It’s been quite a while, and it’s been quite a half-a-month for me.
Welcome back to the blog guys! Thank you for stopping by the page, and right now, we’re very much in the middle of Winter Anime 2018 (Though it’s clearly not winter in my country anymore…), and it’s time for another, halftime ranking reveal!
Also, just to get this out of the way, I’ve been incredibly busy since last week, and I’ve been sick since this week has started, presumably from the hospital I visited because I didn’t wear a protective surgical mask, while last week was filled with travel, going down south to celebrate my friend’s birthday and my godmother’s short homecoming. Anyway, let’s get down to the rankings!
DROPPED/ON HOLD:
NONE
Surprisingly, most of the shows I’ve watched this season, I have stuck on to, so I haven’t dropped any, but there are close calls.
8. citrus
Unfortunately, while this is a great yuri (yes, the action) manga, it’s not a great story manga. The plot uses repetitive tropes, and most of the characters including the main ones, aren’t really that interesting. It also doesn’t help that the cast and studio this manga is on, doesn’t really feel that right in terms of what I had visualized. Ayana Taketatsu’s acting in this series is incredibly poor, and the visual quality is quite sub-par compared to the source material. Mei notably looks poker-faced instead of her Ice Queen Cold appearance in the manga. So yeah, this is the series I almost dropped if it weren’t for me being a fan of the book.
Score: 5/10
7. Violet Evergarden
As of this moment, I’ve only seen the first two episodes. I’m having a hard time giving my attention to the series despite it’s visual excellence. I don’t find the characters and the story interesting at the moment, but I will catch up, and I probably will change what I’ll say when this season is finished. For now though, it’s at the bottom of my list.
Score: 7/10
6. Dagashi Kashi
I’m quite disappointed upon learning that they cut the episode duration in half. I need some more Hotaru in my life, well… Season 1 Hotaru that is… I can’t wrap my head around the new designs, they feel out of proportion and lazy, especially Hotaru’s. Anyway, it still does its job conveying the history and quirks of Japanese candy to foreign audiences, so there’s that.
Score: 7/10
5. Ito Junji: Collection
It’s a little underwhelming, this series has been. I’ve been so used to the Junji Ito scare scenes, that these don’t do the manga justice, and I think The Anime Man did a really good critique on why this series hasn’t been going toe-to-toe with the manga. It lacks the visual impact. Be it through story boarding, color palette, visual story telling; everything could and should be improved on if Studio Deen wants Junji fans to praise their work.
Score: 7/10
4. Dragon Ball Super
The Universe Survival Arc started with a great bang, with the Roshi Episodes, and the U6 Focused ones, but then after the first big Goku-Jiren Fight, everything went down the wire. The story feels rushed to be finished with the sudden announcement of the hiatus, and the way they’re directing makes the arc so predictable, especially these last few episodes. They feel like they’re just stalling for time, and have backed themselves into a corner.
Score: 8/10
3. Karakai Jouzo no Takagi-san
Who doesn’t love a smug face and a forehead brighter than your future? Karakai Jouzo no Takagi-san is just masterful (lol pun intended) at doing these small slapstick, slice of life jokes that focus on the characters and their ever-so-obvious feelings for one another, and I can’t get enough of it.
Score: 8/10
2. Sora Yori mo tooi Basho
Yep.
Score: 9/10
1. Darling in the FranXX
Phrasing: The Anime
That’s one way to describe this show, but that also masks the sheer attention to detail the creators of this series have put into. This show isn’t just full of innuendos, it actually makes use of these innuendos as a term for explaining what we, the audience, should know, as well as our cast in the story. And it makes great use of it, coupled with the fact that our main cast members are really peculiar in terms of their background stories, and how they’re called parasites. Why are there Klaxosaurs and FranXX? Why is Hiro compatible with Zero Two? What is Zero Two, really, as well as Hiro? There’s so many questions that need to be answered, but cannot be put in this ranking reveal since it’s gonna spoil things.
Also, never thought Teenage Romance and Mechas could mesh so well.
Score: 9/10
So those are the shows I’ve been watching this season! Comment down below your thoughts if you’re watching the same series as I am, or feel free to write anything really. That’s it for me, see ya!
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