, but the somewhat more mature angle this one seems to be taking on its romantic complications did catch my interest. Not a keeper, but not bad overall. 3/5.

Yamishibai: Japanese Ghost Stories - This is a series of shorts, with the first episode being 4.5 minutes. It also uses incredibly limited animation, which may bother some people. However, the story it tells in those 4 minutes or so (which I'm guessing is based on an urban legend) is surprisingly creepy and effective. 4/5 if one factors out the animation.

Still have some more ep 2s to watch, but the for-certain keepers for me at this point are C3-bu, Blood Lad, and probably High School DxD New (my Guilty Pleasure title of the season!), which go with carry-overs Railgun S and Attack on Titan. Other titles that are still possibilities for the remaining 1-2 viewing slots are WATAMOTE, Fate/Kalied Liner Prisma Ilya, and maybe Dog and Scissors if its third episode proves decent. (The new Genshiken and Monogatari series are ones that I'll probably watch out eventually, though I don't expect to keep up with them week-to-week.)


Last edited by Key on Tue Jul 16, 2013 7:51 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Gina Szanboti



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PostPosted: Tue Jul 16, 2013 1:20 pm Reply with quote
No Eccentric Family for you? It's head and shoulders and tail above Dog and Scissors. Smile
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ChibiKangaroo



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PostPosted: Tue Jul 16, 2013 2:15 pm Reply with quote
Dog and Scissors episode 2 was surprisingly good. I will almost certainly continue on with that show.

Although this season is not a total bust, I am not as enthused as I was in prior seasons. For example, the last fall and winter seasons were solid in my opinion. They had so many titles that I was really excited about, and a decent number of good hits. Spring and Summer this year are not at the same level. Aside from Attack on Titan, I haven't been really keeping up with the spring shows.

As of now, my shows from this season in order of my interest level are:

#1 Daybreak Illusion - It's the most intriguing of the shows this season for me. Although I first thought it was just going to be a Madoka clone, it is doing a fantastic job separating from Madoka and is benefiting from some pretty smart and relatively deep writing in my opinion. I give it a solid 4.

#2 Dog and Scissors - The first episode left me a little unsure because it was so irreverent despite the serious nature of the material, but the second episode did a great job of giving us something to really sympathize with in regard to both Kazuhito and Kirihime. Kazuhito in particular becomes a fairly well rounded character at the end of episode 2 and very likeable. I'm not usually into these ghost/mystery type shows, but I am pretty curious now to see where this one goes. I give it a 3.5

#3 The Eccentric Family - I was very curious about this show when it was first introduced in previews, as I like stories about fantastical creatures, especially when we see those creatures operating in the normal world. Yasaburo is a funny character who is easy to imagine as one of your goofy friends. The fact that he seems just as happy to transform as a girl than as a boy makes him also very intriguing to say the least. There were a bunch of jokes that they used in the first episode playing off his female form, and I'm sure they will have plenty more. It reminds me of Kugen from Our Home's Fox Deity, which is another show that I loved. The art of this show is kind of bleh, but the story seems enjoyable enough so far. I give it a 3.

#4 (or 3rd place tie I suppose) Sunday Without God - I really wasn't sure what to expect with this show. The premise sounds awesome. For some reason, the tone of the whole thing reminds me of From the New World, which is one of my absolute favorite shows in years. (Seriously, I think From the New World is going to be in contention for show of the decade.) I do think the first episode stumbled a bit, as even though the main character Ai has a background that is very sympathetic, I don't think the writing for her dialogue or her interactions with other characters took advantage of that potential very well. In that vein, it is probably helpful to compare her to Akari from Daybreak Illusion. Both are cute girls with interesting and dark backgrounds, but Akari's dialogue, interaction with other characters, and self-reflection have been used to great effect, whereas Ai has spent most of her screen time as just a victim or a more passive observer. However, I am still very drawn to this show's underlying narrative and I think there is plenty to work with as far as Ai's background, so I am still having a good feeling about the show. Also, I love the artistic feel of the show, though it is not as good as Daybreak Illusion in that respect either. I give it a 3 as well.

#5 Free! - I didn't think I would likely watch this show, as it is so fan-service laden that I was assuming these characters would be totally empty shells. However, the characters introduced so far are relatively engaging and the writing is so tongue-in-cheek that it is hard not to have fun watching this show. It's certainly not my favorite show this season, but it is definitely entertaining and the art/animation is definitely beautiful. I might not watch the entire show, but I may keep up with it for a little while. I give it a 2.75

As for previous seasons, I watch what I can but these two are probably the highlights:

Hunter x Hunter - Hands down one of my top shows ever. This is not too hard as the original was a pretty big hit as well, so they are working with some fantastic source material.

Attack on Titan - There's no question that its a good show. I have been extremely frustrated by the preview crap at the beginning of most episodes, but they seemed to reduce that in episode 14 so my concern there is at least temporarily reduced.
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ANN_Bamboo
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 16, 2013 3:20 pm Reply with quote
Mad_Scientist wrote:

Interesting, thanks. Though now that you did that, it seems that Bamboo had some last minute ratings that aren't included. A 2.5 for Makai Ōji, 3.5 for Stella/C3-bu, and a 5 for Watamote.


Er, yeah, sorry. I'm not as timely as the other reviewers. For me, my primary goal is to have a place to catalog my first episode impressions, so that when The Stream rolls around, around ep 4 or so, people have a baseline to compare it to.
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dtm42



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PostPosted: Tue Jul 16, 2013 4:18 pm Reply with quote
I'm happy that people found the chart to be useful.

Mad_Scientist wrote:
Though now that you did that, it seems that Bamboo had some last minute ratings that aren't included. A 2.5 for Makai Ōji, 3.5 for Stella/C3-bu, and a 5 for Watamote.


Aww crap, I must have forgotten to refresh the tabs or something. Thanks for letting me know.

Chart updated in my previous post, however I will also post it here as well:



If anyone sees any other mistakes or omissions I'd be grateful if they told me.

(I deliberately have not included Theron's scores that he just posted for Brothers Conflict, A Town Where You Live and Yamishibai. This is because people might possibly get confused as to why they're not on his page of the official guide.)
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Stark700



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PostPosted: Tue Jul 16, 2013 5:51 pm Reply with quote
Well for me, I would say that imo this summer season is much better than previous summer in which I only liked about 2-3 shows at fullest towards the end. Among some of my favorites are Monogatari Series: Second Season, Blood Lad, The World God Only Knows III, High School DxD New, Watamote, and Dangan Ronpa.

I have dropped one series so far which is Brothers Conflict that I found to be absolutely terrible. Otherwise, I might also drop Kitakubu Katsudou Kiroku and some others.

Stella Jogakuin Koutou-ka C³-bu and Love Lab are the rare gems of this season imo. I found both immensely entertaining.
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Key
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 16, 2013 8:00 pm Reply with quote
Gina Szanboti wrote:
No Eccentric Family for you? It's head and shoulders and tail above Dog and Scissors. Smile

The problem there is that it's the kind of series that I acknowledge as being good but just don't find all that interesting. (But I never had the interest to watch Tatami Galaxy beyond the first episode, either.) There are at least a couple of titles like that for me every season.
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Megiddo



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PostPosted: Tue Jul 16, 2013 8:17 pm Reply with quote
Stark700 wrote:
Stella Jogakuin Koutou-ka C³-bu and Love Lab are the rare gems of this season imo. I found both immensely entertaining.

Agree with this. These are my must watches of this season. Still on the fence for Servant x Service, Blood Lad, Prisma Illya, Kaminai, and Genshiken Nidaime. I've either dropped or never even picked up the rest.
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Gina Szanboti



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PostPosted: Tue Jul 16, 2013 8:40 pm Reply with quote
Key wrote:
(But I never had the interest to watch Tatami Galaxy beyond the first episode, either.)

I got stuck on the first episode of that too, because I just don't read fast enough to keep up with the rapid fire dialog without constant pausing and backtracking, which kind of ruined the flow. I can't remember if I even made it through the first episode, but I do remember feeling exhausted, wherever I gave up.

Family is much more accessible though, and it's made me want to give TG another try when I have time.
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jymmy



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PostPosted: Wed Jul 17, 2013 4:12 am Reply with quote
Key wrote:
Yamishibai: Japanese Ghost Stories - This is a series of shorts, with the first episode being 4.5 minutes. It also uses incredibly limited animation, which may bother some people. However, the story it tells in those 4 minutes or so (which I'm guessing is based on an urban legend) is surprisingly creepy and effective. 4/5 if one factors out the animation.


Yamishibai seems more like Turning Girls in use of minimalist animation (doesn't let it drag it down) than, say, Inferno Cop (using it brilliantly for deliberate effect). I thought it was okay.

Of Bamboo's more recent reviews, I felt those on C3-bu and Watamote particularly were dead-on. Maybe it's simply because I agree with her, but she seems to have a knack of getting right at what makes shows good or not. I wouldn't give Watamote 5 myself - although it is my favourite of the season along with Teekyuu and just ahead of The Eccentric Family and Kiniro Mosaic - but reading what she wrote did give me a better appreciation for the accuracy of Tomoko's characterisation.

This season I'll be watching everything except Kingdom 2. I still have to watch the series The World God Only Knows, Rozen Maiden and Genshiken are sequels to, though.
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dtm42



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PostPosted: Wed Jul 17, 2013 5:51 am Reply with quote
Key wrote:
Gina Szanboti wrote:
No Eccentric Family for you? It's head and shoulders and tail above Dog and Scissors. Smile

The problem there is that it's the kind of series that I acknowledge as being good but just don't find all that interesting. (But I never had the interest to watch Tatami Galaxy beyond the first episode, either.) There are at least a couple of titles like that for me every season.


I would have thought that you'd be watching The Eccentric Family, if only because it is from P.A. Works. Sure, it doesn't look like their usual fare, but have they ever made anything you've actually hated?

And The Tatami Galaxy was an awesome show, an amazing journey with an almost perfect ending that neatly tied everything up. Plus it had one of the catchiest ending themes ever. I don't get the same vibe of greatness from The Eccentric Family but I guess it is still early days.
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NottJim



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PostPosted: Wed Jul 17, 2013 6:41 pm Reply with quote
That's a great table dtm42. I have one myself, it's only tracking the shows I'm watching but it's far more colourful!

I thought it was interesting that if you discount Zac's review of C3-bu the average score for that show shoots up to 3.875 making it the most popular anime this season.
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