Winter Season 2016: Early Impressions

[MasterOfMoogles]

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