This season feels like it’s going by really slowly. There’s only one show (Nozaki-kun) that I really love so far, but there are a few I’m definitely keeping an eye on. We’ll see. It might end up being a really backlog heavy season for me after all.

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun, Episode 3: Full First Impressions post this week in honor of a great third episode from Nozaki-kun.

Free! Eternal Summer, Episode 3: I expect the fujoshi’s will come after me with righteous fury after the blog post I wrote on Free! this week.

Zankyou no Terror, Episode 2: I wanted to do weekly write-ups on WIXOSS last season, but there just wasn’t enough to write about each episode. Not having that problem with Zankyou no Terror.

Glasslip, Episode 3: The pacing of Glasslip still feels imperially wonky to me, like the whole show is disconnected, but this episode was much more rational and reasonable than the last one. The future-seeing thing is a pretty bad device so far, and wow did they fake me out with the talk about the boar, “more accidents going down mountains than up,” and Touko’s vision. I was convinced that Sachi was going to get hurt really bad going down the hill, but it seems she safe—maybe. Anyhow, on the relationships side of things, Sachi proved herself to be as dense as Touko in the romance department, but otherwise things are moving. Touko and Yana actually talked about Yuki’s confession, Touko actually told Yuki she wouldn’t go out with him, and Hiro made some efforts to confess to Sachi. I guess I prefer things happening to things not happening, even if everything feels disjointed. Glasslip might actually have some good show elements in it, but the future-seeing thing kind of hangs like a black cloud over the show’s potential.

Fairy Tail, Episode 16: I’m looking forward to Natsu going absolutely berserk on Future Rogue eventually. I wonder what happened to make Present Rogue (who generally seems to be a decent guy) go so crazy. Also, the preview seems to bear out my theory that the actually opening of Eclipse was the reason the dragons showed up in the first place—whether through the portal or because of the concentration of magic power, all signs seemed to be point toward the fact that using the portal is a bad idea. Well, it’s a little late now, it looks like. Not Fairy Tail‘s best episode, but we’re now in the realm of generally solid instead of boring and lame, so I think we’re about on par with the old season at this point. Also, the King of Fiore being the mascot for the Grand Magic games was a funny punch line, even delivered at a terrible time.

Argevollen, Episode 3: There’s something comfortable about this show. I’m not sure if it’s the redhead in the OP or the way Lorenz death-flag-flirts up Jamie before heading out to battle (and survives like a boss, I guess?) or how pathetic Tokimune is. It just is working for me. There are still a ton of small moments in this show that just strike me as good. I’m not quite devoted enough to Argevollen at this point to start cataloguing them, but they are there. And there is, I think, a lot of potential in the cast of characters—untapped, yes, but there. With 21 episodes left, Argevollen has plenty of time to grow and it seems like the show knows that.

Aldnoah.Zero, Episode 3: Okay, it’s official. Aldnoah.Zero is a straight-up shounen mecha. It’s true—there’s no pretense with this show. What it’s given us so far is exactly what it’s seemed like. This is a slick, well-produced action flick complete with a rocking J-Pop soundtrack as the high schoolers carry out their mission. I’ll admit it, Aldnoah.Zero pushed some shounen buttons for me today in a good way. I’ve always loved seeing groups of unlikely allies come together, and that’s what we’re getting. The three earthling high schoolers, a Martian Princess (who has some sick tech, by the way) and her servant, the daughter of a traitor, and a Terran-converted-into-Martian-back-to-Terran. On a less happy note, Inaho is exactly what we hoped he wouldn’t be. He’s not disconnected from the world; he’s just a really smart, cold-blooded soldier. And while the plan to defeat the invincible tech seemed clever…ehhhhhhhh. Yeah. Sorry, it just didn’t work for me. I mean, they would have been screwed if the receptor for the signal had been on the Martian mecha’s head (where it should have been). Am I looking forward to the next episode? Yeah, because I’m expecting full-on shounen from here on out: a group of kids with an older sister and a boss retired ex-solider taking on overwhelming odds with nothing but clever schemes and guts? Sign me up!

Inko, you’re cute and I like your personality (and name). Please don’t go all Miyuki over Tatsuya Inaho!

Rail Wars!, Episode 3: Ehhh, it was alright. We met Sassho, an old friend of Takayama’s, today, and while I liked the scene where she and Kaori (I remember her name very easily thanks to One Week Friends) were recording the train sounds I also find it hard to believe that someone would be fixated specifically on the sounds that trains make. But, whatever, that’s just the kind of show this is. For the first time, I can see the criticism that Rail Wars! is boring being valid—I didn’t dislike the episode, but it certainly wasn’t as fun as what we’ve had the previous two weeks. I actually think the problem was too much intensity and drama, because it didn’t really allow the characters to show much of their personalities—and that’s where the fun lies in this show. They’re a bunch of competent, quirky people and when they’re too busy being competent, we don’t get to see their quirks. Swimsuit episode next time. Because butt-tight skirts aren’t good enough for Rail Wars!

Hunter x Hunter, Episode 139: You guys know I don’t really blog about Hunter x Hunter, but I had to say something this week, because Togashi decided to bring the “awww” factor and bring it hard. Just look at this…