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The Best and Worst Anime of Spring 2019


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penguintruth



Joined: 08 Dec 2004
Posts: 8458
Location: Penguinopolis
PostPosted: Wed Jul 03, 2019 5:31 pm Reply with quote
The correct answer is that Carol & Tuesday is the best of the season. Watanabe has done it again. It’s rare that an anime pulls just the right heartstrings every episode, but this does.
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KitKat1721



Joined: 03 Feb 2015
Posts: 952
PostPosted: Wed Jul 03, 2019 5:43 pm Reply with quote
Best: Fruits Basket was always going to be my number one. I adore the manga, the original anime was one of my first anime series, and when this was first announced, I seriously don't think I've ever been as excited for any anime announcement before or since. And it somehow lived up to all my expectations. The art style is much better, the tone is perfect, the casting is improved upon in Japanese, and the right balance of nostalgic and modern in English. Couldn't be more pleased about this. Also, it seems TMS is way ahead of schedule considering how quickly the blu-rays are available (even the US blu-rays are coming out this November, which is crazy fast for R1 releases).

Runner-Up: Sarazanmai. While it ranks 4th in my Ikuhara tier list, when the shows in the list are practically all S-tier, it doesn't really matter that much. Such a treasure and I still have the songs stuck in my head. Also by far the best dub effort an Ikuhara series has ever gotten(with a really thoughtful ADR script, adapted songs on a simuldub schedule, and all-around good performances with maybe one miscast), so extra props for that!

I also really loved Dororo, Attack on Titan S3 part 2 (surprised no one mentioned it at all), Aggretsuko S2 (not as much as S1 though), and presumably will love Carole & Tuesday when Netflix releases it.


Worst: Honestly, I didn't finish anything I would call "bad" in any capacity, so I don't really have an answer here. I guess Ao-Chan Can't Study, but I only watched like, two episodes of it.
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Millhi



Joined: 20 Feb 2017
Posts: 136
PostPosted: Wed Jul 03, 2019 6:11 pm Reply with quote
#Synaesthesia wrote:
my list:
Best: Sarazanmai
this is the only anime in the last 2 year's I can recall I watched multiple times during it's run (I watched a few eps 5 or 6 times). And let's set the record straight: this was more of a Lapin Track anime than MAPPA, so let's give them some more credit.


Yeah it leaves bad taste in my mouth seeing Mappa being credited for sarazanmai almost everywhere when in truth they didn't animate a single episode, just some clean up on 1 ep. Really kudos to Lapin Track for this.
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Sekaro



Joined: 12 Nov 2018
Posts: 345
PostPosted: Wed Jul 03, 2019 6:15 pm Reply with quote
ThrowMeOut wrote:
A lot of people are loving on Demon Slayer, and I like it well enough myself, but I kind of wonder if it's only being elevated by its Godlike animation? Like if it had middling animation would anyone even look twice at it? Its plot and characters are pretty bland, and the pacing is too breakneck for my taste, yet I would hang screenshots from this show on my wall because it's just that damn gorgeous.


I always wondered the same thing tbh. I always keep hearing people praise its production values first and foremost like that is its best feature (they're not wrong though). Some hardly praise its storytelling and characters at all. Even when they do, its always mentioned as a secondary thing.
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yuna49



Joined: 27 Aug 2008
Posts: 3804
PostPosted: Wed Jul 03, 2019 6:36 pm Reply with quote
I find the performances in Carole & Tuesday pretty uninspired except for Angela's song in the most recent episode. Plus I can't say there has been much character development for any of the mains, especially not Tuesday. spoiler[Tuesday could have said on planet-wide TV that they were late for the finals because she was kidnapped by her mother. Bet that would have thrown a wrench into her mother's political career.]

The contrast in talent between the characters in C&T, and the performers whose works make up the title tracks, is like, well, the distance between the Earth and Mars. Contrast Angela and Tina Turner, or even C&T and The Carpenters. I was never fond of the latter, but Karen could sing rings around either of our heroines.
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Key
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Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18135
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Wed Jul 03, 2019 6:58 pm Reply with quote
KitKat1721 wrote:
I also really loved Dororo, Attack on Titan S3 part 2 (surprised no one mentioned it at all),

I thought about including it as an "also considered" choice, but the first few episodes of this last cour were much weaker than the last few, while all of the titles I actually mentioned were more consistent high performers. It probably had the strongest two individual episodes of the season, however.

As for Sarazanmai, yeah, can't believe I forgot about that one. Given how much I hated it, I should have put it as my Worst choice, even though Fairy gone's underperformance probably earned it more.
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meiam



Joined: 23 Jun 2013
Posts: 3442
PostPosted: Wed Jul 03, 2019 7:01 pm Reply with quote
yuna49 wrote:
I find the performances in Carole & Tuesday pretty uninspired except for Angela's song in the most recent episode. Plus I can't say there has been much character development for any of the mains, especially not Tuesday. spoiler[Tuesday could have said on planet-wide TV that they were late for the finals because she was kidnapped by her mother. Bet that would have thrown a wrench into her mother's political career.]

The contrast in talent between the characters in C&T, and the performers whose works make up the title tracks, is like, well, the distance between the Earth and Mars. Contrast Angela and Tina Turner, or even C&T and The Carpenters. I was never fond of the latter, but Karen could sing rings around either of our heroines.


Yeah my main problem with C&T is that we're supposed to believe these two girls are some super amazing artist about to shake up the world and there just... not that good. The contrast between there average (imo mediocre but I already don't really like there style of music) performance and the other characters reactions to them makes it impossible for me to take anything that happens seriously, and it just becomes mindless entertainment at that point. It's not bad, but meh. It doesn't help that plenty of the other artist in the show itself are also better than C&T or at the very least somewhat original. spoiler[The talent show is especially appealing, with the judges pretty much always going "well your song wasn't that interesting but you have a sappy backstory and hey you're the main character so you gotta progress". I would have easily taken a show that follow the opera rapper or the vapid vlogger over C&T.].
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killjoy_the



Joined: 30 May 2015
Posts: 2457
PostPosted: Wed Jul 03, 2019 7:03 pm Reply with quote
Best would go to Attack on Titan 3: Part 2 Second Coming - The Electric Boogaloo You Can (Not) Retake the Coordinate. Really great action moments, world building and character writing. Not a single bad episode.

Runner Up is I guess Dororo. It has some great episodes in there but some real stinkers too, both from a production value and from its writing. It ends on a high note though, which is a good thing. Mix is also here because I guess I just really like Adachi stories - it's often just all right but really charming.

Worst that I finished would have to be Fairy Gone but it's really just mediocre. I dropped (in chronological order!) Ao-Chan Can't Study for being a fairly tame perv comedy (who the hell even wants that? Either go all the way or don't), OPM 2 for being as unfunny as the first season but this time it also looks bad, Hitoribocchi for having side characters that just suck all the fun away from the show (which is a real shame because I really like Bocchi herself), Kimetsu no Yaiba for not managing to excite me in the slightest despite being a well-animated shounen and Carole and Tuesday for having really generic pop music somehow winning against Latin Rap Man and some terrible, terrible drama.

This season looked good when it started, was a real shame.
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zawa113



Joined: 19 Jan 2008
Posts: 7357
PostPosted: Wed Jul 03, 2019 8:50 pm Reply with quote
I'm glad I'm not the only one who was disappointed in how strong Demon Slayer started and how quickly it decided that it was comfortable being a mediocre shonen. Granted, I'm going off the manga here (I tend to do more manga than anime, keep in mind), but when I read vol 1, I was blown away and quickly declared it a "Best of 2018". Vol 2, the cracks started to show with some generic training, but at least it was still in darker territory. And then vol 3 and 4 happen and the series happily abandoned its most unique aspect, the sister and brother relationship, to go generic shonen and I was beyond pissed. I'm glad that the anime at least looks nice with nice fight scenes, but damn, if I wanted to see a fun spectacle, I'd like to watch one that knows and embraces it from the get-go (like Redline). I was honestly waiting for the community to start to ignore it as it went the generic shonen route, but a fun spectacle is worth something in its own right.
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zrnzle500



Joined: 04 Oct 2014
Posts: 3767
PostPosted: Wed Jul 03, 2019 9:30 pm Reply with quote
Best: Attack On Titan 3 Part 2 - Even though I would put it a a bit below some of the previous seasons, I am interested in where the post basement revelations has taken Eren's character, and along with the first part it is probably the most consistent season visually. I'm excited to see what the final season has in store.

Runner-up: Demon Slayer - While Fruits Basket and Sarazanmai were very close, Demon Slayer was the show that I most looked forward to, after Attack on Titan. While I wouldn't argue it is the most original shonen, I thought it executed upon those tropes well, and I appreciate the unique woodblock-esque special effects. Being set in the underrepresented Taisho era is also appealing to me.

While not quite as good as the second season, I think Bungou Stray Dogs 3 deserves an honorable mention, and I would be glad to watch a fourth season, if it happens.

Worst: Yu-no - Part of the reason I picked Yu-no up was to see what made it an inspiration to later better known VNs which were adapted to TV series before it, and it seems to me that at best, it was an inspiration for its overall premise and structure rather than its...execution to say the least. I don't think it is outright bad, it just leaves me wondering what they were thinking with some of the plot points and world building. I do see how it could work in its original porn form at least.
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yuna49



Joined: 27 Aug 2008
Posts: 3804
PostPosted: Wed Jul 03, 2019 11:24 pm Reply with quote
angelmcazares wrote:
yuna49 wrote:
I'm worried that Amazon seems to have nothing in the pipeline to follow Dororo.

They have Vinland Saga.

So we're down to one show per season? That's a big dropoff from a couple years ago.
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lossthief
ANN Reviewer


Joined: 14 Dec 2012
Posts: 1380
PostPosted: Wed Jul 03, 2019 11:41 pm Reply with quote
yuna49 wrote:
angelmcazares wrote:
yuna49 wrote:
I'm worried that Amazon seems to have nothing in the pipeline to follow Dororo.

They have Vinland Saga.

So we're down to one show per season? That's a big dropoff from a couple years ago.


Sentai breaking off from them at the start of 2018 cut their seasonal licenses down to just their Noitamina and Animeism deals, and then those ending this past new year has left them with just their partnership with Twin Engine. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they just stop acquiring exclusive titles entirely once the shows they announced are finished.
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Joshua Zarate



Joined: 12 Jan 2017
Posts: 2061
PostPosted: Thu Jul 04, 2019 3:35 am Reply with quote
1st: Demon Slayer

2nd: Dororo

3rd: Fruits Basket

Honorable Mentions: The Helpful Fox Senko-san, Isekai Quartet, Hitori Bocchi no Marumaru Seikatsu, and Kakegurui ××
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Sekaro



Joined: 12 Nov 2018
Posts: 345
PostPosted: Thu Jul 04, 2019 4:02 am Reply with quote
Best: Attack On Titan S3 Part 2
I thought of putting Jojo Part 5 here again but I think I may have given it too much love last season so I'm going with the best Non-Jojo show this time around. Hence, the title of best goes to the one show that jebaited me into thinking spoiler[Armin died horribly only to reveal that my baby boy gets to live another day in the next episode.]

Runner-up: Demon Slayer
This is a show I never expected much from at first. Just like We Never Learn, my main reason for checking it out is because it's a work from Shonen Jump. However, after watching the first few episodes, the high production values left me in awe. The story and characters still have plenty of heart but I won't deny that I'm feeling a lot of slow burn in these recent episodes. I'm hoping the series continues to get better and I'm also hoping for kickass 2nd OP as well.

Honorable mentions:
Hitori Bocchi
- Still sad this didn't get any weekly reviews
Isekai Quartet
- It's only half the runtime but it still manages to pack a solid comedic punch every episode

Worst: Fairy Tail Final Season
I'm not sure if this show is eligible for this but it's still running so what the heck right. I'm not gonna lie, this season started out kinda strong with surprisingly good and fluid animation. However, as the season went on, the animation got worse and worse. Some episodes looked like they were slides on a PowerPoint presentation. The new villains also didn't cut it either. Eventually, I realised that I was just forcing myself to keep watching this so I just stopped watching indefinitely.
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donhumberto



Joined: 19 Jan 2017
Posts: 807
PostPosted: Thu Jul 04, 2019 7:22 am Reply with quote
I, for the love of me , will never be able to understand the hate Fairy Gone is getting everywhere. It sure has some problems (it can get confusing with all the names at first, but it all becomes perfectly clear halfway through, and some J-rock songs feel really out of place in the soundtrack) but overall I found it inmensely enjoyable and by far one of the best series of the year. It has everything I love in anime and then some (fantastic setting, likable characters, engaging plot and, above all, it looks gorgeous). The fact that it’s getting such a negative response baffles and frustates me to no end…. then again, I’m kinda getting used to it by now (FG is basically taking the place of 2018 ‘s Hero Mask and 2017’s Virgin Soul as the series that I love yet the rest of the world ignores/hates)… oh well.
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