Just when Akame ga Kill was getting good, it suddenly discards its wonderful manga source and wanders off into the world of made up nonsense. The storytelling immediately becomes worse and the action in the episode is impossible to follow, which is no wonder because the producers of the anime are not nearly as skilled at writing stories as the actual story writer himself -- especially at writing someone else's story than their own. It's Claymore all over again.
Oh well, it was nice while it lasted, but Akame ga Kill is no longer worth watching and thus must be dropped from the fall lineup. For the sake of the first 19 episodes, it's still a great series everyone should watch, but that no longer applies to the rest of the series.
Meanwhile Grisaia no Kajitsu is rapidly falling short of its masterful fourth episode to the point that you wonder if that was just some sort of fluke or dream. My theory is that the anime involves too much filler or is cutting too much and thus has dropped in quality every week since episode 4. I'll soldier on with this series, but much like Akame ga Kill it's obvious the anime adaption has ended up butchering the quality of the original source. How hard is it to just follow the source? Who are these arrogant people who think they're better than the original writers of the series and can change it at will into something 'better'? If you want to make an original anime, go ahead and make an original anime, like Shirobako. Shirobako is great. Just don't touch other people's masterpieces. I think it should be illegal to change a story when adapting it from its original source into any other media medium. It's like kidnapping someone else's child. The gravity of the crime is probably even worse considering how important these works of art are to the future of mankind. Leaving out material is one thing, though it's frustrating and stupid, but entirely changing the story from the truth into a lie is just sacrilege.
With the fillericious exploits of Akame ga Kill and Grisaia no Kajitsu in mind, it's nice to see some good anime news emerge elsewhere. One of my favorite manga series by one of my favorite mangakas, Rumiko Takahashi, has finally been green-lit for an anime adaptation. Kyoukai no Rinne will be receiving 25 episodes starting the spring of 2015. Unless they completely screw up this adaption, it's a shoe-in for my anime rankings. More good news is that the Girls und Panzer movie is finally slated to come out this summer in 2015, though of course America won't see it until much later.
Mother's Rosario is, as expected, the absolute apex of Sword Art Online. Ever since I read the light novel, I've been waiting for this portion of the anime adaption. Unlike Grisaia or Akame ga Kill, the animators of SAO have been adapting their source material perfectly, with obvious delicacy and appreciation of the epic masterpiece they've been chosen to bring to life. It's no wonder Sword Art Online would end up the 3rd best anime of all time, behind only the ridiculously longer anime series One Piece and Naruto. On an ep by ep basis, SAO is simply the best thing out there, but it's hard for a single episode of SAO to be better than 10 or 20 episodes of other shows, so #3 it is. All the criticisms of SAO are ridiculous and stupid, no one can offer an actual rational argument why this series is bad. Once those idiots watch Mother's Rosario they'll feel ashamed of themselves and do penance for all the bad things they've said about the show up until this point. Reki Kawahara is God incarnate and anyone who criticizes him should be decapitated.
I've pretty much lost all interest in Daitoshokan no Hitsujikai so I think I'll be dropping it too. The magical aspects add nothing to the story and seem to just come out of nowhere, whereas none of the characters have really grown on me over time. In addition, the art and animation is really sub par in this day and age. Noucome looked so much better than this.
Amagi Brilliant Park is still entertaining but I wish they wouldn't rely so much on fanservice and coarse humor to get the job done. It has so many brilliant moments, it doesn't need to curry favor with the lowest common denominator to be appreciated. Amagi would be better if it just showed a bit more dignity, but I guess we can't hope for that until they finally make the next season of Full Metal Panic instead.
Ore Twintail has the same problem. Having a girl pseudo-stripping while making suspicious noises and blushing faces, all in order to 'power up her tail gear,' is beneath this series and a waste of time. The yellow twintail is such a wretched addition to the cast, apparently existing solely to provide lewd fanservice to the audience. It was so much better when it was just red and blue. . .sigh.
I'm not sure what to think of Yuuki Yuuna when it already killed off all the enemies only halfway through the series. We'll just have to take a wait and see approach for this show.
Shirobako has been perfect as always. Akatsuki no Yona has a few too many shojo tropes. This week it was the 'bumbling clumsy idiot man who is nevertheless super competent when it comes to his work.' Such a man does not exist. If he's competent at his job he's also self-possessed, intelligent and mature in his daily life as well. If he's that incompetent at life there's no way he'd be good at his job either. Choose one. These sorts of two-faced people are just a failed attempt at humor that falls flat every time. Even so, the quality of its non-shoujo tropish scenes outweighs the worthlessness of its shoujo tropish scenes so the series is managing to stay above water. Sailor Moon Crystal continues to be a shallow story where we're never shown anything, it's always just told us and dictated upfront. Everyone is 'fated' to be in love with everyone else, so no one falls in love at all and there's not even an inkling of the normal thrill we would get from a romance story. The first season of Sailor Moon really isn't what makes Sailor Moon great so remaking only this and the next arc isn't going to do much for the worth of the series one way or the other. Starting with the third arc and the introduction of Sailor Uranus is when the manga actually gets good, so of course the anime adaption ends just before then. Go figure.
Happiness Charge is positively awful but for the sake of completion I must continue to watch all Pretty Cure that comes out no matter how bad. Sigh.
Ushinawareta is pretty good, but Kenny is not a good sidekick character and he really drags the show down. I also feel unsatisfied with the show until all of its dramatic mysteries are revealed. Only then will I really know whether the show is good or not, because currently it's keeping all of its cards to its chest.
Yama no Susume is adorable, and Fate/Stay Night is action packed. I have no complaints here.
Naruto is positively amazing. With Obito's voice acting and Rin in full color, I'm feeling an even deeper attachment for the series of events than I did while reading the manga. Naruto is just so ridiculously good. As expected of the #2 anime of all time.
One Piece is proceeding too slowly as always, but it's still a great arc of the manga the tv series is covering so I'm content. Also, Rebecca is hot in her gladiator outfit. As expected of the #1 anime of all time(?)
1. Sword Art Online II
2. Fate/Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works
3. Naruto
4. Shirobako
5. Akatsuki no Yona
6. Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru
7. Dragon Ball Kai Buu
8. One Piece
9. Grisaia no Kajitsu
10. Sailor Moon Crystal
11. Amagi Brilliant Park
12. Ore, Twintail ni Narimasu
13. Ushinawareta Mirai wo Motomete
14. Yama no Susume Second Season
15. Happiness Charge Pretty Cure
We've finally reached a lower number of followed series than this summer had. However, it's not that big a deal because Mother's Rosario is worth the entire summer lineup of anime combined.
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