Anime Sunday: Winners of Winter 2018

This week for Anime Sunday I’m covering my favorites from the last season. It’s my Winners of Winter 2018!

Today’s Menu for the Emiya Family: I really enjoyed this slice of life set in an alternate universe of the Fate/SN series. The fact it focuses on just food and some minor character interaction was refreshing from all the battles that occur in the Fate series. It being animated by ufotable might also have a big part in why this is one of my favorites.  Who am I kidding, it being animated by ufotable has a huge part in it.

Ryuo: I actually enjoyed this series quite a bit. While Sangatsu is a great series about Shogi it is also emotional wearing, so a more light hearted series was appreciated. The fact that Yaichi is a dense harem lead though is fairly disappointing.

Honorable Mentions:

Last Encore: I was pretty skeptical of this series after it diverged so greatly from the original storyline. It was interesting, but honestly it just makes me want to play the original game more. It also didn’t feature Tamamo, who is a much more interesting Servant than Nero in my opinion.

Hitori no Shita: I hated the first season of this show, it was terribly animated and the plot was sub-par. The plot isn’t any better, but the animation is much improved and thus get’s an honorable mention from me.

That’s it for this week’s Anime Sunday.

Manga Monday: Fate/mahjong night by TYPE-MOON

This week for Manga Monday I’m covering an oddball adaptation! It’s Fate/mahjong night by TYPE-MOON!

Plot: It’s essentially Fate/Stay Night meets mahjong, with the Holy Grail War being fought by playing mahjong. Yea it’s pretty freaking ridiculous, but this is TYPE-MOON we are talking about, they can do some pretty oddball stuff.

Characters: We have all the various characters from Fate/Stay Night show up in this adaptation, since it’s pretty much Fate/Stay Night, just a little different. Rin is still my favorite character, though Sakura is pretty awesome as well. However since this is a 4-Koma adaptation expect some gags.

Art: The art is awesome, in fact it’s great. I wouldn’t expect this to be originally published on the web, but it’s not bad at all.

Overall: This is a pretty funny take on the hugely popular Fate/Stay Night storylines, so if you’re a TYPE-MOON fan at all, you’ll probably want to check the series out.

For those who like: Fate/Stay Night, Overly Dramatic Scenes, Awesome Mahjong, Mahjong, Great Artwork.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.

 

Anime Sunday: Top Anime of 2015

This week for Anime Sunday I’m covering the best of this last year. It’s my Top Anime of 2015!

Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works is my personal favorite of the routes, with Heavens Feel being a very, very close second. ufotable blew this series out of the water with their excellent animation. I loved this series and seeing Rin kick major ass and bring Shirou in line was great. This definitely has a place in one of the greatest Anime of all time, if only for the sheer beauty of the animation.

Danmachi: I love the Light Novels and seeing them animated was great, although there was a lot lost I feel because of the choice to run for only one cour. That isn’t to say they can’t come back to the series, because they can and probably will at some point. It’s just as shame to see a series not live up to it’s full potential.

GATE: I’ve always been interested in this Light Novel series and I can’t wait to see the second season of the series start in just over a week. The political intrigue portrayed filled a gap that’s been in my Anime viewing till now. Anime typically doesn’t cover socioeconomics, though Maoyuu comes to mind, and I’m psyched to see what Itami and the gang go through next.

One Punch Man: For lots of people this came out of left field, but I knew this would be an instant hit. It didn’t fail to deliver and I loved every second of watching the series. I can’t wait for a second season, but it will be at least a year away if not more.

Sakurako-San: I enjoy this series, though I’ve fallen behind in watching every episode and need to catch up to releases. It wasn’t my absolute favorite, but it was good and deserves a place in this list, if just barely.

Gundam Iron-Blooded Orphans: Like Sakurako-san I’ve fallen behind in watching the series, but I’ll get to it in a couple days.  That being said having a brand new Gundam series that isn’t a rehashing of the original series like SEED was or a new spin of Wing like 00 is great. Especially after the disaster that was Reconguista in G.

That’s it for this year’s Anime Sunday! What are some of your favorite series from this year? Leave your thoughts in a comment below and I’ll see you all in 2016!

Anime Sunday: Fate/Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works Final Impressions

This week on Anime Sunday I’m covering my final thoughts on the Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works adaptation that recently ended.

Plot: It was very well done, and I’m glad that it had nods to the prequel series Fate/Zero, as was hinted at way back in Episode 02 by Saber. I had one little criticism and that’s the fact that the sex scene was just straight up removed, I didn’t want anything obscene or excessive, but it paid very little respect to the original Visual Novel in that regard.  At least it wasn’t as bad as the Fate route series which had a really odd sequence.

Characters: I loved how the series went into the various backstories of most of the various masters, but I’m sad that Sakura and Lancer got the short straws and were never explored. That being said that’s a minor complaint because I have to say that they did an amazing job with everything that was the Unlimited Blade Works route and putting it into an Anime.

Art: ufotable consistently pulls off masterworks, and this series just confirms my assertion that they are the best anime studio out there, rivaling any other studio with ease and beating most outright in terms of quality work. I think I noticed one animation gaff, and it was a very minor one during a single frame of animation, which for a 26 episode series is freaking amazing.

Music: Amazingly well done, it set up the tone of the series perfectly and I enjoyed every opening and ending theme just as much. I particularly enjoyed the opening themes, performed by Mashiro Ayano and Aimer.

Overall: If you want to watch an amazing series look no further it has pretty much everything you’ll ever want in a series. It truly is that good.

Anime Sunday: Most Anticipated Spring 2015 Anime

 

This week on Anime Sunday I’m talking all about my Most Anticipated Spring 2015 Anime!

Danmachi: I love the Light Novel series and I’m really looking forward to the Anime adaptation. Hopefully it does the source material justice.

Denpa Kyoushi: I also enjoy this Manga series quite a bit and also hope it does source material justice.

Digimon Adventures Tri: Okay the little kid in me just wants to watch the first episode of this series at the very least. It’s got the main cast of the first season grown up and I’m looking forward to seeing it be just a bit more serious.

Owari no Seraph: This series is adapted from an incredibly dark Manga series, and I’m interested to see what they choose to adapt for the screen. Hopefully it still does the source material justice.

Shokugeki no Soma: I enjoy the manga quite a bit and I’m interested to see how many others will get hooked on this crazy show.

Honorable Mention:

Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works Season 2: I enjoyed the first season very much, even if I got sick and missed the last half of it when it was airing. The reason I’m not putting this above is because I plan on marathoning the series once it is fully completed.