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The Best and Worst of the Season So Far: Week of Nov 19-25 [2017-11-30]

I was really hoping to see the 3DCG show at the bottom.

It's still a no.2 disappointment of the season just behind Kino.

I was close to tears reading the dragon chapter. The episode not only did nothing for me, but near opposite.

Also note that the style of the "emotional music" used in that scene seems to be quite common lately, with MiA and GLT also making use of it. Maybe that contributes to it feeling like a try-hard knock-off, who knows?

This makes me think that there is no villain in this anime

Frankly, that sort of thing is part of the reason why I don't read source material. If reading the original will ruin the anime, then I'm glad to evaluate the anime on its own.

AMB feels like a show with a quality source and something great trying to get out, but weird pacing and story hiccups keep it from ever achieving it. I was expecting so much after the OVA, but it hasn't delivered at all. I'll finish it, but it's not that great.

GLT, however, went from a show that looked interesting to the best show of the season for me. It's hard to put exactly how into words, but it's exactly the right mix of depression, melancholy, and hope that makes me enjoy every moment of it.

Mealstrom wrote:

AMB feels like a show with a quality source and something great trying to get out, but weird pacing and story hiccups keep it from ever achieving it. I was expecting so much after the OVA, but it hasn't delivered at all. I'll finish it, but it's not that great.

Usually I can at least understand why people who don't like a show that I am high on don't like it, but the "meh" attitudes or disappointment with AMB's TV series outright baffle me.

Niello wrote:

Not really, I like the manga but it's not one of my favourite. It told a good story and is well put together, and I appreciate that. I was expecting something of about the same level as Erased (minus the ending) and Re:Zero, which should be reasonable considering the source material. When the first episode came out I thought it was okay, not great but passable. After that it just became more and more obvious that it's hardly a decent adaptation. The show is only relying on its source material, and background visual and music fluff. While its parts are good, it wasn't well put together. What are supposed to be heartfelt moments often feel forced and overly melodramatic, not to mention dragged out. The pacing is awkward. The way it copies the chibi straight out from the manga is also irking. When I watch it the way it's handled reminds me of Shoukoku no Altair just not on the same trainwreck level of treatment. despite its pretty look, it feels souless like One Piece where it's just doing what is passable because they know the manga story will do the job. I was close to tears reading the dragon chapter. The episode not only did nothing for me, but near opposite.

So it's relying on the strength of the source material for its writing, has some nice backgrounds, and effectively uses its musical score supplement its visuals. What else does it need to be a merely decent adaptation? The direction in the first few episodes could have been better, but I think that has become more deft in the more recent episodes. The animation of the OVA was better, but that was effectively movie level (budget and time frame) work while the TV series obviously only has TV level work. Not to say that more lush animation can't be done on a TV series, but expecting something at the level of, say, what I've heard about Violet Evergarden (that it is(one of) KyoAni's strongest production(s)) is what I mean when I say over-inflated expectations. Wit does some good work, but it ain't KyoAni or Bones, or whichever other studio or staff that does a consistently good job visually that you want to compare it to. I'd say in terms of direction and animation it is at least at the same level as Re:Zero.

I don't generally read manga (or other kinds of source material) so I can't comment on how well it is adapting the material, but as an anime-only viewer, I'm only concerned about that as far as it affects the quality of the show standing alone from the source. Given what I've seen so far, I'm not concerned about that, unlike Kino for example. Frankly, that sort of thing is part of the reason why I don't read source material. If reading the original will ruin the anime, then I'm glad to evaluate the anime on its own.

^With regard to Seraph of the End’s animation, are you including the parts where they had to pan over stills in your assessment of that show’s animation versus this one? Certainly the show had some animation highlights, but it was not consistent, especially towards the end of the cours, not unlike AoT. Personally, I would prefer the production of AMB to not end up so troubled like a number of Wit’s other series, especially as one of Wit’s few two (consecutive) cours series.

Frankly, that sort of thing is part of the reason why I don't read source material. If reading the original will ruin the anime, then I'm glad to evaluate the anime on its own.

Your first paragraph is pretty much addressed by other people already. Just because individual parts are good, doesn't necessarily mean they are put together well, which was my point. I don't think AMB is on the same level as Re:Zero, not even close. I have also mentioned this before, Seraph of the End and Rolling Girls were done by the same studio and those have better animation than AMB. I really can't find a more blatant way of saying my expectation isn't that high, the show's animation just really isn't good outside of a few scenes. It mostly uses the visual to cover it up.