Spring 2020 Anime Discussion

[Plk_Lesiak]

So, as the Spring season is very much live, what are your guys' plans for it?

I'm definitely watching Kaguya-Sama S2 and Fruits Basket S2, and of course the Otome Villainess Isekai, but I'm not sure about the whole rest. Gleipnir looks absolutely awful and might make for a cool hate-watch (and of course, every edgy piece of crap needs to have Kana Hanazawa in it :D), but I haven't seen the first episode yet, so I can't say for sure.

Also, I think the first episode of the Strike the Blood IV OVA is available and I'm catching up on this series, despite its utter trashiness. I think I just can't resist vampire stories even in their lowest forms... We'll see whether my interest doesn't completely die when I'm done with the third season.

Edited April 11, 2020 by Plk_Lesiak

[mitchhamilton]

ooooh, i wasnt aware kaguya sama is getting a second season. will check that out.

 

fruits basket season 2 is nice but still havent watched the first one. wish the art style stayed close to how it is in the manga

[Silvz]

  On 4/11/2020 at 6:00 PM, Plk_Lesiak said:

 Gleipnir looks absolutely awful and might make for a cool hate-watch (and of course, every edgy piece of crap needs to have Kana Hanazawa in it :D), but I haven't seen the first episode yet, so I can't say for sure.

Expand  

I liked it, it reminded me of Mirai Nikki, which can either be good or bad in the future.

[Yuuko]

  On 4/11/2020 at 6:00 PM, Plk_Lesiak said:

lso, I think the first episode of the Strike the Blood IV OVA is available and I'm catching up on this series, despite its utter trashiness

Expand  

ill ban you

[Plk_Lesiak]

  On 4/11/2020 at 7:37 PM, Silvz said:

I liked it, it reminded me of Mirai Nikki, which can either be good or bad in the future.

Expand  

That's interesting, the score of the source manga on MAL is atrocious and the descriptions sound even worse, but if they do the impossible and make it watchable it would be cool. And well, as a connoisenour of garbage, I win either way. 

  On 4/11/2020 at 8:05 PM, Yuuko said:

ill ban you

Expand  

I feel that's an appropriate response no matter what one's stance on this show might be. 

[Silvz]

  On 4/11/2020 at 6:00 PM, Plk_Lesiak said:

Otome Villainess Isekai,

Expand  

I was researching about the LN and it seems to be translated only up to vol 5. Do you know if there are plans for the others to be translated?

Edited April 12, 2020 by Silvz

[Zalor]

Heard Snafu/Oregairu was finally suppose to have a season 3. But apparently it got delayed so instead they are reairing Season 2 which I never actually finished. Crazy to think that I was in High School when season 2 was coming out.  

[tahu157]

I am one of the people hyped for SAO. There are about four of is globally and we all meet for lunch once every few months. Needless to say we are all most disappointed that the next season has been delayed until July.

I wish Strike the Blood would commit to another season instead of going for this OVA miniseries approach again and again. Never could get into “seasons” 2-3 because the release schedule was so irregular.

Eighth Son might be interesting idk.  
 

Gleipnir strikes me as a parody of stuff like Doubt similar to how Mayoiga was a parody of death game stories.

Edited April 12, 2020 by tahu157

[Plk_Lesiak]

  On 4/12/2020 at 1:07 AM, Silvz said:

I was researching about the LN and it seems to be translated only up to vol 5. Do you know if there are plans for the others to be translated?

Expand  

No idea, but you could try asking at the /otomeisekai subreddit, I'm sure they know everything about it. :3

[Dreamysyu]

  On 4/12/2020 at 1:07 AM, Silvz said:

I was researching about the LN and it seems to be translated only up to vol 5. Do you know if there are plans for the others to be translated?

Expand  

Of course. It's an ongoing translation. And it's popular, so it's unlikely that they will drop it. Actually, I'm not even sure if the Japanese version of the LN is already finished. Otome isekais tend to be shorter than regular isekais, that usually continue before authors run out of ideas, but who knows.

Edit. I looked it up a bit. Looks like there are currently 8 volumes in Japan. The translation of the 5th volume will be available on April 26th, and the 6th volume is already being translated. The original WN is complete, but since it has only 46 chapters, I'm pretty sure that the LN doesn't follow it directly. Otherwise it would already be finished after 2 to 4 volumes, depending on how long the chapters are.

Edited April 12, 2020 by Dreamysyu

[ittaku]

This is a relative stinker of a season and mostly it's old shows that are worth watching. Considering how much anime I watch, this is the fewest shows I've been watching in about half a dozen years which is bad. Here's what's left after just one week:

 

Arte (TV) - kind of interesting, harmless, nothing exciting but a nice filler

Ascendance of a Bookworm (TV 2) - Sequel, enjoyed the first season and happy for more. Quality seems to be maintained so far.

A Certain Scientific Railgun T (TV 3) - Sequel of a sequel of a sequel. Nothing wrong here (unlike Index 3).

Fruits Basket 2nd Season (TV) - Sequel of a remake. Very much looking forward to what was never completed first time around of this heartwarming story.

Gleipnir (TV) - Mildly interesting and melodramatic in the extreme and drags shit out. Not sure I'll last out the entire seasonn

Listeners (TV) - Interesting plot and very cute heroine but cheap looking 3D animation

My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! (TV) - Amusing alternative take on Isekai

Princess Connect! Re:Dive (TV) - Yeah not sure why but it survived me watching the first episode, but will probably be dropped

Sing "Yesterday" for Me (TV) - Interesting drama romance with mature adults, if a little depressing it is still interesting.

Tower of God (TV) - Battle royale for the season. Probably drop it.

Tsugumomo2 (TV 2) - Ecchi hijinks sequel with almost no meaningful plot to speak of.

Shokugeki(TV 5) - Another sequel of low budget pans, wipes, and zooms and very little animation, but can we just get on with the Erina x Souma romance already? Kinda bored of the foodgasms now.

Still waiting on:

Re: Zero S2. Despite its flaws, Re: Zero is an entertaining watch and I'm interested to see (what happens to Rem.)

Oregairu S3 - most anticipated anime of the last few years for me. Delaying it is killing me, but it's given me time to rewatch S1 and S2.

 

All in all, no real new stand out gems at all. If I was to recommend anything new this season, it would be Sing Yesterday and My Next Life as a Villainess. Cue up those sequels if you've been watching them though.

[Dreamysyu]

So, it's the middle of the season, and I finally decided to start catching up with the seasonal anime. Started with the first three episodes of My Next Life as a Villainess (also known as Bakarina anime). You know, I take back everything what I said previously, the anime is hilarious! I was suspicious since I generally don't really like dumb characters, but in this particular case it just kind of works. It actually feels more like a sweet parody on the otome villainess isekai genre, though I guess it was one of the earlier ones, so maybe some of tropes actually originate from it.

Now I don't know if I should pick up the LN or just continue with the anime...

Edited May 12, 2020 by Dreamysyu

[Mr Poltroon]

  On 5/12/2020 at 10:19 PM, Dreamysyu said:

So, it's the middle of the season, and I finally decided to start catching up with the seasonal anime. Started with the first three episodes of My Next Life as a Villainess (also known as Bakarina anime). You know, I take back everything what I said previously, the anime is hilarious! I was suspicious since I generally don't really like dumb characters, but in this particular case it just kind of works. It actually feels more like a sweet parody on the otome villainess isekai genre, though I guess it was one of the earlier ones, so maybe some of tropes actually originate from it.

Now I don't know if I should pick up the LN or just continue with the anime...

Expand  

My opinion on the first couple of novels:

Let me preface by saying that the best thing about the story, its wholesomeness, also results in a lot of repetitiveness.
Bakarina's inner thoughts are as simple as she is, obviously, so they're always the same things and the same misunderstandings. Her motivations are always the same and she always interprets everyone's actions from her own perspective, meaning, as far as inner thoughts go, every situation is the same in her head.
Secondly, the interactions between the other characters are also repetitive and always the same.

I think these aspects can be exponentially better in the anime, but I haven't actually watched it to confirm. It feels like these running gags will flow better in something more fast-paced and with complementary animation.

Then there is the story. The events that occur. I don't see any reason why the anime would be particularly worse in that respect. It should have more than enough time to depict the events, because I, at least, didn't feel there were many of them outside of all the running gags and Bakarina being a baka.

The only thing the novel might have over the anime, but again I have not seen it, are the scenes where the novel gets into a character's head

  Reveal hidden contents

and repeats all their interactions with Bakarina so we get their perspective on it.

The wholesomest of things. I'm not sure how they'd do this in the anime.

[Dreamysyu]

@Mr Poltroon I see. I personally thought the pacing in the anime was a bit to fast for my liking, but, if I think about it, I've read some LNs with very similar stories, and, even if funny at first, the tend to get boring pretty quickly. So, I think I'll just stick with the anime for now, and after I catch up with this season, I'll think about picking up the LN from the very beginning, if I'm still in the mood, and after that I'll just continue with what I like more.

Also, let me guess, is the protagonist from the otome game

  Reveal hidden contents

going to be the reincarnation of Bakarina's friend from the previous life?

 

[Mr Poltroon]

  On 5/13/2020 at 11:41 AM, Dreamysyu said:

@Mr Poltroon I see. I personally thought the pacing in the anime was a bit to fast for my liking, but, if I think about it, I've read some LNs with very similar stories, and, even if funny at first, the tend to get boring pretty quickly. So, I think I'll just stick with the anime for now, and after I catch up with this season, I'll think about picking up the LN from the very beginning, if I'm still in the mood, and after that I'll just continue with what I like more.

Expand  

I have every intention of watching some of the anime when I have time, so I'll get back to you on that.

  On 5/13/2020 at 11:41 AM, Dreamysyu said:

Also, let me guess, is the protagonist from the otome game

  Reveal hidden contents

going to be the reincarnation of Bakarina's friend from the previous life?

 

Expand  

Here's an answer in spoilers, so I can force you to try and not click it:

  Reveal hidden contents

There are hints that Sophia might have some sort of connection with the friend.

 

[Dreamysyu]

  On 5/13/2020 at 11:51 AM, Mr Poltroon said:

Here's an answer in spoilers, so I can force you to try and not click it:

  Reveal hidden contents

There are hints that Sophia might have some sort of connection with the friend.

 

Expand  

I see. The truth is, she hasn't even appeared in the story in the 3 episodes that I watched, but a certain scene from the opening made me suspicious. Also, I guess this web-novel I've been following actually is a total ripoff of Bakarina.

Also, I don't particularly care about minor spoilers for this one.

Edited May 13, 2020 by Dreamysyu

[Dreamysyu]

  On 5/13/2020 at 11:51 AM, Mr Poltroon said:

I have every intention of watching some of the anime when I have time, so I'll get back to you on that.

Here's an answer in spoilers, so I can force you to try and not click it:

  Reveal hidden contents

There are hints that Sophia might have some sort of connection with the friend.

 

Expand  

Actually, wait.

  Reveal hidden contents

Sophia is the white-haired girl, right? She actually appeared in episode 3. I thought you were talking about the heroine. But, well, it's still pretty close.

 

[Mr Poltroon]

  On 5/13/2020 at 11:51 AM, Mr Poltroon said:

I have every intention of watching some of the anime when I have time, so I'll get back to you on that.

Expand  

Here's a little update on that topic, @Dreamysyu.
As of episode 5, I am actually of the opinion that the anime is better. Whereas the strength of the Light Novels is in entering a character's head outside of Catarina, the anime finds way of making a lot of this content into events that actually take place in Catarina's presence. From what I'm seeing, it involves giving roles to characters that previously didn't have any in a given part, which is great. Better still is the fact that it's not like it doesn't dive into backstory when it wants to, so it's the best of both worlds, in my opinion. Also seeing the characters being cute is fantastic.

My initial reservations regarding the pace of the first few episodes (there were no transitions between scenes!) ended up being because they were trying to reach the school phase within the three episodes, so they cut transitions rather than rush the scenes they covered. A few scenes were rushed, but it's calmed down since.

[Dreamysyu]

  On 5/17/2020 at 10:46 AM, Mr Poltroon said:

As of episode 5, I am actually of the opinion that the anime is better.

Expand  

I see. Well, I can totally see that happening. This does feel like a type of story that would work better in the anime format. On the other hand, I think I will still check out the LN, at least the first volume. Maybe after this season ends, actually. I think I want to focus on VNs for now.

Anyway, here's my update for season for now:

Bakarina. Caught up with episode 7. Well, for now it's basically the same thing. It's hilarious, incredibly light story. It might get a bit boring and repetitive in the long run, but it's good for now.

Bookworm. Basically, if you liked the first season, you will probably like this one. Comparing it to the LN, it's basically the best they could do with that story and limited budget. The LN is still a lot better though. This is the type of story that is good because of how detailed it is, and an anime will always have to cut a lot of details due to time-constraints. Actually, it looks like they are going a lot slower than I expected: it looks like this season will only adapt the first half of the Temple arc, that is, only volumes 4 and 5. I wonder if they will make another season. But well, considering that now they are only at WN chapter 100 out of approximately 800, I definitely don't expect this anime to ever reach the proper end.

8th son. I only decided to watch the first 5 minutes to let it convince me that it is not a generic isekai, but I'm pretty sure that it is exactly what it is.

Sing "Yesterday" for me. I doubt I'll continue watching it past the first episode, but it's good. I guess, it works if you want to watch something about more "adult" characters. Not really my type of story though.

I also started to watch In/Spectre. I was convinced that it was an anime from this season, but it looks like it actually already finished. Well, I don't want to make another post just for that so I'll still mention it here. Anyway, the first episode looks pretty interesting! I like the MC couple and interested to see where it goes.

[Plk_Lesiak]

So, I finally got my shit together and started catching up on this season's shows.

Bakarina was rather delightful, although it went pretty overboard with how dense the protagonist is... Although I guess that's necessary to maintain that insane harem scenario. Which means, it features some of the typical pitfalls of harem fiction, only putting a clueless female in the middle instead of a clueless guy. The main things saving it are how genuinely funny and wholesome the story is. Even though Catarina does many things for dumb/misguided reasons, from time to time we get a glimpse of how genuinely empathetic and caring she is and this makes the whole experience warm and satisfying. It's also very nicely paced – whenever I got tired of Catarina's silliness there was a transition into something more meaningful to keep my interest.

I still feel that making Catarina a little less of a moron and making her respond to the romantic tension around her would make it even better (9/10 material), but still, a solid 8/10. Also, if they'd both made Catarina less dense and went with a yuri pairing for her (I adore Mary, but I guess Maria would make more sense and be a funnier twist)... That'd be a straight-up 10/10 for me. I heard Maria is actually a legitimate contender in the LNs, but we'll never see enough of those adapted to anime to get to that point.

Gleipnir is nearly over and surprisingly enjoyable is its uber-trashiness. It could use slightly more consistency with its characters, but generally, it has a similar vibe to last season's Darwin's Game – insane powers and a pansy protagonist who eventually has to become brutal to not lose everything he cares for. The dynamic between Shuichi and Claire is actually quite interesting, production quality very solid and super-transparent edginess enjoyable if you're into such stuff.

I'm wondering why I like it while I deeply hated Happy Sugar Life, another ultra-edgy show, but I think it's mostly because this has no pretences of being a psychological horror and gets creative with its supernatural elements. I never really knew where it was going in advance and despite all the gratuitous violence and fanservice it shoves in, it's not stale and not that obnoxious. I'll be curious what other people's reviews are going to look like at the end of the season, but for me, it's likely going to be a 7/10 – way higher than I've expected from the premise and even watching the first episode.

Now, I should probably try to catch up on Kaguya-sama...

Edited June 22, 2020 by Plk_Lesiak

[Silvz]

  On 6/22/2020 at 6:24 PM, Plk_Lesiak said:

but we'll never see enough of those adapted to anime to get to that point

Expand  

there is going to be a season 2 next year

[Plk_Lesiak]

  On 6/22/2020 at 7:47 PM, Silvz said:

there is going to be a season 2 next year

Expand  

Yeah, but still, LNs go way beyond what S2 is alleged to cover and I think they're not finished yet with releasing new volumes. Essentially, this is a harem story and expecting those to get adapted to the point of romantic conclusion is hopeless.

But if they go with Maria ending this will be the first LN I ever read. There's no way I'm missing out on that. 

[Silvz]

  On 6/22/2020 at 8:26 PM, Plk_Lesiak said:

Yeah, but still, LNs go way beyond what S2 is alleged to cover and I think they're not finished yet with releasing new volumes. Essentially, this is a harem story and expecting those to get adapted to the point of romantic conclusion is hopeless.

But if they go with Maria ending this will be the first LN I ever read. There's no way I'm missing out on that. 

Expand  

I personally ship Katarina and Keith, so my hopes are on them

[Dreamysyu]

Aaaaand... Done with the season. I ended up watching two series: Bookworm season 2 and Bakarina. I'm not really in the mood for Kaguya-sama for now, so I'll watch it later.

Well, Bakarina anime is still hilarious; it's been a while since I laughed so much while watching an anime! In the end, I'm probably not going to read the LN, at least, for now, since I don't really see this story working as well in a written format. Characters like Catarina are the best when you are a bit detached from their perspective rather than watch everything through their eyes. Also, this type of comedy tends to get a bit tiresome after a while. I don't know, I may watch the second season.

As for Bookworm anime, I more or less already said everything that I think about it. It's pretty good on its own, but honestly, if you're interested in it, I'd rather recommend to just read the LN. Also, is it just me, or did the art and the animation turn particularly ugly in the last few episodes? If it's true, I guess we have the pandemic to blame. PS. Also, the pictures in the end of each episode are the best thing about this series.

  On 6/22/2020 at 8:26 PM, Plk_Lesiak said:

But if they go with Maria ending this will be the first LN I ever read. There's no way I'm missing out on that. 

Expand  

If that actually happens, I'm going to be quite impressed. For some reason, harem manga or LNs tend to either go for the most boring heterosexual couple, or, even worse, for status quo endings.

Edited July 7, 2020 by Dreamysyu

[littleshogun]

I didn't watch anime much, and we have a lot of delay with the most noticeable example are HealGPC in that it need 9 weeks hiatus between episode 12 and 13. Other than that, Shokugeki no Souma also have hiatus and will resume at summer season here, but to them perhaps they need some other steps to adapt the final arc seeing that the manga version of it was badly received (The author did break some setting to make his story go through, and not helping that the food consultant for the manga was in pregnancy break at that time).

About Bakarina, I'm content that they ended it with the graduation which is very fitting ending seeing that the original web novel also ended there. Besides, to Katarina her focus was more in that the event was supposed to be her got killed if Maria was getting close to one of the hero, and Katarina managed to avoid the death unknowingly (With seven people who love her as the result regardless of the gender). As for the shipping, well I'll leave it to the fandom if they want to write that lol. That said, I'm quite mixed with season 2 announcement in which while I should be glad that it's being successful, at the same time I'd hear that they keep Bakarina being dense along with the fact that the number of hero keep increasing, and I really say this after seeing some comments that said that the light novel was getting worse. So yeah I'm probably just content with one season there, although I may keep an eye on season 2 later.

Other than some anime delay and Bakarina, no much to say here.