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I'm going to split my favorites into two categories: "Good series that I can just recommend to people" and "Good series that have a single glaring issue that I might not be able to recommend without giving context ahead of time". The good stuff: 1) ACCA: 13 Territory Inspection Department I appreciated the slow burn that Jean Otis's story presented. Political thrillers that aren't just a pretext for battle shonen are hard to come by, and even when we do get one the story can easily be lost in unnecessarily meandering plots (See: Joker's Game). The OP is wonderfully colorful and does a great job setting up the concept. ACCA does seem a bit polarizing, I've seen some aspects lauded over in this thread that were cited as a turn off in the "Worst of" thread. A particular sticking point for some people was the large amount of SoL scenes about tasty food or some other district point of pride. For me those were sorely needed due to how the show could dump story on you in some episodes and a nice break to talk about how a particular district makes GIANT FOOD, or some dumb prince learning about what the gently caress toast is were fun. Spoilers from here I guess. That Jean was effectively tasked with investigating a plot that he himself was an (seemingly) unwitting arbiter in was a good hook for the conspiracy. Not gonna lie, I'll probably be stealing the story beats from this for D&D plot lines. The whole "Cigarette Peddler" identity as a calling card was novel to me, and I'm glad the show runners didn't feel the need to explain it too much beyond setting up in basic terms why they were rare. I personally like the idea that Jean just bumbled into it like most other things. The inter-generational body-guarding was a bit weird but that's not really a unique thing here and since royalty is involved, even exiled royalty, it's not that out of place. Overall: Chill series, easy watch, and plenty engaging. 2) Little Witch Academia LWA is here not so much for story and art but for what it represents in regards to the anime industry going forward. The series is now the poster child for independently produced series and how they can gain mainstream representation. The series starting out as a student project funded by the Japanese Government backed "Young Animator Training Project", which has also given us other great series like Death Billiards/Parade, and then moving on to having a sequel (mostly) funded via Kickstarter shows that there is at least one other option for good, non-adaptation based, original anime to strive for in order to get made. In addition to that this series, along with Inferno Cop, helped cement Trigger's place as a successful studio worthy of it's lineage. Now that's not to say that the art and story aren't good. The art direction and animation was definitively some of the strongest out there this year, especially considering this year seems to be rife with studios farming out hosts of episodes to random low grade animation factories or just cutting in cheap 3D animation whenever they had to (not to mention train wrecks like Dynamic Chord). The story was strong and thankfully doesn't fall into any "chosen one" bullshit. 3) Recovery of an MMO Junkie This poo poo was just super sweet and I'm a sucker for a nice romance story. Double points for it not being a fanservice anime. 4) Restaurant to Another World I really liked this take on the Isekai genre. Nice chill series where fantasy beasts and wizards bro out and eat pub food. Also an elder god of pure destruction decides to be a waitress in exchange for curry. 5) Saga of Tanya the Evil Another Isekai series that I actually liked since it took the heart of the genre and did something new with it, instead of just being another "not quite an MMO" fantasy set up with an annoying wunderkind running around with a Harem. Also techno-machi-magic in alternate earth's WW1 is pretty cool. By all rights this series still has all the points that I usually hate when it comes to Isekai series (Adult experience in a kids body, being inexplicably effective in a new world, etc) but for whatever reason Tanya makes it work better and not stand out too much. Also god being a straight up rear end in a top hat made me laugh. The stuff that's good but I'm not sure I can recommend without some context 1) Kobayashi's Dragon Maid The anime itself isn't much of an issue in a vacuum, especially for recommendations to people who already watch a lot of anime, but the manga is another story. And if there's a second season I'm not sure how they'll handle some of the characters that show up (which they already pushed out of the story for season 1's adaptation, but going forward that'll be harder to do without heavy rewrites). That aside: Great chill show with some funny gags and a great OP/ED. 2) The Ancient Magus' Bride I'd recommend this hands down and have no issue with it if it weren't for the whole "I bought you to be my apprentice and also to groom you to be my wife" subtext (and text) to the story. Now before you start: Yes, I've read the manga, and I get that Elias is just a giant doofus who doesn't know what that actually means or the context that it has in the modern human world. That said: You have to admit that the placement of that plot point against where the explainers for it emerge make this a hard sell for people not already interested. Plus, for many that explanation may not be enough to excuse the story. Now with the baggage out of the way this is easily my #3 overall for the year, behind ACCA and LWA. It's just got baggage. The art and animation are great, the world and the way it handles magic is novel and steeped in a variety of real world mythology that give it a refreshing, living feeling. It's almost like Constantine where you could have the Mayan god of death run into Buddah broing out with Satan.
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Dec 27, 2017 15:40
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| # ¿ May 14, 2024 04:19 |
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