Anime Sunday: Losers of Winter 2018

This week for Anime Sunday I’m covering some series I think fell flat this season. It’s my Losers of Winter 2018!

Death March: I really wanted to like this series, but it was just a bit too flat. Maybe it’s because of being adapted from the Light Novel which I haven’t read instead of the original Web Novel. There are supposedly differences between the two, and while I don’t mind all of that, I just found that Satou wasn’t as enjoyable to watch as he was to read.  Maybe if I binge watch all of it later on I’ll enjoy it more.

Märchen Mädchen: Filled with a bit too much fanservice for me, this was another series I really wanted to like, but the fanservice element was a bit too much for me. That and I had way too many things to do these past few months meant that I ended up dropping the series after the first couple episodes.

Darling in the FranXX: I wanted to enjoy this series, I really did. But it was just too angsty for my tastes. The overt sexual themes didn’t help either.

One thing I want to note is that all of these had rather decent artwork, with Death March being the least noteworthy. So most of my issues come from the plot itself rather than any other issues.

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

Anime Sunday: Märchen Episode 01 Impressions

This week for Anime Sunday I’m back with another series from Winter 2018. It’s my Märchen Episode 01 Impressions!

Plot Synopsis: Kagimura Hazuki is a 15-year-old high school student who is painfully shy and socially inept; and as a result of this, she has no friends or even a love interest. She is very imaginative and a dedicated fan of fantasy fiction, traits which were ingrained by her mother, who died when Hazuki was still little; and whenever she is upset, she immediately finds herself a story book to immerse herself in.  One day after school, Hazuki comes across a cloaked figure and decides to follow her to an unused library…

Plot: The plot is pretty decent, although there are some detractions to the story with some fanservice that occurs. That being said I did find this series particularly interesting prior to this season’s start due to the fact that the author had died before finishing the original Light Novel series. Whether they can make a functional Anime out of an adaptation of an incomplete series remains to be seen.

Characters: Hazuki is a female lead who is fairly stereotypical, although I did find her trait of escaping into a good book particularly relatable. The rest of the cast is okay, although like I said above there is more than a bit of fanservicey parts that detract from the plot.

Art: The art is excellent with character designs done by the novel’s illustrator Kantoku, who I’ve mentioned before as being one of my favored artists in the Japanese scene. Feel free to look up their work, although fair warning that much of it is incredibly NSFW.

Music: The music is okay, but it’s nothing too memorable either.

Overall: A decent series, but the fanservice that happens really detracts from the actual story.

For those who like: Urban Fantasy, Fantasy in General, Fairy Tales, Decent Plot, Awesome Artwork.

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

Anime Sunday: Most Anticipated Winter 2018 Anime

This week for Anime Sunday I’m looking ahead to the start of next year! It’s my Most Anticipated Winter 2018 Anime!

Märchen Mädchen: It’s an Isekai story, but it’s based off of our fairy tales and mythology, so I’m all for that. The fact that the lead is a female character instead of some dumb guy is just more icing on the cake. I’m looking forward to this series, hopefully it doesn’t flop.

Fate/Extra: I’m a huge Fate series fan, so the fact that the sub series that I enjoy the most is getting an Anime adaptation is awesome. However for those who are unaware there are 3 basic routes to the game, one featuring it’s own separate Servant. This is going to be animating the Male Hakuno and Saber route, which I am not so much a fan of. I don’t hate this particular Saber and no it’s not the same Saber from Stay Night. I just enjoy Caster a hell of a lot more. Maybe they’ll let ufotable animate Caster’s route, which I’ll totally accept as a excuse and appetizer for why we need another saber faced heroine getting screen time. This is being done by Shaft for those unaware, so expect plenty of awesome animation, just not as awesome as ufotable.

Here’s praying my favorite Fox Girl gets her own screen time, her own story along with that of a female Hakuno would be pretty freaking awesome. The reason this sub-series is my favorite is it’s got a big focus on Romance, which the Stay Night and Apocrypha series aren’t as intrinsically tied into.

As an aside, I’m starting to play this game on my PC, and I’m looking for help getting the emulation software to work properly so I can enjoy the original game fully. If anyone can help with that, please shoot me an email which you can find on my contact page. I am a total beginner when it comes to emulation, so any help would be appreciated.

Death March: I love the Web Novel that this series is based off of, so I’m really looking forward to the Anime Adaptation. Hopefully it doesn’t screw up the pacing by going too fast, because that will really destroy the whole thematic feel of the series.

Darling in the FranXX: It’s another Studio Trigger series, so I’m fully prepared to either love or hate this series based on how insane it gets. Kill la Kill and Gurren Lagann were a bit too over the top for me. We’ll see how this goes.

 

Honorable Mentions:

Overlord: Is getting a second season, this adaptation of a Light Novel series was pretty awesome. Whether the later arcs get adapted just as well, remains to be seen. The only reason this isn’t up above and in the Honorable Mentions section is it isn’t a brand new Anime or adaptation. It’s a sequel or a continuation.

Kokkoku: I just read the synopsis of the series, so I’m looking forward to this if only out of curiosity.

Card Captor Sakura: Cardcaptor Sakura is getting a brand new storyline taking part in their Middle School days, I’ll give it a shot at least to determine if my baby sister might enjoy the series, or if I’ll just have her read the original stuff on it’s own without getting into this additional plotline.