Just some quick impressions of shows that I won’t dedicate a post to, and y’know, the obligatory weekly rankings.

Quick Impressions

Ansatsu Kyoushitsu Ep. 1

This is the show that people keep clamoring for me to watch and blog — “Are you gonna watch Ansatsu Kyoushitsu? Are you? Are you?! ARE YOU?!” —  but I just don’t get it. There’s no way I could dig up enough words to dedicate a post to this show week in and week out. Anyway, its about Koro-sensei, and he’s a supervillain who can destroy the Earth if he wants to. He agrees to leave the planet alone for now, however, if he gets to teach a classroom of thirty students. Still, he’s going to destroy the Earth by the end of the year… supposedly. I mean, where would he go once the Earth is gone? He’s fast, but he’s not intergalactic fast. Not only that, he seems to derive a lot of enjoyment out of Earth and its various cultures, so it’s just a lose-lose to destroy the planet. But I’m sure if I stick around long enough, I’ll figure out what Korosensei really wants and how he ticks. I’m just not sure I want to stick around.

In any case, the government of Japan hopes that one of those thirty students can kill the guy, and whoever does so will receive ten billion yen. There’s some intriguing stuff like why Korosensei decided to become a teacher, or what’s so bad about Class E. But all in all, I’m not particularly hooked by the show. It doesn’t make me laugh, and the premise is just whatever. I mean, Korosensei isn’t even a bad guy. He’s actually a good teacher, and as the show develops, the kids will actually form a bond with him. So I’m not even watching to see if he gets killed. Right there and then, the story just kinda falls flat for me. In fact, a teacher taking over a class full of misfits is something that I’ve seen plenty of times in live dramas. This time, of course, we use the anime medium to give the teacher special powers, but that gimmick isn’t enough to get me hooked. Maybe if this had been a dark comedy, I’d be more interested.

Kamisama Kiss 2nd Season Ep. 2

Aaaaaaand the formerly cute monkey turned into a creepy-looking shota. I have nothing else to say about the show. The current arc just feels too familiar. I don’t quite remember the name of the show anymore, but I remember watching a recent anime about a girl trying to impress the gods in Izumo… Maybe all these anime series are just starting to blur into one giant mess in my mind.

Koufuku Graffiti Ep. 1

Pass.

But seriously, I did watch the rest of the episode. Just as I suspected, the show isn’t worth my time. It’s vapid as hell.

Kuroko’s Basketball 3 Ep. 1

Man, it looks like Kuroko’s punching the ball every time he passes it. You ever hear stories about how Brett Favre would throw the football so hard, it once broke a teammate’s fingers? That’d probably be a regular occurrence here if Kuroko no Basket was remotely real. Then just look at that light beam. What the fuck am I watching? The rest of the episode then introduces a villain character, which is… well, I’m not sure what to think. From a pure storytelling perspective, I guess I shouldn’t really care that the show has a villain. After all, it adds drama to the story. As someone who watches a lot of basketball and sports in general, however, having a villain is really just over-the-top and ridiculous. Anyway, I haven’t watched anything related to this show in a long time, so it’ll be a while until I learn everybody’s names and their personalities. Don’t expect me to comment on their character development for a while…

Log Horizon 2 Ep. 14

Some stuff about Kanami. It seemed kind of boring, so I’m glad the winter season has me occupied enough that I just don’t have time to blog about Log Horizon anymore.

Soukyuu no Fafner: Dead Aggressor – Exodus Ep. 1

The first third of the episode introduces the premise, so you get to see just how hopeless the situation is. The show then tries to introduce all of the characters in the short amount of time that it’s been given, but it’s even shorter than what Durarara!!x2’s characters got. Not only that, the personalities here are subtler, so it’s even harder to get a feel for their characters. Oh well. I’m not writing a post about it every week, so I’m not particularly concerned that I know relatively nothing about the story. I’ll just keep watching it until it literally pains me to do so. As for the other stuff, the backgrounds look decent, but I’m not impressed with the character designs. The monsters look whatever.

The Rolling Girls Ep. 1

The show’s got a ton of energy, and it looks really good on the eyes. I just don’t have anything to say about it. The plot doesn’t really interest me. It’s something about how Japan has fractured into a bunch of independent nations again, and naturally, these nations will squabble with each other over their territories. Someone called this a better Kill la Kill, but they accomplish different things. Cute girls fighting in stylized ways doesn’t mean that the two shows are the same. The Rolling Girls feels like a light-hearted slice-of-life anime. Right off the bat, Kill la Kill had multiple plot threads to develop, and a mission for the heroine to accomplish. I’m not seeing any such mission in The Rolling Girls. I’m not saying that one is better than the other, but it’s silly to compare them. But if I do have anything to say at all, it’s that the first episode of The Rolling Girls just doesn’t have much of a hook. I initially had the anime scheduled as one of the shows that I would post about, but after watching the episode a few days ago, I just couldn’t think of anything to really say about the show. I’ll keep watching, but I’ll only cover it in these weekly Everything Else posts from here on out.

Yoru no Yatterman Ep. 1

That seemed like a decent origin story. I still have no clue what the rest of the story will be like, though, since becoming a villain is a far cry from a sad, little girl having her hopes and dreams crushed by the very people that she once believed in. I can’t believe forgiveness can be so difficult. What exactly is the Yatter Kingdom hiding that they have to desperately keep others out? Then again, if the Yattermans are really such jerks, then the little girl’s not really becoming a villain anyway. I briefly considered the possibility that we might actually have a show where it would be fun to root for the villain, but I doubt this little girl will grow up to be evil or anything. She’s no Frank Underwood. Even so, the show might still be fun to watch… just probably nothing more than fun.

Weekly Rankings

No quick comments this week, because I’m short of time.

1. Death Parade

2. Garo: The Carved Seal of Flames

3. Parasyte

4. Tokyo Ghoul Root A

5. Yoru no Yatterman

6. Maria the Virgin Witch

7. Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata

8. Ansatsu Kyoushitsu

9. Akatsuki no Yona

10. Aldnoah.Zero 2

11. The Rolling Girls

12. Yuma Kuma Arashi

13. Durarara!!x2

14. Soukyuu no Fafner: Dead Aggressor – Exodus

15. Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso

16. Cross Ange

17. Kuroko’s Basketball 3

18. Gundam: Reconguista in G

19. Log Horizon 2

20. Kamisama Kiss 2nd Season

21. Shinmai Maou no Testament

22. Juuou Mujin no Fafnir

23. Seiken Tsukai no World Break

24. Absolute Duo

25. Koufuku Graffiti

Weekly Question

So what’s got you excited? What’s lived up to expectations? What hasn’t lived up to expectations? What has surprised you for better or for worse?