Well, I’m watching a lot of shows this season, even more than last season, about 20. So I’m going to split this post into two parts, the first will go live today, and the second will likely go live in a couple of days. I will not post this sort of list every week, certainly not for this number of shows. I intend to cut down the amount of shows I’m watching to 10-12 by next week or the week after, to leave me more time for other things.
There will be spoilers of episode 1-2 of the shows discussed, but that’s part of the premise, honestly.
Shows covered in this part: Kyoukai no Kanata, Valvrave the Liberator S2, Log Horizon, Unbreakable Machine Doll, Galilei Donna, Walkure Romanze, Miss Monochrome, Super Seisyun Brothers, Golden Time, Sekai de Ichiban, and Samurai Flamenco.
Click here for part 1, covering the following shows: Coppelion, Nagi no Asukara, Gingitsune, Yuushibu, NouCome, Strike the Blood, BlazBlue: Alter Memory, Tokyo Ravens, Kill la Kill, Outbreak Company.
Well, let’s dive straight into it. Again organizing it by how well I like them thus far to make it easier to read. Will also use some keywords to describe each show.
Got Me Hooked:
Samurai Flamenco – Also known as Sumamenco, this is definitely the most surprising show of the season for me. The show covers a young man who dreams to be a superhero, and the show bears definite similarities to kick-ass. He meets with a slightly more cynical cop, and that’s episode 1.
This show is drawn in the classic way, and I mean the near classic, think Samurai Champloo, which can trace itself back to Cowboy Bebop, and from there we’re solidly in the early 90s. This show oozes style, and charm. Everything about this show makes me nostalgic, which isn’t enough, right. It’s drawn in a gorgeous way where there’s attention to details. The attention to detail is noticeable elsewhere as well, with the actors all doing a splendid work in their roles, delivering believeable lines and characters, with solid character interaction and chemistry as well.
Watched: 1/22
Keywords: Old School, buddy cop show, delusions, sentai?
Log Horizon – A bunch of gamers suddenly find themselves locked within an MMORPG, and though it seems to have resembled a game of the sort we can play in our world until now, now they seem to be there in person. We also get some really neat sci-fi moments, and signs that show the writers like and play MMORPGs.
I’ve played various online games since 1999. I remember reading the comic USER. In other words, this is exactly the type of show I enjoy. We had good action sequences, we had the players thinking about their humanity, what it means to live in this reality, and reflecting about their goals, about motivation – meaning this show will have definite themes for us to bite into, while also actually exploring the rich premise that we have, rather than ignoring it for yet another battle royale. We also had plenty of Akatsuki.
The characters continue to be human, in a good way. A solid show, thus far. The pacing is quite slow, but I think we’re still setting up our characters and their situation as relatable, as well as providing exposition to non-MMORPG players. For a 25 episode show, this is fine.
Watched: 2/25
Keywords: MMORPGs, Comedy, Economics?
Also, this OP certainly has a lot going for it, and the English is even worthy of being called English, I present to you “Database!”
