A Seasonal Review: Spring 2014

For once I’m nearly on time! It was a pretty great season. Twelve series that I enjoyed.

Unwatched: Atelier Escha and LogyBaby Steps, Blade and Soul, Gochuumon wa Usagi Desu kaHaikyuu!!, Kamigami no AsobiLa Corda d’Oro Blue Sky, Love Live S2M3: Sono Kuroki HaganeMajin Bone, Mangaka-san to Assistant-san to, Mushishi S2, Ping PongSoul Eater Not!Sumo Wrestler Matsutaro

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24. Nobunaga da Foo — F
Most boring anime imaginable.

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23. Mahouka — Ongoing
I thought the first arc was bad. Then the second arc came and made me realize it could have been so, so, so much worse.

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22. Kanojo ga Flag wo Oretara — F
Too many (dumb) characters, boring, and ugly.

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21. Seikoku no Dragonar — F
Exploding clothes and tentacle rape. Sadly, not the worst show this season.

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20. Soredemo Sekai wa Utsukushii — F
An abusive relationship which is considered romantic by little Japanese girls.

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19. selector infected WIXOSS — F
Suffering, in more ways than one.

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18. Brynhildr in the Darkness — F
Gross aliens with dumb boob jokes. So stupid.

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17. Mekkaku City Actors — D-
SHAFT shafts another show.

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16. Black Bullet — D
Think of the poor lolis who are discriminated against, while dodging their proposals.

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15. Nisekoi — D
SHAFT nearly keeps itself under control for a romantic comedy.

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14. Fuun Ishin Dai Shogun — D
Manages to do pretty well with no budget. Decent fanservice.

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13. Akuma no Riddle — D
Evil psychotic lesbian of the week.

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12. Hunter X Hunter — Ongoing
This arc’s finally getting good.

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11. Bokura wa Minna ga Kawaisou — C+
The smart girl finally wins.

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10. Date A Live II — C+
Date! Date! Date! So dumb and so great!

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9. No Game No Life — C+
Also really dumb but pretty fun.

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8. Captain Earth — Ongoing
Not my favorite Bones mecha series but it’s still a Bones mecha series.

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7. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders — Ongoing
Poor Polnareff… Going a bit slow, but can be hilarious.

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6. One Week Friends — B
Adorable.

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5. Tonari no Seki-kun — B+
One of the only shorts I’ve actually liked.

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4. Hitsugi no Chaika — Ongoing
Pretty great fantasy series. Can’t wait for season two!

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3. Ryuugajou Nanana no Maizoukin — B+
Never really goes anywhere, but a lot of fun, with characters who aren’t idiots.

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2. Daimidaler — A-
Eros is the treasure of the universe.

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1. Knights of Sidonia — Ongoing
Wow this was amazing. Assuming the second season is similar quality, going on my Top 50.

What did you think of this past season’s anime? Feel free to share in the comments!

8 thoughts on “A Seasonal Review: Spring 2014

  1. Disapppointed Sidonia rant incoming:

    No one was more hyped for Sidonia then me, the show then went and dashed my hopes by taking the focus off it’s intricate ideas and settings and made us sit through terrible character interactions between Nagate and his female ship-mates. Also the tension was gone the moment I realized the show was suffering from “Attack on Titan Syndrome” by killing off only faceless drones or people who trip super obvious death-flags.

    Also Nagate, he might be the biggest problem here. The dude goes from clumsy idiot citizen of Sidonia to ultrahax Gauna-slayer every time he sorties. He ought to be more of a flaw character then that. The only time he fucked up I was disappointed to find out it was really all Kunato’s fault instead. The show’s actual backdrop (stuff involving Kobayashi, Hiyama and Ochiai) is interesting stuff, too bad the rest of the show just doesn’t deliver well.

    1. Eh, I honestly liked the interactions with the females. Obviously Best Girl isn’t technically a female but it’s okay. Also, the show did kill off one important character at least, which is more than you can say for Titans.

      I don’t mind Nagate. He’s never been around people his entire life so I think it’s reasonable he’s an idiot around them but is still a skilled pilot.

    1. I watched the first four or five episodes, then when I fell behind from my vacation, I realized I didn’t care about it enough to bother watching. Sports really just bore me.

  2. Wow haven’t been here for awhile, you’ve been busy keeping up with a loooot of anime I see :P. To think you’d place Captain Earth and Chaika above NGNL, I’m just waiting for the flood of fanboys to enter.

    Just my 2 cents on Chaika and Sidonia, I just personally felt that Chaika should have received at least half the budget from Captain Earth and a more competent Director and VA’s. I mean don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t terrible. But due to its slightly different fantasy setting and somewhat more interesting characters, it felt boring and disappointing to watch. Character interactions were ok but not great and the supposed humorous and suspensive moments were just…eh. Production values were just not up to par as well. I dunno it might be just me but if Chaika were done a little differently I think it would have excelled instead of just ‘passing’.

    Like you I think Sidonia was probably the best out of the bunch. Might have to watch Ping Pong, been hearing good things about it. Sidonia’s main complaints were its terrible use of CG but I think they pulled it off pretty well as the fight scenes were brilliantly directed, always kept me on my edge of my seat. Gedata is somewhat right though, this series is kinda bogged down by too much pandering. It has harem-esque tropes, character being all invulnerable (kinda), weak side cast and putting too much emphasis on the more uninteresting things when we’ve got so much dark and grittiness to explore. Might be very cynical of me to say so but if Sidonia wanted to be dark/hopeless kind of thing perhaps they should focus more on the Gauna just wiping the floor with the pilots and killing more of them. Or, we could just have the Gauna wipe out the harem candidates! I’d be satisfied with that 😀

    1. Hm, maybe more money could have helped Chaika. I thought they did a great job with what they had though. It has an odd sense of humor but it worked for me. I’m not the best judge of voice acting, but I thought Chaika’s voice was hilarious at the very least.

      I’ve heard good things about Ping Pong too, just wasn’t interested. It does have some harem things, but I don’t really mind the idea of harems, just their execution. Besides Sidonia is a harem with only two or three girls at a time at the rate they’re being slaughtered. 🙂 I think that can work, it’s when you get five or more all the time that it becomes tiresome.

      1. Oh they definitely did what they could with what they had, and Chaika’s voice was probably the best represented in the whole series, very quirky and attention catching. The others weren’t bad but it is just that they were pretty average as well. Here’s to hoping the 2nd season of Chaika receives more support to at least get the visuals up to par.

        I suppose, taste vary I guess. But hey, if they really do continue the 2 or 3 girls getting wiped out every time they get close to Nagate I’d be bloody satisfied 😛

        1. I wonder what the pink haired clone girl death body count will be for him in the end… Ah well, they can always grow more 🙂

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