Fall 2018 Anime | Midseason Musings

It’s coming in a week late, but here’s the quarterly Midseason Musings post!

This time around I’m going to go for a biased simple tier list (A, B, C) along with some bullet points. Does that make things easier to follow along? Please let me know in the comments section if that’s the case. I’m, um, streamlining this post because I’m typing this up late at night, o-ohohoho…

I also apologize for not following some of the most popular seasonal series. But others should have plenty to say about those particular shows, right? You don’t need Remy to fill you in on those~

This is, of course, all just my opinion, but everyone should know the drill by now.

A Tier – Great Shows

Yagate Kimi ni Naru

• Summary: a girl falls in love with another girl who doesn’t get love, which means she doesn’t reciprocate.
• Finally, a modern anime series revolving around a lesbian relationship that isn’t inherently unhealthy.
• With that being said, the dynamic still remains both interesting and tense since one of the girls doesn’t see the other romantically (for now?).
• The series absolutely nails the yuri combo: classical music (as insert instrumental pieces) + gay girls.
• For yuri fans who want something slower, dramatic, tasteful.

Tonari no Kyuuketsuki-san

• Summary: a human girl who is obsessed with dolls becomes enamored with a vampire and moves into said vampire house~
• These girls are definitely into other girls, but it opts for a more comedic approach compared to Yagate Kimi ni Naru.
• I didn’t look into the series all that much so I was pleasantly surprised by how polite and reserved the titular vampire, Sophie, is. I mean, sometimes there are vampires who are super aggressive and unpleasant as seen in Diabolik Lovers. No, that particular role happens to be reserved by Sophie’s overly eager human friend~
• For yuri fans who likes their gay girls going overboard and acting cute.

B Tier- Good Shows

Uchi no Maid ga Uzasugiru!

• Summary: a muscled lolicon maid is infatuated with the one whom she serves: a young Russian girl who became bitter ever since her mother passed away.
• I’m laughing while watching this ridiculous show, but it doesn’t change the fact that the maid is creepy and clearly a criminal who is into underage girls. That’s a deal breaker for some viewers and I totally get it.
• For yuri fans who like black comedy and who don’t easily tire of repetitive gags.

Release the Spyce

• Summary: girls dope themselves with spices while fighting an evil organization.
• There’s a bit of an underlying and ongoing mystery here (who’s the spy?) but essentially this series is your typical “Cute Girls Doing Cute Things” show just like Tonari no Kyuuketsuki-san.
• I guess the difference lies in how Release the Spyce tries to balance both drama and comedy in a half-baked way. The shows in the A Tier specialized in one or the other and came out stronger for it, in my opinion.
• For yuri fans who want action, plot, and the power of (super gay) friendship.

Golden Kamuy

• Eh, not gonna summarize it. This is the second season, anyways. You should know what this show is about by now, right?
• Kind of similar to Release the Spyce in regards to drama and comedy, but I will admit my sides often hurt whenever I see Shiraishi being Shiraishi.
• For anime fans who want action, plot, and are interested in gore (things get messy often). If you like JoJo, then you’ll probably enjoy Golden Kamuy.

Himote House

• Summary: five young ladies (and a talking cat!) live together and try to think of how they can get popular with guys. They also happen to have super powers.
• The gags are really repetitive (some may say boring) and the animation is lackluster (some may say bad).
• However, the ad-lib section at the end of every episode is pretty amusing.
• I’m also a fan of the homages toward other, older series. I’ll write about that particular aspect tomorrow…
• For anime fans who watch bad shows just for a few redeeming qualities (I think the ED is REALLY PRETTY musically and visually).

C Tier – Average (at Best?) Shows

Akanesasu Shoujo

• Summary: A group of girls travel to parallel worlds and beat up things by becoming magical girls. One scanlation group described this series as “PreCure meets Steins;Gate.”
• With that being said, it’s a bit too predictable. I don’t hate the series, but I’m getting a bit bored.
• Apparently this is supposed to help promote a card game but the series is sort of adopting the WIXOSS approach since I have no idea how one would even play this particular card game.
• For anime fans who want to see magical girls beat stuff up by transforming through the use of outdated technology. Some yuri sweetens the deal, too.

To aru Majutsu no Index III

• Phew, this series isn’t smooth at all. The transition between arcs are rough and more or less nonexistent. It’s easy to become confused about the order of things and events if you’re not reading between the lines.
• Tons of technobabble talk as usual. That’s to be expected in a sci-fi / magical series such as this, but I’m not convinced the long speeches and monologues add much to the series.
• For anime fans who want to become disappointed with the mishandling of Index III. That illusion of ours have been killed and we’re just left bitter and defeated after years of waiting~

D Tier – Bad Shows

Sora to Umi no Aida

• Generic.
• Boring.
• Voices are annoying.
• I am pretty sure no one likes this series.
• For no one (I dropped this).

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Those are the shows I’m watching.

Do you disagree or agree with my assessments? Please let me know in the comments section down below~

Thank you for reading