Spring 2018 – Week 5 in Review

Welp, looks like it’s about time for another Week in Review. The spring season is pretty much just holding steady at the moment, with the action highlights and Galactic Heroes maintaining their usual appeal while Hinamatsuri trudges along the best it can. My schedule is turning out to be as light as I expected, and frankly, if I had some other well-written character drama to replace it, Hinamatsuri would be right out. That said, I’m not truly in any hurry to pick up more shows; this being a weak season also means I was able to find time for stuff like catching up on Violet Evergarden, which I’m very thankful for. Even if the actual airing shows disappoint, any season where I’m personally watching through productions like Princess Tutu and Chihayafuru can’t be that bad. But let’s put aside the paeans to backlog for now, and run down this week’s newest contenders!

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Spring 2018 – Week 4 in Review

Well well well. Here we are again. Wednesday has arrived, and as you all know, the astral spheres have clearly designated this of all days to be the chosen day of seasonal anime reflection. And on the third day, God watched Naruto, and it was good.

As far as this week in particular goes, the anime is doing pretty all right at the moment. This continues to be a season that’s sorely lacking in my kinds of character dramas or theme pieces, but fortunately, its top contenders in other genres are impressive enough to keep my interest anyway. My Hero Academia absolutely killed it this week, and while Megalo Box wasn’t at its best, it’s still maintaining a polish of execution and sturdiness of storytelling that make it an easy watch. And as long as I have Yang Wen-li mildly commenting on the inherent inhumanity of war, I’ll probably be okay. The cartoons are doing pretty alright, and I’m eager to talk about them. Let’s start with some megalo boxing and run this week down!

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Spring 2018 – Week 3 in Review

It’s Wednesday my dudes. Three weeks into the spring season, I’ve at last more or less “caught up,” and solidified the list of shows I’ll definitely be sticking with. As of now, I’m set on My Hero Academia, Megalo Box, Hinamatsuri, and Legend of the Galactic Heroes, with Wotakoi currently on the bubble. I’m pretty darn happy with that list – it’d be nice to have a more dedicated character drama like After the Rain, or a rich message piece like Gatchaman Crowds, but I have very few complaints with the four I’m sold on, and there’s a stacked bench waiting if I feel inclined to pick up Persona 5 or something. Megalo Box might be the only true stunner this season, but there are plenty of very solid shows just behind it, and I’m having a great time on the whole. Let’s catch up with some cartoons and run this week down!

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Spring 2018 – Week 2 in Review

The anime was… alright, I’ll level with you, I have nowhere near caught up with ongoing anime. The first episodes of everything, sure, yeah, I had to review all that, but any episode twos? Well, I found time for the punch-happy shows I watch with my housemates anyway, but that’s basically it. Hell, I only found time to watch After the Rain’s finale two days ago! I’ve basically just been finishing up preview week and catching up on other projects in the aftermath, so “airing anime” isn’t really a concept for me at the moment. But hey, let’s run down what I did manage to get to, and hopefully by next week I’ll have caught up enough on writing about anime to actually watch some anime. Let’s get to it!

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Spring 2018 – Virtually Every First Episode Retrospective

Hey all, and welcome to the Spring 2018 Premiere Retrospective! If you haven’t been here before, here’s the deal: my work at Anime News Network means I end up watching and reviewing nearly every single new premiere in a season. That normally adds up to somewhere between thirty and forty premieres, and given a solid percentage of those premieres tend to be shows I wouldn’t inflict on my worst enemy, it seems like a worthwhile idea to rank these episodes to aid future travelers. As usual, I’m not implying these rankings are “objective” or anything, and obviously my own tastes will dictate a great deal of how things shake out. I also should stress that a show ending up somewhere further down the ranking isn’t necessarily a bad thing – I grumble about it, but in truth, the majority of anime are perfectly watchable, and will likely appeal to an audience who finds their premise intriguing. You can check out the full list of ANN reviews here, and I’ll be grouping my own critiques into vague tiers below. Alright, that’s enough preamble. Let’s rank some shows!

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Spring 2018 – First Impressions, Part Two

The spring season continues to barrel onward, and we’ve now arrived at some actual, genuine pickups! From the action-packed Megalo Box to the comfy as heck Comic Girls, we’re getting into the real contenders at this point, and even picking up some unexpected stars like the new SAO spinoff. As usual, you can check out the full ANN preview guide right here, or click below for a list of my new scores and links to individual rules. Let’s get right to it!

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Spring 2018 Season Preview

It’s that time again, folks. With the winter season entering its final act, it’s time to set our eyes forward to the upcoming season, and start pinning our hopes of anime redemption on whatever shows await beyond the horizon. After a relatively reserved winter season, this spring promises some long-awaited revivals, beloved continuations, and high-profile adaptations, along with a variety of more tentatively exciting productions. There’s no single obvious pick, but plenty of reasons to be excited for what’s on the way. As usual, I won’t be running down the names and synopses for every single upcoming show – you can find out show premises on any site like MAL, and check out the full list of shows over at anichart. I’ll just be focusing on my own personal list – the shows I myself am looking out for, along with the presumably tangible reasons I’m excited for them. Plotted out in vague order of my own hype, let’s break down what stars await in the spring season!

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