The schedule. 2015 and 2016 were very forgettable in terms of tv anime and this season continues that trend in a major way. Things will look up later in the year but another vapid moe apocalypse is upon us, for now.

Little Witch Academia The original film was just ok, the sequel lost me and the staff carried over to the tv version. It will look nice, so I will give the pilot a chance. I have to watch something after all but no excitement here.

Onihei The industry needs more easy to recognize Seinen anime, outside of the slice-of life and action genre. Historical samurai are way too rare too. The director is responsible for the worst Lupin specials of all time and I never touched the 90s manga (based on the source books), yet hope dies last.

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu: Sukeroku Futatabi-he I said my piece on this subpar season but it also features an anime of the year candidate. The 1st season was the 2nd best show of 2016 after all and how rare are (quality) Josei anime.

Last month had a completely unhinged Osomatsu-san special and The Dragon Dentist (from the overall weak Japan Animator Expo project) will get 2 specials by Khara.

The Genocidal Organ will finally come out and it should prove to be the sole good entry in the Project Itoh "series", as I like the manga adaptation. RIP Manglobe.
Lupin the IIIrd Chikemuri no Ishikawa Goemon has the potential to be the best anime film of 2017. Jigen's Gravestone was somewhat flawed, and so is the project´s take on Goemon, but all involved had enough time to reflect.
I won´t bother with Space Battleship Yamato 2202, as I saw the whole original franchise back in the day, and this is a remake of the 2nd 70s tv show. I even ain´t that big a fan but it´s nice to see usually worthless Xebec do something worthwhile.
The latest One Piece film also came out on Blu-ray. I´ll check out the action scenes Youtube and the Cyborg 009:Call of Justice films lastly continue, but i still have to see the 1st.
The tv season´s loss is ultimately the film seasons gain!

Last edited by residentgrigo at 11:59 am, Jan 14 2017

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

The Dragon Dentist will get 2 TV specials in February and all the noteworthy pilots aired by now. 2 shows remain staining:

Chain Chronicle: Haecceitas no Hikari 7,5/10 The basis is a (now) Japan only mobile game and the unrelated series of 8 promo shorts from 2014/15 is a waste of time. Another problem is that this borderline feels like a 2nd season, as the writers decided to basically follow a bad ending rout here. The character designs are further bland and it clearly "feels" like a game. More shocking is that the show is actually good! Some of the "RPG functions" are intelligently used, most VA are great and the dramatic scenes that need to work 100% do. I further got to look ahead to ep.4, as the show is also being released in form of compilation films, and it continued stayed good. The dashing pacing continued but i remained intrigued. A surprise diamond in the rough and semi-original too, as the game´s story isn´t being adapted. (Not that i care.) The healthy 12 ep. limit is another positive, so view this as a "warm-up" to next season´s Rage of Bahamut S02.

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu 8,5/10 It´s a shame that Noitamina ultimately proved incapable of making sophisticated drama shows as this (their endless angst porn can frankly f##k off) and who knew that Deen had it in them too. I still can´t believe that i will get to see all 10 volumes adapted. Few will appreciate this gift from the anime gods, but I do. They Don't Make Them Like They Used To...

Ongoing is only 3-gatsu no Lion 9/10.
Also: Justice League Action, Star Wars Rebels, Steven Universe, The Simpsons (the Spider-Pig ep. was solid), Teen Titans Go! and Voltron: Legendary Defender.
This month´s Justice League Dark will be a "sneak preview" for another DCEU film and the source comic arc is good, so the curse of mostly average N52 films may break. Bonus points for another (soft) R-rating.

This season is about the rubbish I expected it to be, even if a no-name game adaptation managed to surprise me. Be thankful for small mercies, I guess.
Next season will be a winner though, see you then.

Last edited by residentgrigo at 12:22 pm, Jan 14 2017

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

That was helpful, but I feel that you are setting too high standards. After all, anime is straightforward popular entertainment aimed at young people who mostly don't have well-developed discernment re literature yet.

It's on the same level, in terms of purpose and intended demographic, as the utterly tiresome superhero franchises that publishers and movie-makers grind out year over year over here in the USA. An occasional 3-Gatsu no Lion is almost a miracle in the midst of that. Ditto the rakugo anime.