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Last edited by Pipoko on Wed Sep 28, 2016 1:33 pm; edited 3 times in total

Best of the season for me is definitely Sweetness and Lightning.

I absolutely adored how Tsumugi's character was portrayed in the series. It's so rare to see more "real" portrayals of child characters and it's what really made the series special to me. I think the episode where Tsumugi's father is ill and she goes on her own adventure remains my favorite because it's so spot on. If it weren't for these imperfections, I don't think I would've stuck with it because initially it seemed a little "too" sweet for me to stick around.

The number two was a battle between Thunderbolt Fantasy and Mob Psycho 100.

I feel like Thunderbolt Fantasy doesn't do absolutely anything new when it comes to characters, but I like how it twists expectations, especially with the last few episodes and they are still very well written archtypes. It is also a spectacle I haven't quite seen anything like before (almost quoting Jacob Chapman's words here) and it's just a joy to watch.

Mob Psycho 100 ultimately has a very slow first half. It's all still very entertaining to watch thanks to it's visuals, which I also haven't quite seen anything like before and I do really like the characters, but it took a while to get going and a lot of it really is pointless screwing around. I don't think it's straight-up boring screwing around, but it's still screwing around. In fact, it's the last two-three episodes that made me actually consider it as my best of the season. I've always liked the themes of staying kind and presevering within a tough world and I think the last few episodes did a good job of expressing that, though I think there are series that have done it better, personally. OPM will remain the ONE series that I like more, but this is is pretty solid itself.

As for the worst of the season... definitely Tales Of Zestiria the X.

Oh, the animation is gorgeous. Absolutely breathtaking sometimes. But the story and characters are incredibly generic. I thought I might grow attached to the girl character in the very first prologue episode at least a little bit or the two guy leads at least a little bit, but in the end it was nothing and I think for me it's the worst when I'm indifferent to something. I dropped it somewhere 3/4ths through it and I couldn't help but feel there were many more other stories much more deserving of such gorgeous animation.

It was a solid season for me as a whole.

Princess_Irene wrote:

Valhern wrote:

And I still haven't gotten to Emilia. Emilia has literally no agency in this show. I have no idea what her "selfish" desires are, in the "correct timeline" she doesn't remember saving Subaru, and when we get to the end and we are cleverly told "this is what it's all about" you know what it's all about for Emilia? To fall in love at some point with Subaru. Subaru literally says this, that's the only thing Emilia will be doing.

I agree that Emilia is the weakest part of the story and that she lacks agency - I enjoyed the series in spite of her. I didn't think that it was about her eventually falling in love with Subaru, though - I interpreted that line as being spoiler[that it was all about keeping her alive for her mother, the much-maligned witch, who couldn't be quite as bad as everyone said because she literally rearranged the world to save her daughter by bringing in an outside force.] It'll likely be more clear when we get past this point in the novels, but I felt as if in the end the story was about spoiler[the witch] rather than Emilia, or even Subaru.

Well that seems reasonable but I hardly believe I could've infered that with the information the series gave us thus far.

Hansond Jaysond Lee wrote:

Creamer's worst is Orange?
This is why I don't trust his reviews.
He should quit watching anime if he thinks shows like Orange are the worst of the season.

Yes, his worst is Orange and his best is Love Live Confused

But hey, each one his tastes,

Nodz wrote:

Hansond Jaysond Lee wrote:

Creamer's worst is Orange?
This is why I don't trust his reviews.
He should quit watching anime if he thinks shows like Orange are the worst of the season.

Yes, his worst is Orange and his best is Love Live :?
But hey, each one his tastes,

Hey, I'm mostly agreed with Nick, except I'd put Planetarian just above Love Live Sunshine at the top, and Rewrite below Orange at the bottom.

EDIT: I think my problem with Orange is that Naho is an annoyingly passive protagonist, even for shoujo. She's consistently unable or unwilling to act, and much as I hate to second-guess characters (or the author behind them), I can't help but watch this show and just want to yell "Naho, f'ing do something already!"

For me the best of the season are Mob Psycho 100, 91 Days and Thunderbolt Fantasy,although which rises to the top will depend on how the latter two handle the ending. The three are very different in every possible way, but the three so far have given me interesting characters, great climactic moments, a story that had me always asking for more, and unique and interesting visuals (sure 91 Days production values were poo, but the character and background designs worked pretty great with the story). They've been very consistent all-around and have maintained my interest throughout the season, I'm really damn excited for Friday.

For the worst I'll say my dishonorable mention first: DAYS. Like others, I'm baffled by the hate towards Cheer Boys whilst the trainwreck that is DAYS flies by unscathed. It had a very good first half, but it started self-destructing around the time the soccer tournament began and the narrative's excuses to keep St. Tsukushi on the spotlight became flimsier than ever (that final jeeessuuuus). By the time the final game was happening, we had a cast of mostly unnamed dudes whose motivations remain unclear and whose only driving force is apparently that St. Tsukushi runs a lot. There is no sense of what actual soccer is like, and for a MAPPA show, it sure has a buttload of still frames, it's basically a slide-show for the most part. I'm honestly not even sure I'll follow for the second cour (ok, I will, but only for Mizuki)

I'm just gonna quote someone else for my worst:

Blankslate wrote:

Worst: Berserk (2016) It isn't because of the animation quality, but rather the writing quality. Watching this ~8 years after I read this arc in the manga reaffirms my stance that the only good part of Berserk is the Golden Age. Everything after it is static characterization, annoying new characters, and near recycles of the Behelit scene in the Golden Age arc.

I thought I was the only one who felt that way (except that for me it's been five years since I watched the 1997 anime). This arc just felt so empty to me, compared to how much I absolutely loved the Golden Age. And the fact that Casca's character is completely assassinatedfor the sole sake of Guts's heroic development just completely turned me off on it. I do like Isidro and Serpico and Farnese's character development is interesting (but I still find the rape-by-demon-horse thing completely gratuitous and disgusting), but they're a very minor part of an arc that is basically shoving Casca in a refrigerator.

Lauren Orsini wrote:

Don't you think it's hilarious that the only cheerleader to have a girlfriend is also the team's portliest member? Cheer Boys!! sure does and won't let you forget it. Gay panic also abounds. Cheerleading is a sport with typically feminine connotations, so to compensate for that, the show treats homosexuality like a disease that can be caught if you get too close.

Say what? It's your prerrogative to dislike the show, but you're straight making shit up. There is only ONE possible "gay panic" moment and that is highly questionable at best, I certainly didn't see it like that. Heck, one of the main premises of the series is that the characters are breaking through gender stereotypes. Also, the show doesn't make fun of Ton for being chubby and having a girlfriend, it makes fun of all the other guys (namely Ichiro and Gen) that are hung up and desperate because they're not popular with girls. If the show were making fun of him, they wouldn't have paired him up with the closest the show has to a "heroine". Besides, the show does in fact a pretty good job in juggling its sixteen main characters, apart from two or three, most of them are identifiable and have at least a minor arc of character growth. I particularly liked the fact that several of these character arcs ran concurrently, so we saw the guys sort through their individual problems while also trying to improve the team dynamics.

I don't usually stick with shows I dislike long enough to call them "worst", but God, Life of a Fudanshi was terrible, and I say this as an unabashed fujoshi. I thought it could make for an interesting premise, but instead it was every joke made in every anime about otaku (comiket lines, 3 copies of everything, etc) repeated by a guy who happens to enjoy BL. Like, there weren't really even many fujoshi-relatable jokes. And the art was so bad, if I didn't know better and it weren't in 16:9 I would have said this show was made 15 years ago.

And that's not even mentioning the reoccurring "I'm not gay, that's gross, I just like stories about gay guys!" jokes, but I went in expecting that.

And re:Bananya - what more could you have possibly expected from a show that is about cats in a banana?? It probably would have made a terrible full length show, but weekly, 3 minute shorts about adorable kitties in banana peels was easily digestible and the cuteness highlight of my week. Laughing

Wow, lots of love for Mob Psycho 100.

My two most favorite shows were Re:Zero (which is technically a Spring show) and New Game! My least favorite title was Active Raid Second.

In general this was a meh season.

^Oh boy, I'd completely forgotten about Fudanshi Seikatsu. I forgot I was watching it around midseason and just never got back to it, didn't feel any motivation to waste three minutes on that. Now that's a show in which actual disgusting gay panic jokes "abound"

Last edited by NCfanboy1 on Wed Sep 28, 2016 11:27 pm; edited 1 time in total

"Half of every episode is taken up with the same cringey jokes over and over, like the elementary-school-boys-in-teenage-bodies finding any meager excuse to jam "wiener" or "poop" into as many sentences as possible."

I know right!?
I couldn't get passed the first episode because there was one scene where one of the kids was digging down his pants and there was a disgusting squishy sound!
I nearly threw up because of that.

Also I don't remember kids that age being THAT disgusting! Mad

Love Live Sunshine was my favorite show of the season by a pretty large margin, which surprised me since I was honestly kind of lukewarm on a lot of the first series. I was mixed on a lot of µ's, with Honoka as a lead in particular not doing much for me, and a lot of the drama just fell totally flat. Meanwhile, I felt Sunshine leaning into its jokes more fully made it more entertaining as a moment-by-moment viewing experience, while the drama was generally done much better, in large part by internalizing it more. In the process of doing that, it also meant the characters were much stronger on average; Chika in particular was a really good lead. It wasn't totally free of its predecessor's issues, and the constant µ's references did get overbearing at times, but overall it was a huge step in the right direction.

I also enjoyed Jojo and Delta a lot, but since those started in spring, I'd probably give my second place spot to Thunderbolt Fantasy. The characters are just a riot, and a lot of the gags and action are really well-suited to the series's puppet medium. The plot's nothing special, but given that the series gleefully makes light of its own premise, it seems that it's totally aware of that fact and owns it, which makes it all the better. It's not over yet, but I don't really have any doubt that it'll end well.

Worst was Qualidea Code, more than anything due to its production totally falling apart. If not for that fact, the plot would be cliche but serviceable, with not particularly interesting characters. In other words, it'd be forgettable but inoffensive. But the production falls apart so quickly and just keeps getting worse through the season, which leads to any emotional moments losing almost all impact and action scenes often getting interrupted by long panning shots of scenery. I can't help but wonder what happened behind the scenes that the staff was put in such dire straits, but I hope for their sake that it doesn't happen to them again.

Best: Mob Psycho 100
I liked One Punch Man, but I wouldn't say it's my favorite anime. I started MP100 with the same expectation, but boy was I surprised by how thoroughly entertained I was! The characters are so likable, the animation and art is awesome, and the character writing and relationships feels genuine. I would love for their to be a second season.

Runner up: Sweetness and Lightning, 91 Days
Sweetness and Lightning was my go-to healing anime for this season, and it did not disappoint. Not only did it help me relax and fill my heart with warmth, it also made me hungry. As for 91 Days, the art quality gets pretty bad in the later episodes but the mafia revenge story has been well-executed so far. Here's hoping that it sticks the landing when the last episode comes out.

Worst: The Heroic Legend of Arslan: Dust Storm Dance
I didn't watch much anime this season so my options are limited but I have to choose the worst Summer 2016 that I've watched it's Arslan. I wouldn't call it the worst thing ever, but I agree with Rose Bridge's statement over it. It is definitely improved compared to the first season but it's still pretty mediocre overall.

Thunderbolt Fantasy is definitely the most consistently entertaining show I've been watching this season, but in case puppeteering doesn't count, then I'll go with Mob Psycho 100, which I actually preferred to One-Punch Man despite the intentionally rough art style.

And DAYS gets my vote for worst of the season. I was probably expecting too much from it, being a huge sports anime buff and an even bigger soccer fan, but I wasn't ready for the stiff, at times nonexistent animation and the author's blatant lack of knowledge on the subject matter.

As for Cheer Boys, even though I have to agree that its artwork/animation quality is mostly terrible, I really didn't find any faults with the writing. Reiko Yoshida and the other writers did an admirable job servicing so many characters with just 12 episodes to work with, and even the ones that initially annoyed me ended up growing on me once we got to know them better. Also, I'm in full agreement with CrowLia on Lauren's claims of "gay panic" and jokes at the expense of an overweight character.

Hmmm, this season was a toughie for me. There was a lot I struggled to get through, but I chugged regardless! I dropped a lot of stuff, though, especially around 6 episodes.

So, picking a favorite was kinda hard, as I didn't like, overwhelmingly love anything this season. It's hard to say if I had a series I looked forward to each week. Still, I enjoyed some anime this time around!

Best:
Tales of Zestria the X. I know, I know, mediocre plot, generic stuff, blah blah blah, not defending all that. But holy shit, was it a feast for the eyes. Everything was just gorgeous - I loved the character designs, the backgrounds, the over-the-top epic fight scenes. Maybe I'm shallow, but dangit, this series had me hooked via art alone. Besides, I may ship Mikleo and Sorey just a little bit now. I enjoyed their dynamic and bromance which kept me looking forward to each shiny new episode.

Runner up: Orange. I'm not sure I could say I enjoyed the experience of watching it, but...this show really nailed some stuff. It hit really close to home when dealing with depression and such, and watching the last few episodes kinda really messed me up. It hurt in a good way?

Second more enjoyable Runner up: Alderamin on the Sky. Well, I had to enjoy a light novel thing eventually, right? Kidding aside, I really like the characters and the setting. There were some cringe-y sort of moments for me, but overall I looked forward to these episodes.

Worst: I dropped a ton of shows...but I'll just say my least favorite of the ones I actually watched all the way through. Sweetness and Lightning. Yeah, it was a little sugary dose each week, but it kinda started dragging with samey-ness after a while. Then, the later child-centered drama just reminded me why I don't want kids, and I found it a little less endearing. Still, my friend LOVED this show, so it was more fun to watch it together.

I mean if we're going to include Spring leftovers like some others did, then yeah JoJo Part 4 is my top pick. I love JoJo and there's honestly nothing else like it.

Otherwise my top pick is Mob Psycho 100 fairly easily. That show might end up in my top 5 for the year.

Runner ups would be 91 Days and Sweetness and Lightning. Hopefully the latter gets a season two.

Shokugeki no Souma season 2 unfortunately isn't quite as high on my list this time, and that's due to the fact that the pacing was just all over the place this season. Hopefully they do a better job with season 3 whenever that ends up coming out.

Best returning show of Summer: Re:Zero I loved the second half of Re:Zero and hopefully White Fox will return to the series at a later date and not just abandon it like they did with Devil is a part-timer.

Best show that started this season: Prisma Illya 3rei Prisma has been my favorite variant series to spawn out of the fate franchise in the last six years. That's mostly because I love the magical girl genre and I find that Illya is my favorite fate protagonist. The strong emphasis on story this time around made 3rei, my favorite addition to this spin off series.

Runners Up: Food Wars and Alderman I love both of these shows for completely different reasons. Food Wars delivered on everything that I wanted the series to be since the first season. While Alderman was a great military drama that helped remove the crappy feeling I felt when watching the second season of Gate.

Worst Show: Hybrid x Heart Magias Academy Ataraxia This shouldn't be on my list because I couldn't make it through episode 3 but Hybrid managed to be bad at everything it set out to do. The soundtrack was forgettable, the story was beyond bland, the girls were boring, the transformation sequences were ugly and it never managed to be sexy.

Runner Up: Jojo's I would have put berserk here but it actually showed a massive amount of improvement towards the end of it's run. Now I loved the first two parts of Jojo's. I hated the filler of part 3 but Dio and Petshop made up for it. Part 4 started off promising but at this point, I find it hard to get through it every week. Jousuke is barely a protagonist, which is shame because I like him way more than Jotaro. I have a love hate relationship with actual protagonist Koichi and that goes for most of the other characters with exception of Shigechi (who embodies almost everything I hate about Part 4). spoiler[ So normally I would be glad that he's dead, however the show did not improve with his absence.] My biggest disappointment with Part 4 comes in the form of Kira. Kira had such a cool introduction and then he squandered it all by spending most of an episode chasing a sandwich bag. Kira as a villain is a major letdown, when you compare him to Dio or Khars. I know the point of Part 4 is to limit the scope of the story and make it more of a slice of life mystery show but the mysteries are easily solved and the slice of life aspect is too absurd to take seriously or be motivated to watch.

Wow I talked way too much about Jojo's in this post. There was plenty to like about this season and I think I missed out on a few gems like Mob Psycho 100 and Thunderbolt Fantasy, so I might need to watch those before October.

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