The schedule.
All Out!! is a surprisingly decent sports manga (it help to be Seinen) and Natsume Yuujinchou Go will be alright too, but that unmoving property should have ended years go. Being ok ultimately isn´t good enough and this season can best be described as a magical-girl-for-men, moe and sports apocalypse. I got only 1 lock, but it´s at least a highlight. The movie / OVA slate is the saving grace though.

3-gatsu no Lion The manga isn´t as good as Chika´s last masterpiece but it is still worth anyone´s time. Shaft knows how to adapt and the 2 cour length will bring it to the parts the manga really began to shine. It has no point to satisfactory end the adaptation and a follow-up will be necessary, but Shaft is known to go the distance.

Drifters is based on an ok-ish manga, but it is filled with potential, so I hope that the anime can streamline the content and tap into that well.

Yuri!!! on Ice Who knows if this ice skating original can succeed but it has 2 hungry B-list creators at the helm ready to move up. I have to try something, right?

Persona 5 the Animation: The Day Breakers was the best Atlus adaptation yet, but it´s still a forgettable add. Mobile Police Patlabor Reboot by Khara is only a one-off but I hope for more and the 4th Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin OVA is a lock.
Yotsubato! also technically got an OVA but it´s not even remotely what anyone asked for.

Cyborg 009: Call of Justice is a 3 part (!) sequel to the convoluted 2012 film, but should I care? Gantz:0 had amazing previews but the decision to adapt a random arc is a bit baffling. I hope that the film will delivers the Hard-R inanity the manga got (in)famous for. The overrated Koe no Katachi is also got a film. The focused runtime is a wise decision but it will need an original or actual ending to truly improve.
Kono Sekai no Katasumi ni is based on a short enough series to adapt it wholesale and it should turn out to be the beast (non-CG) anime film of the year.
Orange (TAKANO Ichigo)´s original sequel film may be of interest to me to, unless the new manga specials will cover the same material, as I don´t need to see the same story from a different perspective. Planetarian: Hoshi no Hito is an original sequel to the ONA based on the Key VA. It was exactly what I thought it would be but the pacing was too rushed. I will give the film a chance, as the ONA had it´s moments.
Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV finally got savaged by critics (me and them are on thin ice this year) but they were dead wrong. It´s the best game to film adaptation to date, besides maybe FFVII Advent Children Complete, and it´s my 3rd favorite film of the year.


Last edited by residentgrigo at 8:59 am, Oct 7 2016

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I also read EU/US comics and am a librarian.
Manga-Masters, My ANN-Lists + Imdb

This has got to be the worst looking season for me since I started watching anime. Usually I can find anywhere between 7-10 shows I want to watch, but this year I'm struggling to find more than 3.

There's two continuations I want to see (one a short form anime), and then one other short form anime that's new this season. And that's it. I might be able to find one more show, but that's pushing it, and only because there's so little I want to see this time around. But that's still only 4 shows, 2 of which are only short form series.

Looks like I'll be re-watching some older shows that I've been setting aside for a rainy day.

I don't know why, but I have stopped keeping track of Anime all together. Every time I try to find a decent series, I end up finding....none. I wish they could produce less Sports/Shoujo/girls with big boobs/high school/romance anime that we see a bunch of EVERY season and concentrate on producing more quality work.

This fall season I will probably only watch Ajin second season and maybeeeee Nanbaka. The rest looks blah.

This season has to be one of my least favorite seasons so far.
Most of the anime don't even look interesting.

________________

Ahem...

GAKUEN HANDSOME IS GETTING AN ANIME!? WHAT?!?!?! WHY!?!?!?!?!? HUH!? HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? DIDN'T THAT DIE OUT YEARS AGO?
SOMEONE PLEASE SLAP ME, THIS CAN'T BE REAL!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

I waited to see if the dictionary publishing (!) anime would be worth it but it wasn´t and the only thing Noitamina can deliver by now are stylish character designs.

3-gatsu no Lion 9/10 Anime that are better than the manga are rare but here is one.
The improvement is only small but still noticeable, as the manga´s introspective bits felt a little unearned early on, but Shaft elevated these scenes with their trademark style.
This allows you to get inside the head of the protagonist without any developed backstory. (It´s if course coming.) The over the top comedy half was also nailed and the price for the best anime cat´s ever already goes to this show. NO question, dat voice acting. I may have found my anime of the year but expect a small dip in quality soon and a rebound in the middle of the run. I will again repeat that the anime will need a second season, as the manga has no satisfactory cut-off point, and don´t expect a vocal romance any time soon.

Drifters 6/10 I loved the first half and the 2nd just meandered around without a cohesive atmosphere. Meaning that the manga is getting a 1 to 1 adaptation and that inferior 2nd half is representative of the overall series. Ep. 1 + 2 also repurposed the OVA, so I already saw ep.2 and it had gore where there was none in the manga. That´s cool, i guess.
The bland elf world setting is the real problem though. I will stick around for ep. 3-4 to see if the action scenes will be worth it, but they aren´t in the manga. Just a bunch of cool dudes jumping and slicing random soldiers. I expect more from Mr. Hellsing´s next work, but he proved to be a one-hit wonder anyway.

Naruto Shippuuden I have been staying away from this thrown together adaptation, as I do like the manga, but the main narrative is finally ending and I jumped in after the Kaguya crap + a year worth of filler. The final fight was well done but the pacing is bewildering to say the least. Who needs the 100th ?Naruto had it tough as a child? during a fight for 3 eps. straight? Feel free to return for the ending but regularly fast forward. Naruto Kai and a new studio when?

Shuumatsu no Izetta 7/10 I expected nothing to due to the trashy writer and this should be his strongest effort yet but his My-HiME also started well enough and then fell off a cliff.
The shoehorned in fanservice and the blandest take on fantasy WW2 possible already give me pause but ep. 1 ended with a strong action scene and the animation is overall noteworthy. I have a tough time believing that the quality will last but who knows.
Ep. 2 was lastly very straightforward and way to exposition crazy. Half the runtime would have been enough but the blood magic bit was somewhat interesting. My style over substance comment seems to come true.

Yuri!!! on Ice 7/10 I like the basic premise, the OP was a work of beauty but the tone and style were all over the place so far. Certainly below Ogawa Yayoi´s noteworthy ice skating manga that should be adapted instead. I actually know a bit about the sport due to my mother regularly watching these on tv. I would like to stick around but I will need a cohesive narrative and less "of so quirky" nonsense to do so. This season´s best show is also doing all Yuri is trying to do too, but much better, so it´s skate or die in my ring. Ep. 2 was even more random due to the introduction of more bishonen cliches, final chance.

I now saw the 2nd eps. of my dark horse candidates and both delivered inferior follow-ups, so i may soon be reduced to "only" 1 new show. I still prefer a clear highlight over a bunch of B- shows that slip over the season and get dropped, as the last 2 times.

Ongoing is JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable and part 4´s slight quality decline hit by now. The pacing also increased, as ¼ less time is allotted this season.
Also: Justice League Action (air-date please), South Park, Star Wars Rebels, Steven Universe, The Simpsons (the VR ep. was decent), Teen Titans Go! and Vixen.
This week´s Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders (Adam West is back) lastly proved to be the best toon comic film of the year... in a year with an Alan Moore adaptation!
Thank Zod for the DCEU and DC´s animated slate for 2017 looks to be a rebound.
Marvel is also putting out a Hulk monster masher but their toon films tend to be a mess.

And that was the anime year of 2016. I had worse, i had better... it exists.

Last edited by residentgrigo at 11:04 am, Jan 14 2017

________________
I also read EU/US comics and am a librarian.
Manga-Masters, My ANN-Lists + Imdb

2016 has been the golden age for female anime fans! And this Fall season is the best of this year.
I said female anime fans in a general sense not fujoshi as I am not one. I am just a female who likes watching cute/hot and entertaining anime guys, the more the merrier.

Shows that I find most interesting and will probably follow every week (unless they become bad half way):

Top tier:
- Girlish Number
- Ajin S2
- Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru
- Yuri!!! On ICE
- March comes in like a lion


So far not as interesting as the top tier shows but I will still keep an eye on (some of them might even have the potential to become my favourites):

- Magic-Kyun! Renaissance
- Fune o Amu
- Trickster
- Drifters
- Poco's Udon World
- Occultic;Nine (a bit too... messy?)
- Kiss Him, Not Me! (the first two eps are actually funny as I didn't expect much before watching it. I haven't read the manga though)
- Dream Festival (will probably drop it and only watch it when I bored. As an idol show, it even has songs that are so forgettable)
- UtaPri S4 (I am not really a fan of the last 3 seasons - only watched some. I will watch this season only for the character in my avatar )
- Bungo Stray Dogs 2 (the first season is boring but I still finished it. Hope the second season will have more substance to keep my interest)

BTW, Nanbaka is dropped.

Last edited by coffee_11 at 4:37 pm, Oct 14 2016