Rail Wars

The 5 Worst Anime of 2014

iblessall 38 Comments

You know, I’m usually pretty positive on my blog, but I saw a lot of crap go down this year in anime and I’m feeling a bit cranky tonight, so I think it’s time to really let loose and talk about the worst anime I watched this year. I’m not big into hate-watching, nor have I ever felt compelled to finish a show I wasn’t enjoying, so I finished very few of the shows on this list. Thus, you may find yourself choking back, “But you didn’t get to the best part!”

Too bad. If it was unenjoyable enough for me to drop it before it “got good” and found its way onto this list, it deserves to be here. So, quit your whining and suck it up. Someday you’ll learn to like better bad stuff.

I don’t want to indulge my worser instincts too much, so you only get my top (bottom?) five worst anime of 2014 here. Just know that I mean most of this in good fun, even if I did think these shows were bad. I also find it important to note that this is not an exhaustive list of all the bad anime that aired in 2014, nor was I particularly judicious in picking (or ranking) the series for this list. I just went with whatever earned my ire this evening. Let us begin with the Worst Girl of 2014.

Nisekoi

A faceless image of a boring character.

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Summer 2014, Week 4: Highlights of the Week

iblessall 10 Comments

My week in anime this week was yet another confirmation in my belief that the 3-episode rule is complete bunk and that 4 episodes is a much better standard if you want to box yourself in by arbitrary numbers. Argevollen, Glasslip, and Aldnoah.Zero all engaged me at a much deeper level in their fourth episodes this week, moving each of them solidly into “keeper” territory. By the way, 4 episodes is actually not an arbitrary choice. In traditional three-act structure terms, the fourth episode is the start of the second act. I’m not saying its unreasonable to drop a show because you didn’t like the three episodes of set-up, but waiting to see how the show is executed at the beginning of the real substance seems to be a smarter thing to do, at least if you aren’t just looking for reasons to drop shows.

Tokyo ESP

Rinka and I share the same opinion about her show.

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Summer 2014, Week 2: Highlights of the Week

iblessall 2 Comments

When does the week start and when does the week end? I’m flummoxed. This is week two for most shows, but then we’ve got the rebellious Zankyou no Terror and Tokyo ESP that just started up this week. Whatever. I guess two shows can be behind or something. It just IRKS me that I can’t have all my shows at 2/whatever on Hummingbird at the same time. I mean, I could if I waited a week for some shows, but HA! like that’s going to happen. Anyways, let’s talk about some anime.

Free! Eternal Summer

Free!, I may not be in your main target audience, but keep this up and we’ll get along just fine.

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First Impressions: Summer 2014 Anime

iblessall 12 Comments

Summer 2014 anime are rolling in, which means it’s time to decide how right I was about some shows and realize how miserably wrong I was about others. Fortunately, I don’t pollute my blog with those abominable season previews (I recently wrote a post that tackles more generally why you can’t judge a show’s quality without having seen it), so you’ll never know exactly what I was expecting. Instead, you get my generally unfiltered thoughts on the new shows of the season, based on what’s actually aired.

That’s the way I like it, and that’s the way I’m gonna keep it. And anyone who doesn’t like it—you can talk with my new best girl Sakurai.

Not included, but will be watching: Terror in Tokyo, Tokyo ESP.

Rail Wars!

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