So...anybody want to talk about the anime prospects for this season?

Dansen

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Taking a look at the roster for the 2015 winter it seems like very little of note is coming out, but here is what caught my interests.

Durara 2nd season- the original season was okay but it was still rather far cry from Bacano. There are some nice moments but the three MCs are horribly stale. My sister who has seen the first episode says that nothing interesting happens in the first episode so that doesn't bode well, but heres hoping this second season can improve the series.

Rolling Girls-The disconnect between the tag and the synopsis is what got me to check this one out. Its a "Slice of Life" show, but the synopsis starts with, "Ten years after the Great Tokyo War, each prefecture in Japan has split up into independent nations."WHAT?! The show seems like it is going to be really zany which will probably make it this season's stand out amongst general audiences. The first episode doesn't really give you any idea of where this show is heading and it seems like they are building up to something, so the jury is still out on this one.

[side note- having no fanservice in a primarily female cast is a plus]

Assassination Classroom-Really bizarre shonen that has seemed to gain a lot of popularity. It plays itself for laughs one second then demands to be taken seriously the next. And of course the plot is fit into the context of high school yet again (sigh). Really on the fence about this one.

Yatterman Night- The only one of these four shows that has me looking forward to the next episode. Its being made to commemorate an old saturday morning kids show, Yatterman. The decedents of the show's villains lead an honest life, but due to the transgressions of their ancestors are forced to live outside of the utopia founded by the show's heroes. When they are wronged by the Yattermen whom they view as heroes, the group decides to take up the mantel of their forefathers and set out to strike at the city. I really hope that this will be a fun show, although if Cashern sins is anything to go by this might end up being a dud.

What do you guys think of this seasons offerings? Anything stand out?
 

Dirty Hipsters

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I'm trying to figure out if I want to keep watching Aldnoah.Zero or not. On the one hand, the first season was kind of terrible, but on the other hand, the ending of the first season seemingly killed off most the characters that I hated the most, and the premise is still entertaining. So...eh?

But yeah, mostly just happy that Jojo is back, and will be keeping an eye on Durarararararara because I really liked the first season (despite it not being as good as Baccano). Other than that I'm looking forward to the next 3 episodes of Tsukimonogatari.
 

Dansen

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I really need to catch up with my Jojo, especially with the upcoming "Za Wardo!" fight and all.

Just checked out death parade today. If anybody wants a dark psychological anime, this looks like this will be the one for this season.
 

[Kira Must Die]

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I've been watching quite a few shows this season. Maybe a little too much, counting the stuff carrying over from last season.

Aldnoah.Zero Second Season
I didn't really like the first season, and so far it's bit questionable, but needless to say I am curious as to where it is going.

Yuri Kuma Arashi
Absolutely hated it.

I'm not an Ikuhara fan, at all. Penguindrum is one of my most hated anime, and I could barely get through Utena. I have no problem with strange, surreal, artsy stuff, and I have no problem with symbolism, but I just can't stand his style, stories, or characters. I already had low expectations going into this, but still hoping to like something of his, but no, this was exactly what I expected it to be.

Rolling Girls
This one looks promising. The action is cool, and it looks like it doesn't take itself too seriously. Seems like it could be entertaining.

Assassination Classroom
Seems alright so far, but I'm afraid it might grow stale after a while.

Kantai Collection
Looks like it could be fun. It's dumb, but then again it's a show based entirely on anthropomorphic battleships. It looks slightly better than I expected it to be.

Death Parade
This one was pretty good, and I liked the short that came out beforehand. It kinda has a Hell Girl vibe to it, and I liked Hell Girl.

The Testament of Sister New Devil
It's not as bad as I thought it would be. Just your typical ecchi show about demons and all that crap.

Absolute Duo
See above. Minus the demons, maybe.

World Break: Aria of Curse for a Holy Swordsman
Now this was godawful. The animation is horrid, the characters are annoying and bland, and so far the plot makes no sense. It almost feels like I'm watching an Idea Factory anime. Looking forward to next week.

Other than that, there's Jojo, Tokyo Ghoul, Your Lie in April, Parasyte, and Cross Ange. I haven't watched Durarara!! x2 yet, as I'm waiting for it to finish airing. Having seen the previous season and Baccano!, I think that's one I'm gonna have to marathon through.

So far this season's kinda meh, but I don't expect every season to have something mind-blowing, especially this early in the year (Unless you include 2011, which had Madoka Magica early that year.)
 

Fappy

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I am all in on JoJo and Parasyte this season. The new season of Durarararararararararara looks somewhat interesting, but to be honest the only reason I finished the first season at all was due to the crisp art style and Celty (who turned out to only have a minor role for some reason). If I hear good things about any others I'll be sure to check them out.
 

CpT_x_Killsteal

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Waiting for Log Horizon to finish so I can binge it after Parasyte. Oh, and Aldnoah Zero, to cure my bluest of balls. Seriously that ending was bullshit and a half.

And praying Tokyo Ghoul gets a second season announced. He apparently goes badass second coming of the messiah from what I've heard from the manga readers.
 

Secondhand Revenant

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CpT_x_Killsteal said:
Waiting for Log Horizon to finish so I can binge it after Parasyte. Oh, and Aldnoah Zero, to cure my bluest of balls. Seriously that ending was bullshit and a half.

And praying Tokyo Ghoul gets a second season announced. He apparently goes badass second coming of the messiah from what I've heard from the manga readers.
The next season of Tokyo Ghoul has already started
 

Izanagi009_v1legacy

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Oh boy, where to start

First; the obvious targets of my hate: Absolute Duo, Unlimited Fafnir, and World Break.

My first reaction was WHY THE HELL ARE YOU COPYING INFINITE STRATOS AGAIN? Seriously, all three shows involve a male protagonist with unique powers or powers previously exclusive to women entering a school with either a few girls that will clamor for him or the entire school population is female but the protagonist. Given how much I hate that show with a burning passion to the point I want to hack up all the blu-rays of it, seeing it copied three times in a season made me angry enough to punch a wall.

Other than that, I'm watching Death Parade, Jojo's, and hate watching Aldnoah since the show has now descended into a level of insanity that I can't take it seriously; plus, as a mecha fan, hearing people call it the Gundam Killer despite what the hell happened makes me want to find out why they think that.

If you are wondering why Durarara, Yatterman, or Tokyo Ghoul are not on my list, it's because I have no idea about their prequels and haven't seen them. They are on my backlog but I have no idea when I will watch them.

I'm continuing to watch Gundam Build Fighters, Parasyte, and Log Horizon because those shows make me happy.

As for reviews I need to do, Rage of Bahamut is on my immediate docket and I will consider a first season review of Fate Stay Night: UBW.
 

ZiggyE

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Yuri Kuma Arashi and IM@S Cinderella Girls are already contenders for anime of the year, which is better than we might've hoped for since the Winter season is usually the worst of any given year. Cinderella Girls in particular managed to get the third highest positive viewer ranking for a debut episode on NicoNico of all time.

There's also Kancolle, which is fun enough, especially if you're a fan of the game. Season two of Soukyouu no Fafner is good too (not to be confused with FafnIr, which is airing on the same day and is legitimately awful). Madhouse's Death Parade. Junketsu no Maria has potential and I'm interested in Saenai no Heroine simply because it's written by the guy who did White Album 2.

You've also got Log Horizon and Cross Ange continuing from last season.

Pretty solid season, to be honest. One of the better seasons we've had in a long time and easily one of the best winter seasons. Hopefully the rest of the year will bode just as well.
 

jhoroz

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Dansen said:
Taking a look at the roster for the 2015 winter it seems like very little of note is coming out, but here is what caught my interests.

Durara 2nd season- the original season was okay but it was still rather far cry from Bacano. There are some nice moments but the three MCs are horribly stale. My sister who has seen the first episode says that nothing interesting happens in the first episode so that doesn't bode well, but heres hoping this second season can improve the series.
I actually think the first half of Durarara Season 1 is better than the entirety of Baccano. The only reason it's worse is because of how much that last arc falls apart. And the first episode of season 2 is basically recap on what's happening with all the characters after the time skip, which for a show that's been on hiatus for more than 4 years seems appropriate. I've read a few things here and there about what happens in this arc of Durarara and I'm greatly looking forward to it.

I wish people would stop saying they wished a second season of Baccano whenver they bring this show, because there is so much more to it than that.
 

Binkan

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Second Season of Tokyo Ghoul will not follow the manga, I heard somewhere that the author wasn't pleased with the first season and how they fucked it up so Second will be a stand-alone or something.
 

stroopwafel

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I absolutely loved Aldnoah.Zero so I will definitely be watching the second half. It's like Gundam but cooler(espescially compared to recent series). It also ended with a twist I didn't see coming. So the premise has been done to death in anime(space colony wants independence deploys mobile suits) but its kind of turned upside down here with earth being the good- and space colony being the bad guys(atleast the corruption that took control of the colony). Which is more interesting than you'd think. I also really liked the characters. The jaded elitist pricks from the colony wanting to provoke war with earth while having the technological upper hand with espescially tactical genius Inaho Kaizuka thwarting their every move with far inferior technology. Its awesome.

The only other show I'm interested in is Death Parade. The premise definitely sounds interesting.


 

CpT_x_Killsteal

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Secondhand Revenant said:
CpT_x_Killsteal said:
Waiting for Log Horizon to finish so I can binge it after Parasyte. Oh, and Aldnoah Zero, to cure my bluest of balls. Seriously that ending was bullshit and a half.

And praying Tokyo Ghoul gets a second season announced. He apparently goes badass second coming of the messiah from what I've heard from the manga readers.
The next season of Tokyo Ghoul has already started
Holy shit. I swear like a month ago I read that the second season hadn't even been confirmed. Thanks for the info.
 

Username Redacted

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This seems like a pretty bleak season for anime.

Continuing from last season:

Cross Ange - Yup. No idea what's going on anymore. Still going to watch it because there's so little that's grabbed my attention this season.

Yona of the Dawn - I actually quit like this series so far (~14 episodes) as it has interesting characters in an interesting world though I am a bit worried that there isn't going to be much of a payoff at the end.

Things I've watched so far this season:

Assassination Classroom - Show has a cute premise. Whether said premise can survive being drawn out for a full season is something I'm not super optimistic about.

Death Parade - I'm not sure what the comparison for this show would be but it seems to have some interesting ideas. Moderately optimistic about quality of show going forward.

Durarara!!x2 Shou - Similar to Psycho-Pass this was a show I really liked and felt like it didn't need an additional season (or in Durararas case several additional seasons). We'll see if it manages to match Pyscho-Pass' additional material or if these new seasons are shitty cash grabs.

Maria the Virgin Witch - For a show with a IMO kind of dumb premise I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that the show had, so far, good characters and world building.

The Testament of Sister New Devil - I thought Highschool DxD was pretty good for what it was trying to do/be and this seems like more or less the same sort of thing.

Things I will not be watching this season despite having watched the first season:

Tokyo Ghoul - The first season was a complete mess and I don't feel the need to subject myself to, likely, more of the same.

Aldnoah Zero - It's actually kind of impressive to have a show with as many characters as AZ does and for absolutely none of them to be interesting or likable.
 

major_chaos

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Haven't actually watched much yet, but I do have things I plan to get around to.
Gundam Reconguista in g is OK so far, plot is meandering, but as of episode 14 it looks like its finally going somewhere. It also gets points for playing with the formula, having the hero spend most of the show with a fairly sympathetic Zenon expy, while the mandatory Char wannabe works for the transparently untrustworthy Federation expy.

I'll watch the new Gundam Build Fighters as soon as I get around to watching the first season.

I was a huge fan of Durarara so I'm psyched for a new season.

Kantai Collection is getting at least a experimental viewing just to see if they somehow made something worthwhile out of the unabashedly stupid source material.

Miiiight give Parasyte a go, but it sounds a bit darker than what I normally like. Between Eva, elfen lied, and that one genuinely disturbing vampire anime the name of which I can't recall, I'm quite done with shows based around soul crushing darkness and despair.
 

necromanzer52

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[Kira Must Die said:
]Yuri Kuma Arashi
Absolutely hated it.

I'm not an Ikuhara fan, at all. Penguindrum is one of my most hated anime, and I could barely get through Utena. I have no problem with strange, surreal, artsy stuff, and I have no problem with symbolism, but I just can't stand his style, stories, or characters. I already had low expectations going into this, but still hoping to like something of his, but no, this was exactly what I expected it to be.
Oh god. Somebody else watched it. I spent a good 5 minutes staring at the screen after it had finished, wondering if that was the worst anime I'd ever seen.

As for what I'm watching:

Koufuku graffiti.
Essentially food porn: the anime. Cute moe girls doing cute moe things. I love this sort of thing in small doses, so I'll continue to watch it.

Rolling girls.
Will continue to watch for no other reason than I must know where they're going with this. For some reason it reminds me a lot of samurai flamenco, a show I enjoyed the hell out of, so I have high hopes for this one.

Maria the virgin witch.
I see strong potential in this. Good characters, good animation, interesting story. A couple of potentially annoying fanservice moments were actually done quite tastefully. Restraint is always a good sign.
 

Dansen

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necromanzer52 said:
[Kira Must Die said:
]Yuri Kuma Arashi

Rolling girls.
Will continue to watch for no other reason than I must know where they're going with this. For some reason it reminds me a lot of samurai flamenco, a show I enjoyed the hell out of, so I have high hopes for this one.
Do you think it might have something to do with the power-ranger featured in the first five minutes? :p

I started checking Aldnoah out because of this thread but there seems to be some negativity around it here as well. Im on ep 7, nothing seems bad yet aside from the boring MC.
 

Zetatrain

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Shows that are starting this Season

Yuri Kuma Arashi
-Saw Penguindrum and despite not understanding what was going on half of the time it was still one hell of a ride and in the end I'm glad I watched it. So no surprise Yuri Kuma Arashi has Kunihiko Ikuhara's name written all over it. Lots of weird symbolism and I only have a vague idea of what is going on but I'm hopeful that more will become clear as the series goes on. Bit more fanservice than i was expecting though.

Fafner: Exodus
-Well it only took a full decade but Fafner finally got a sequel series. Despite not having seen the movie that came before this the episode was still pretty easy to follow. Quite nostalgic to see the old characters and it seems we have new generation of fafner pilots. So glad Crunchyroll was able to pick this up

Aldnoah Zero (2nd Season)
-Despite falling far short of the impossible expectations it set for itself (Gen Uroboshi's name attached and being called a "Gundam Killer") I still found the first season okay and at the very least entertaining in the Mecha action department. S2's first episode is more of the same and that's alright for now, but hopefully S2 will attempt to correct some of the show's writing flaws from S1. Wasn't really a fan of Season 1's finale so I have no problem with Season 2's first episode "undoing" most of it

Shows that have carried over from last season

Log Horizon
-DATABASE! DATABA- alright I'll stop. The last arch was a bit overstretched, but still ended with a satisfying conclusion. The next arch though shows a lot of promise with the members of Plant Hwyaden making their debut and a woman from Shiro's Tea Party Debauchery days finally makes an appearance.

Gundam Build fighters TRY
-What can I say, I love (almost) everything Gundam as well as Gunpla so this show is right up my ally. Its a fun series plain and simple.

Gundam Reconguista in G
-Well its been a rocky ride with ups and downs but I'm still enjoying the series despite some pacing issues and Tomino's awkward dialogue. The show at least manages to stay consistently good in the mobile suits battles and the last episode was a high point in that regard. Now that the show has reached the far side of the moon hopefully the story will finally kick into high gear.

Dansen said:
I started checking Aldnoah out because of this thread but there seems to be some negativity around it here as well. Im on ep 7, nothing seems bad yet aside from the boring MC.
Well the show was basically promising the moon with Gen Uroboshi's name being attached and it being called a "Gundam Killer". So people came down on it pretty hard when it failed to deliver.

While I don't think its bad it definitely was disappointing. One of my biggest gripes about the show its that there were quite a few times when the show seemed like it was building up towards something big but failed to deliver.
 

VanQ

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I'm primarily just continuing shows from last season and watching iDOLM@STER: Cinderella Girls at the moment. I haven't had a chance to sample any other of the new shows yet.

On the topic of Cinderella Girls, I was quite blown away by just how damn good the first episode was. I even went and wrote a glowing review of it here. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.868832-First-ep-review-iDOLM-STER-Cinderella-Girls] Do check it out and I'm sure you'll be quite surprised.
 

SajuukKhar

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I am watching
-Nanatsu no Taizai, from last season
-Sailor Moon(yeah shut up), from last season
-Dag S season 3, from this season

AAANNNNDDDD....... that is about it.

I may watch that virgin witch show, but besides that, everything else looks kinda bad.