Musings and Reflections – Winter 2017 Week 0

     After a bit of a breather from weekly anime again comes a new season with renewed hopes, expectations and worries. It’s a really difficult task to choose which shows deserve your time, especially for such completionists like me. At least for me it’s not the easiest task to guess from bare premises (that often doesn’t say anything useful), staff members and one or two PVs if an anime will prove to be good. If not for the wish to keep up with the community I doubt if I would at all watch anime as it airs – too much gamble and sadly too little chances of success. Nevertheless, here I am, thinking about the new season. For some time I thought that it may be better to restrict myself to 2 or 3 shows at most, after finding the good ones according to the impressions of other people. Yet, it turns out that Winter 2017 will provide way more second seasons of stuff that I may not be head over heals for but nevertheless am willing to try. So yeah, what does the next season have in store?

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu: Sukeroku Futatabi-hen

    Definitely the anime I’m the most excited about. The first part of Rakugo was my favorite of the last year so it’s a no-brainer that I stick to it till the very end. The path to this second season was paved from the very first episode of the first season, and while it ended wrapping everything it attempted well, it’ll be even more interesting to watch how the story unfolds when there’s no doubt about the premise and the characters that should be central to the story. I hope it again proves to be a masterfully woven character drama it has been. Well, just watch the first season, if you haven’t already and I think you won’t be disappointed with that one as well as with what we are about to get.

3-gatsu no Lion

     Probably no need to elaborate. It’s even not a second season but a direct continuation from a previous one. I don’t think we’ll see anything exceptional – there have been anime that are far more interesting and occasional glimpses of quality for me feel rather sparse compared to the whole package of everything that 3-gatsu offers. I’m just curious how everything will end, but everything else isn’t that fascinating anymore.  Well, unless getting some nice wallpapers is also a reason to stick around. Thanks for that, Shaft.

Tales of Zestiria the X (2017)

     Again a show that I found I’m not the most qualified person to watch – having played the game seems to be sort of compulsory to get the most rewarding experience. As a person who still hasn’t past his stage of adoration of ufotable even when the era of adapting Type-Moon stuff almost ended I’m looking forward to see what Unlimited Budget Works will produce this time. ufotable’s later works don’t look that inspired but even the sheer curiosity of the capabilities of CG makes the show interesting enough – at the very start of the first season the disconnection between 3D and 2D was very jarring and towards the end it was greatly improved, but the possibilities are still here. I don’t care very much for the story (apart from the wish to see more Shirayuki) but you never know what’s going to happen. I just hope if there will be no random Berseria promotion arcs.

Little Witch Academia

     One of a few original shows that still managed to get the green light and also being made by studio Trigger automatically qualifies as something worth noticing, yet knowing what this project began from makes me really enthusiastic, almost as much as I’m hyped for Rakugo. I’ve only recently discovered the appeal of Trigger and after everything that was done in the films of LWA, I can do nothing but eagerly wait for the TV series. Of course there’s a huge question if the writers will be able to capture the same spirit and, more importantly, to retain it for the whole season, as the second film suffered from being not as condensed as the first one, and it was only not even an hour long itself. There’s also a risk to stray too much in the territory of uninteresting characters, lots of tropes and just plain unoriginality. But for now let’s keep excited and remember that at least the art should definitely remain top tier no matter what.

ACCA: 13-ku Kansatsu-ka

     The show I know the least about and I’m not even sure if I should watch it. Probably going to wait for some impressions on the first episode. Despite the premise which says very little indeed about what the anime will be about, some names of the people attached to the project make the show quite compelling. The original manga author Natsume Ono has also drawn Saraiya Goyou about which I have heard only good things, though sadly it still remains in my watchlist for an indefinite amount of time. Madhouse by itself suggests not the worst things to be expected, and the director Shingo Natsume only by his direction (and huge book of friends, haha) of One Punch Man deserves attention. Yes, basing the expectations only on people involved might not be the best way of judging yet unaired anime but unless it proves to be otherwise, this show might be quite good.

Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! 2

     I remember when at first last year everyone just didn’t pay any attention to “another RPG world” anime, yet after a time started praising KonoSuba sometimes even as the best of the year. Well, I tried watching it and yes, some parts were funny, but especially towards the end it started to lose its charm, as much as it actually got. Anyway, as with other sequels, I’m a bit interested to see if anything unexpected will happen, though I don’t have any high hopes. And, well, some jokes were truly good. As well as the amazing ED.

Kuzu no Honkai

     And, last but not least, the third anime I’m mostly interested in. I’ve read the manga as far as it goes and quite liked it. It may not be the world masterpiece but to some degree it tries to delve into that fascinating territory that Oyasumi Punpun magnificently explored. And right here lies the biggest problem – the show is advertised as a normal one, but it’s just not possible to keep true to the source material and don’t get dangerously near the borderland to abundant ecchi. Sure, the creators may try to avoid that but the sexuality of the characters and its complications are one of the key elements that drive the story so unless Lerche goes all out, it may become a very undermining disappointment. The complete censorship wouldn’t work and on the other hand it’s really easy to lose all the subtlety. Anyway, the character designs are just gorgeous. And, as the manga approaches its end, we may receive a complete and fulfilling story. So yeah, that’s a gamble but I’m willing to take it.

      And that’s all I’m mildly or more interested in for the already started season, that may be called the season of second seasons. It just looks that if you aren’t already familiar with many shows to be aired, you don’t have much space to construct your watchlist – the amount of possibly decent shows isn’t astronomical at all. But let’s hope for a good season!

Posted by Aldael on January 4, 2017

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