Winter Season 2016: Early Impressions

So, since I need some help/overview myself, let´s do this again.



- Boku dake ga inai Machi: so far THE must-see of the season. Laid-back, yet still action-y enough, with a mature hero (of sorts) and a setting that´s just too enjoyable to watch. I already hate having to wait a week for this :>

- Hai to Sensou no Grimgar: First episode was rather slow, but the "trapped in online-mmorpg" blueprint is still captivating enough. And there´s a lot of potential.

- Dimension W: Another non-formulaic show with, also, a mature hero. Very detailed scifi-setting with lots of questions that are sure to be answered. I could do without the shameless cat-robot-girl trope, especially her "tail", but oh well. Definitely interesting, too.

What´s most remarkable imo: All of the above anime feature magnificent animation quality. I guess I´m too used to those cheap still images without much detail, but damn, those shows are nice to look at.

Anybody seen Prince of Stride? Synopsis sounds interesting. Is it a real sports anime or some other shit?

I'll cover everything I've watched so far (at least ep1, if not 2). Prince of Stride comments below.

Active Raid - police force with small mecha suits fight criminals in stolen mecha suits. The protagonist is pretty funny in that she thinks she knows way more about what the team should be doing than they do. There are some interesting things going on in the background plot threads, the animation is nice, the CG robot fights are decently cool. Overall, pretty decent show so far.

Ao no Kanata no Four Rhythm - flying shoes, horribly annoying characters, some nonsense sport. That's what I got from the first episode. Not looking good, but I'll at least watch ep 2.

Boku Dake ga Inai Machi - as covered above, fantastic. A combination of thriller/mystery makes this a fun watch and I can't wait to see what happens next.

Bubuki Buranki - CG robot fights in a suprisingly complex setting. Perhaps too complex, because I have no idea what is going on. I'm very impressed by the CG, surpassing Knights of Sidonia in quality. Fights are cool, though slightly nonsensical. Characters are pretty standard stereotypes.

Dagashi Kashi - crazy girl likes cheap Japanese candy/treats. You watch this for the crazy girl and to learn more about random Japanese snacks. Feels like a very obvious 4-koma adaptation.

Dimension W - with a name like that, you would expect it to be bad, but this is probably near the top of my list. Great animation, cool characters, an interesting futuristic setting. Gasoline is expensive and going out of style because of the new energy source, but the main character (adult male) runs an auto-repair shop and has cool old cars. I'd recommend anyone to at least check it out.

Divine Gate - magic high school show #1? Way too much jargon, lots of chuuni style fights. Though this was at least interesting enough to continue watching.

Gate 2 - sequel to Gate, you should watch season 1 first

Hai to Gensou no Grimgar - reincarnated in an RPG? again. Except this time, no memories, and the characters are horrible at living in this world. Super slow pacing so far leaves me wanting it to pick up a bit, but I have no idea where they're going, which is good.

Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! - reincarnated into an RPG! Except this time, it's a parody. Calls out the tropes and makes jokes about them. Characters are funny and silly enough that it is a good watch.

Koukaku no Pandora - supposedly by the creator of Ghost in the Shell, but nothing like it. Cyborg girl acquires powers from other cyborg girl by sticking her hand in her robot crotch? I'm so confused. There are robots and autonomous things to fight for some reason. I'll stick around for at least ep 2 to see what is going on.
EDIT: Okay, after episode 2, I'm done. No expectations for anything good.

Luck and Logic - magical high school #2. The fights in this one seemed pretty cool. Humans pair with gods or something. Way too much jargon again.

Musaigen no Phantom World - Kyoto animation does fanservice! I approve. Silly, lighthearted plots, cool action scenes, and delicious fanservice. Limbo in episode 1 is amazing.

Nurse Witch Komugi-chan R - from what I understand, this is supposed to be a parody of magical girls. However, it plays it a little too straight in episode 1. Character design by Monogatari dude, so the main girls look like Mayoi and Hanekawa, haha. Hoping it pokes more fun at mahou shoujo tropes, but episode 1 was kind of boring.

Phantasy Star Online 2 - I thought this was going to be about a plot set in PSO2 universe. Instead, the characters go to high school and play PSO2! lol... Kind of "so bad it's good" at this point. I kind of just hope the Sega Hard Girls show up, though they go to Seiga academy, not Segaha.

Prince of Stride - basically Free, but a made-up parkour-relay sport and so far a little less homo. It is somewhat interesting, though their sport has parts that make no sense (like why the guy tagging out in a relay has to be running full speed away from the next person). Hanazawa Kana is the female lead (who like all of these shows is boring and has no personality).

Saijaku Muhai no Bahamut - Magical high school #3. This one plays it straight as the pair from last season. Main girl is a princess, lucky pervert moment, duels the MC, who is bad but actually amazing. It's all there in episode 1. The mecha are somewhat interesting, but nothing special so far.

Shoujo-tachi wa Kouya wo Mesazu - a different take on the "otaku going to make a VN game" plot than previous shows. The producer girl is somewhat interesting/funny, the cast is basically all stereotypes though. Fun enough to at least give a few more episodes.



Not watched yet but plan to:
Ajin - is this a movie or a show? Very confused.
Akagami 2
Assassination Classroom 2
Durarara 2 part 3
Haruchika
Reikenzan - this is on the anichart list, but no release?
Showa Genroku Rakugo

Oshiete! Galko-chan - A 8 minute gag show about a trio of girls. I'd say it specializes in gap-moe of the title character, who looks (and is assumed by her classmates and peers) to be a vapid slut, but is of course kind and smart, but a bit naïve. It covers a bit more mature topics than the average gag series. Most of the series is about teasing Galko or tricking her into answering very personal questions.

Koukaku no Pandora - GHOST URN -
A second opinion:
This series has earned a soft spot in my jaded heart. It is written by GitS' author, and it is nothing like GitS...except when it totally is. It's basically GitS without the militarization, though there does seem to be some nefarious stuff going on that the main duo will end up getting caught up in. The technology and cybernization goes away from GitS' dark take on what it is used for, and instead goes for a lighter, optimistic, more neon future. That said, there are some serious undertones going on, discussed in passing, but the series even states at the beginning of the third episode that this series generally won't be about that stuff. It frequently alludes to some pretty bad stuff going on outside the island they're on.

In addition, the protagonist herself is pretty scary in her own right. She's like the genki version of Motoko, extremely skilled at using her cyborg body and cyberbrain (edit: and yes, that is without the super upgrade temporary power).

I'd say give it a chance with the first three episodes. There's a little more depth to it than the description or the first two episodes give it credit for. It has a little bit of shoujo ai ecchi stuff, but that seems to take a back seat to exploring a much more optimistic version of the Ghost in the Shell premise.

Musaigen no Phantom World - I really don't see myself finishing this series. It's remarkably dull, and its premise repetitive. The VA performance and exploitation of the lead girl is honestly the only thing it has going for it. I've made it halfway through the 3rd episode and I honestly can't be bothered to finish it until I've finished everything else I downloaded this week.

Dimension W - It's been very good. I had no expectations for it and tried it when I was bored. It's a little like Solty Rei as mentioned elsewhere, but it is more like Saber Marionette with a Tiger and Bunny feel to it all. It absolutely feels like a late 90s series (possibly very early 00s) with modern animation.

Boku Dake ga Inai Machi - It's really just inverse Higurashi when you step back from it. It's getting a lot of universal love, but I find it more compelling than enjoyable. I don't look forward to it each week like I do some of the other series. It's very good, don't get me wrong.

Dagashi Kashi - I loved the first two episodes, but the third fell a little flat. I'm afraid the gags might start to get stale, but otherwise I love the hell out of it. Hotaru might be the girl of the season.

Schwarzesmarken - It's muvluv. You know what you're getting here. Blood, bleakness, and bickering.

Ooyasan wa Shishunki! - It's 2 minutes long (total), it's not very good, but I'll keep watching it because it is 2 minutes long. A win for momentum! Why it has a 30-second OP baffles me.

Other things I'm watching are sequels or ongoing, so I'm not going to mention them. Still need to try Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo.

Showa Genroku Rakugo

Started it last sunday. Honestly, I shouldn't like it because there's no moe, only male main characters and it deals with local culture humor and play on words (Rakugo) I can never dream of ever understanding, even 20 years from now.
But somehow the story behind caught my interrest.
Somehow, the rakugo plays have a nice ring and rythm to my ears. Though but rewarding job for the VAs I guess.

Ajin

Same king of CG used in many shows of late (even this season), but the only one to give the same kind of vibe I got in the first eps of Sidonia ni Kishi.
That CG art tool is still flawed in many scenes/situations. But for others it really gives you a ride for the money.
There's nothing too novel with the scenario for the first ep, we knew Kei would be an Ajin, even before the scene when he's possessed.
But the intro gave me hope I can have other good rides later in the show

Ajin:

Also just watched ep 1 and I guess I agree with David. Animation is like Shidonia, but Ajin suffers from the less interesting setting. We don´t know much about this careerist that turns out to be an Ajin. We also don´t know why Ajin are treated like monster/enemies, when they´re still human in anything but their relative immortality. But Kaito has a nice aura surrounding him, and together they´re a likeable duo. Will keep watching.

For a gouvernement, Ajins are threats since they can't be killed. So they quite naturally label them as non humans so that they can treat them as they wish, without any treaty protecting the ajins. They lose any civil rights and almost nobody complains out of fear and maybe some jealousy too.
As for your remark to the fact they are humans that got possessed, well it might be we're the only ones to know that thanks to Kei's memories.
For the setting, well it's a point of view, I think there's enough matter to make it very entertaining in relation to moral, philosophy, civil rights, politics and so on. Maybe there's even too much and they might fail telling a good story because of that, in the limited time a show offers. But there's plenty of nice potential.
Maybe we should start a thread or add to it if it exists

KonoSuba - One of my favorites this season. Really funny characters. I still laugh at the jokes even though I've already read the LN.
Dagashi Kashi - Story is quite boring, but the fanservice and food info are nice. Made me buy this.
Active Raid - Liking this mainly because I like the character designs. I really like the tsuntsun girl, who reminds me of Akane Kogami, and the fiery boy with glasses, who reminds me of Ban from Getbackers.
Phantasy Star Online 2- Surprisingly entertaining. It doesn't really try to do anything new, but overall it seems refreshing because of how inconsequential everything is. It is just a game, after all.
Hai to Gensou no Grimgar - Boring as hell. They forgot what made episode 1 watchable, which was the waki.

Watched practically everything else, but nothing else to add from what has been said so far.