It’s only been two weeks, but there are no real surprises or disappointments for me thus far.The shows I expected to suck are predictably sucking. And on the other hand, the shows that I like are not doing too bad.

---

Week 2’s Rankings

30. Girlfriend (Kari)

It’s not a harem anime! It’s the next best thing! A moe show about girls doing vacuous bullshit! Sweet!

29. Akame ga Kill!

The worst kind of episode: full of exposition and fanservice. And like Mahouka, its fans continue to come pouring out of the woodwork to defend this tripe.

28. Denki-gai no Honya-san

To be honest with you, I’m not sure why I’m still watching this show. It sucks.

27. Ushinawareta Mirai wo Motomete

Like Grisaia no Kajitsu, but somehow worse. Both shows ended their first episodes by hinting at the possibility of something more than just uninteresting conversations between high school students. So what do we get in the follow-up episode? Uninteresting conversations between high school students. We’ve been punk’d, guys. Wrap it up.

26. Gonna be the Twin-Tails!!

Not incisive enough to be campy. So basically, it’s just stupid.

25. Cross Ange

Putting Sword Art Online and Akame ga Kill! to shame in the rape department.

24. World Trigger

For me, a shounen is characterized by two things: a certain level of boyish charm and a lot of exciting, shounen-esque action. World Trigger seems to lack both of these two qualities.

23. Nanatsu no Taizai

Meliodas is too brazenly perverted for me to possibly enjoy this anime. But for what it’s worth, I think it’s better paced than World Trigger. It’s just kind of sad and perhaps a little ironic that the voice of reason is a talking pig. At least Bulma had attitude. Elizabeth seems like a submissive bore.

22. Terra Formars

The only redeeming feature about this show is the hilarious way in which they’ve decided to censor it. The action continues to disappoint. Everything is in ridiculous slow-motion. Otherwise, the characters just stand there and try to look all badass as they stare down the roaches. C’mon, a show like this should’ve put an emphasis on the battle scenes.

21. Inou Battle Within Everyday Life

I think I sat through like ten minutes of wordplay before I turned the episode off.

20. Grisaia no Kajitsu

What a surprise! Last week’s ending was nothing more than a cocktease. Enjoy yet another standard harem anime. I personally found the harem lead’s spiel on crawfish to be absolutely captivating!

19. Shirobako

I think it’s funny how the men in this show look so different from each other. They have varying hairstyles (and hairlines), body shapes, ages, so on and so forth. The women, on the other hand, are all hot, slim babes… who just happen to all work in the anime industry. In fact, these women look just like many of the girls you’d expect to find in your average P.A. Works anime series. If you had told me that this show was really about an animation club in high school, I wouldn’t have doubted you. The only difference is that our heroine owns a car, and even then, we get a ridiculous drag-racing scene for no reason. My point is, for a show about women in such an industry, you’d think their representation would be more inclusive. Blah blah blah, this is what anime is always like. Sure, but again, for a show about women in such an industry, I expect better. Other than this little aside, however, I found the first episode entirely unremarkable.

18. Trinity Seven

Painfully unoriginal, but the cherry on top is the ugly character designs. You’d think a harem anime would at least prioritize looking good. For example, this is probably the only thing that the Monogatari series does right.

17. Ookami Shoujo to Kuro Ouji

Once again, we have a happy-go-lucky atmosphere to go with our fundamentally flawed protagonists. So basically, the average shoujo anime adaptation. Will this end up being worse than the disastrous Ao Haru Ride, though? Well, it’s certainly off to a good start, but we’ll have all season to answer this question.

16. Shirogane no Ishi: Argevollen

Remember, kids… war in this day and age is all about profit. Anyway, Richthofen piloting the new mecha can at least shake things up a bit. And maybe now, the story will collect itself and build towards some sort of endgame. I still can’t see what that endgame is, so unfortunately, I remain uninterested in Argveollen’s story. It just doesn’t really engage my sympathies on any level. I can’t really relate to the characters nor feel for them and their situation.

15. Donten ni Warau

If there’s anything this season that comes close to being a disappointment, I guess it would have to be this anime. I thought we’d get a more realistic period piece and some fascinating characterizations. I mean, the three brothers have to ferry prisoners across a lake. That sounds like an interesting job where you might meet some fascinating characters. Instead, I get some lame shouneny action, but worst of all, the two younger siblings are whiny. I never thought much of Chutaro ever since I first laid eyes on his character design, but I expected more from Sora.

14. Daitoshokan no Hitsujikai

The premise reminds me of that stupid event flag harem anime from earlier this year. The difference here, I guess, is that the haremettes aren’t as ridiculous, and as such, the whole True Shepherd thing probably won’t be as ridiculous either.

13. Gundam Build Fighters Try

The action is decent, but the premise is just too light-hearted at the moment for me to care. Maybe the stakes will be raised in later episodes, but at the end of the day, it’s still just a bunch of kids doing battle with plastic toys — plastic toys that I obviously have no interest in.

12. Madan no Ou to Vanadis

Despite the female characters’ comically large breasts, this is somehow the least offensive harem anime. But I’m sure that’ll change as the other female warriors get introduced to the story. I even expect them to fight for the harem lead’s love too. But for now, I’ll just slot it here ’cause I’ve got no better place to put it. For the umpteenth time, however, stop recommending that I read the light novels for this show or any light novels for that matter. I’m just not going to ever be interested enough to bother.

11. Fate/stay night – Unlimited Blade Works

Can you stomach Shirou’s incredibly boring conversations with his classmates enough to get to the short but honestly good battle scene near the end of the episode? That’s the number one question you have to ask if you’re on the fence regarding this show. Personally, I think the storytelling has been pretty bad. If anything, I’m nicer than I should be in my actual posts on the show. Luckily, people have told me that we’ll get episodes of standard length from here on out, ’cause honestly, I don’t know if I can sit through another 47-minute episode of Shirou’s funtime at school.

10. Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso

I can see Zooey Deschanel playing the heroine in a live-action adaptation. So quirky!

9. Log Horizon 2

The storytelling is just very dry. It lacks any sort of real excitement to drive to drive the narrative forward and thus keep me hooked.

8. Gundam: Reconguista in G

Two potty jokes in one episode. Enough said.

7. Hitsugi no Chaika: Avenging Battle

The second season looks to give us more of the same. This isn’t inherently a bad thing, but the Chaika formula was never all that impressive to begin with. Likewise, the sequel’s first episode doesn’t excite. The only thing going for the show is that it’s not particularly bad.

6. Amagi Brilliant Park

Gonna need Kanye West to be a little more charismatic to carry this show.

5. Akatsuki no Yona

Not great, but not bad. The show has avoided making any egregious mistakes primarily because the pacing has been pretty slow thus far. After two episodes, our heroes have only just managed to escape from the palace.

4. Parasyte

Solid start, but I hate that soundtrack.

3. Psycho-Pass 2

I find it’s often hard to judge the first episode of any sequel, because more often than not, these first episodes are just an assertion from the creators that we’ll be getting more of the same. In this case, more of the same Psycho-Pass feel and formula despite the new writer. To me, that’s a relatively good thing, but other opinions will naturally vary.

2. Garo: The Carved Seal

So far, I think the animation quality is the show’s biggest weakness, but even then, it’s not bad or anything. It just doesn’t impress me.

1. Shingeki no Bahamut: Genesis

The most fun show to watch this season.

---

Week 2’s Poll

For this week’s poll, I’m going to skip the summer leftovers. I’d just rather talk about something new. Anyway, like before, you can pick up to three answers.