Some strong episodes and some weak ones this week, but fortunately the shows that could really be damaged by a weak link (Ping Pong, One Week Friends) came out swinging. Running them down…
Tag Archives: Captain Earth
Spring 2014 – First Half in Review
Welp, we’ve reached the season’s halfway point, which means it’s once again time to roughly shepherd everything I’m watching into a reductive hierarchy that through its very nature misses the point of art altogether. Everybody loves lists!
Incidentally, the fact that it is so reductive is why I do this nonsense in the middle of the season, and not the end. Lists are fun, but I don’t want lists anywhere near my actual takeaway from shows, so I use this mainly just to sort out my general feelings on the season’s overall tenor. This season has turned out to be very good, and I have already dropped every single show I’m not solidly enjoying – if anything on this list looks entertaining to you, I can confirm that even the lowest shows have been solid enough at what they’re doing. And the top shows… yeah, this is a season to be proud of. Let’s run it down!
Spring 2014 – Week 5 in Review
Man, my schedule is so optimized at this point. Four great shows, one okay but very enjoyable show, and Captain Earth as my only speculative pick. I also finished Mushishi last weekend, so I’ll soon be catching up on that as well. Grahh all these good shows anime YEAH.
Spring 2014 – Week 4 in Review
The season has settled at this point, and where it has settled is a very satisfying place. JoJo, Ping Pong, and One Week Friends are fantastic, Sidonia is much stronger than I expected, Captain Earth is kind of wibbly-wobbly, and Chaika is comfy as all get-out. Once I add Mushishi to the list, this will pretty much secure this season as the best one since I started watching airing shows. Good times!
Spring 2014 – Week 3 in Review
It’s sink or swim time this week, and fortunately for my own sanity, a whole lot of shows are obligingly gurgling their way to the bottom. This tendency for the chaff to vote itself off the island is being nicely counterbalanced by solid episodes from all the shows I give a damn about, so right now I couldn’t be happier about this season. At this point, it’s looking like I’ll cut down to between six and eight shows that are all roughly as good or better than my top two from last season – last season was weak, but that’s still a fantastic place to be. Running them down…
Spring 2014 – First Impressions, Part Two
This season is way too good. The shows I was hesitant about are great, the shows I was confident about are fantastic, and pretty much every genre I like is being represented. I haven’t even gotten to Mushishi yet, either! I’ve fortunately found a couple shows I can actually drop, but honestly, it’s looking like it’ll be really tough to maintain my cynical hipster cred this season. Damn you, anime.
Incidentally, I’m also heading off on vacation starting tomorrow, so this will likely be my last post until next week. I’ll also be kind of limited in my ability to respond to comments in that time, but don’t worry, I will get to them when I can. Anyway, on with the shows!
Spring 2014 – First Impressions, Part One
A new season is upon us! That’s always pretty exciting, and this season in particularly looks extremely strong. So let’s start with that wonderful seasonal ritual of finding petty reasons to drop shows so our lives aren’t consumed by anime altogether. Hurray!
Incidentally, in light of my recent Samurai Flamenco essay, Mr. Justice will be handling all final assessments of this season’s new shows. PREPARE FOR JUSTICE.
Spring 2014 Season Preview
Well, we’re into the back half of winter, meaning it’s high time to stop suffering through whatever we’re currently watching and starting figuring out if next season will melt our jaded hearts. I’m pretty sure it will, in this case – even if this winter weren’t already awful, next season looks fantastic. I’m sure you’re all excited too, which is why I’m here to demonstrate the Correct shows to be excited about, with no exceptions, additions, or substitutions. And by that I mean the opposite of that – this list is basically just what I already know I have reasons to be excited about, and every season has its own surprises. It’s not like I expected to be looking forward to friggin’ Witch Craft Works. Anyway, let’s run down next season’s extremely impressive list.
Well, actually, before that, I should probably explain what this list is even about. I’m pretty much not going to list shows based on premise – personally, I think premise is almost entirely disconnected from quality, and will only bring it up if it seems unusual enough to warrant mention. Instead, my list is largely based on things I think actually do correlate with quality – talented creators, strong source material, and studios I’ve come to trust. Will I miss some shows? Obviously, but listing premises and hypothesizing on how they might not turn out poorly doesn’t sound like a particularly useful exercise. As always, the full list up upcoming shows is available at anichart.net. Anyway!