Top Spring 2014 Anime: Final Ratings

It’s kind of crazy to think that I was still in England when this season started. Where I am now, both as an anime watcher and and blogger, seems quite far away from where I was then. It was a good season, though—one that saw my entry into Reddit, the start up of an ambitious Best Girl tournament on the Crunchyroll forums and my first steps into the aniblogger world. But about that anime…. I picked up a lot more shows than I wanted to actually watch, discovered a new show that I really like (Love Live!), was let down by numerous shows, dropped way more shows than I usually do, was charmed by Chaika and wowed by my first Masaaski Yuasa show. So, yeah. Spring 2014 wasn’t a bad season for me. I won’t say some shows didn’t become tedious at times, but overall it was a pretty good season, with Week 8 (headlined by Hunter x Hunter, of course) standing head and shoulders above all the rest. Here’s how things shook out.

Nisekoi
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One Week Friends, Episode 9

There were a lot of dangers for One Week Friends coming into this episode, and, sadly, it seems the show just couldn’t avoid all of them. As I go on here, keep in mind that One Week Friends has been in my top 4 shows of the season since week one, and so I hold it to a higher standard. I’m about to be somewhat rough with this show, and its because my expectations were not met and I felt the show got away from the things that make it exceptional, tumbling into the mundanity of the rom-com-drama genre in places.

One Week Friends just isn’t built to handle big drama, but that’s what the show tried to pull off this week.One Week Friends Continue reading

selector infected WIXOSS: Episode 7

Sure, there are some problems with this show, starting with the characters. But, it’s time to stop pretending that the sense of foreboding each episode creates isn’t a noteworthy feat in itself. Some shows do things better than other shows, and selector infected WIXOSS does a great job of controlling atmosphere each week, and has been doing it since the very first episode. Creating an appropriate atmosphere for your show isn’t enough to make a show great on its own, but it’s foolish to disregard a show’s good traits because not all of its parts are of equal quality.

selector infected WIXOSS

With toys like that, no wonder Tama likes to battle.

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Spring 2014, Week 5: Highlights of the Week

Note: I recently stated an ask.fm profile, so come ask me a question at ask.fm/iblessall and follow me on Twitter at @iblessall to see my answers!

So, I’m trying out a new weekly feature here. Each week, I usually end up wanting to talk more about some shows than I do others, but wanting to talk about at least some shows nonetheless. So, when my anime week ends on Thursday with Ping Pong, I’ll be publishing some of my highlights from the week. These won’t necessarily the best moments of the week; in fact, I fully expect to find some huge frustrations and annoyances creeping into these posts. However, I’m hoping these posts will at least allow me an outlet to rant and rave as I need each week.

Welcome to Week 5!

Love Live! Season 2

Things got serious this week on Love Live! 2

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First Impressions: Spring 2014 Anime

I know I’m late with this post, as the Spring 2014 season is already well underway, but I’m going to do it anyways, including everything I’ve watched to this point. My hiatus is over and I’ve got some big things in the works, but I have to get caught up on the current season first!

Pet Show of the Season: Hitsugi no Chaika

This was my pet show even before it started airing. The title, synopsis, character designs and overall feel were right up my alley and it was coming out of my favorite studio of all time, BONES. After making my way through the first two episodes, I’m totally charmed by everything about this show: the color palate, the magic systems, Chaika’s adorable-funny way of talking, her simple motivation of wanting to bury her father, the siblings (even though the imouto is a brocon, ugh…) and the overall feel of the show. I’m not expecting brilliance from Chaika, just a pleasant fantasy adventure with a good story.

poster6979

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