Welp, looks like I’m writing at Crunchyroll now. I’ve got a new column over there starting up this week, and opening with a closer look at just one element of Mob Psycho’s first episode. If all goes according to plan, that’ll be the general style – deep dives on specific ideas or characters or elements of craft that pull our favorite shows together. I’m very excited to start on this project, and hope you enjoy my first piece!
You can check out my first article right here.
Dear lord, one week after the retrospective and we’re already a quarter through the season. This season ended up offering a stronger collection of shows than I was initially expecting, meaning I get to be fairly discerning in choosing what I actually keep up with. At this point, I’m legitimately excited about everything I’m watching – we’ve got a great mix of pure fun (Love Live, Thunderbolt Fantasy) and engaging drama (Orange, Planetarian), with Mob Psycho offering a dash of action and visual creativity. Let’s start with those new Love Lives and run this week down!
Mob Psycho’s second episode turned out to be nearly as visually compelling as the first, and did great work in polishing Mob’s sympathetic character. Mob Psycho’s visual strengths are very obvious, but I’m really happy to also see Mob and Reigen gaining texture over time. I dropped Space Dandy because it was visual experimentation with nowhere to go – as much as I appreciate strong art design, I need to care about what’s happening. So far, it seems like Mob Psycho is going to fit that bill.
You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my episode two notes below.
I think we’re gonna make it through, everybody. I was a little worried for a while there, as the first half of this season’s premieres made it seem like I wouldn’t hit even half a dozen potential shows. But the second half rallied with a few very necessary surprises, and so now I’m at the point where it should take me a good three or four weeks to determine that anime is terrible once again.
The season’s highlights slot into a solid variety of genres, leaving us fans with at least one thing to enjoy regardless of whether we’re fans of drama, slice of life, idols, or Toonami, the four core pillars of anime. Last season’s lack of a strong character-focused show will hopefully be made up for by this season’s Orange and ReLIFE, and it’s great to see that Sunshine actually seems to be improving on the Love Live formula. As usual, I’ll be breaking this season’s premieres down into flawlessly objective tiers for your perusal, and including links to all of my longer reviews over at ANN. We’ve got a whole lot of anime to fight through, so let’s get right to business and RUN THIS SEASON DOWN.
And so another season slowly marches to its end. Spring 2016 has been a pretty fantastic season, all things considered. Personally, this has has been the best season for a solid year, but even outside of my own genre preferences, this season had pretty much something for everyone. I wasn’t even watching a fair number of this season’s biggest shows, but between Concrete Revolutio, Kiznaiver, JoJo, Flying Witch, The Lost Village, and My Hero Academia, I had plenty to enjoy every week.
But soon, all of that will be coming to an end.