Now that all the available first-run anime has been taken care of, I thought I might do a compilation post of all the sequels and miscellaneous short anime available this season (at least those which can be had legally at the time of this writing). Some of these are sequels I’ve been anticipating quite a bit, and some of them are sequels of series that I’m not familiar with – there isn’t anything that’s a short that’s not also a sequel, and it appears that there wasn’t really any “stuff” (what I call anime made for kids that won’t hold much interest for most adult viewers) to speak of this time. I know my providing commentary on something I have little context for will be controversial to some readers, but I plan to approach it from the angle of whether I would want to go back and watch the previous episodes or not. Apologies to anyone who feels that I’m misrepresenting any series here; I imagine I’m not the only person in history who’s approached longer-running anime this way, though.
It goes without saying, but there are likely spoilers for every series written about here; if you’re not caught up on your favorites, you’re likely better off waiting until you have time to get up to speed. Also, I skipped Overlord III because it seemed more like a split-cour continuation rather than a true sequel… and I watched about three minutes of it and had no idea what was going on!
Attack on Titan – Season 3
Streaming: Crunchyroll, Funimation
Episodes: TBA
Source: Manga
Episode Summary: After reacquiring Eren, the newly-reformed Levi Squad has begun tests to determine the extend of Eren’s titan powers. Unfortunately, due to unknown reasons, Eren is unable to fully form himself into a functional titan and the tests are halted. As they continue to try to decide their next moves, and ill wind begins to blow from Trost. First Pastor Nick is found dead – the military police guarding the “crime scene” claim it was due to a robbery gone wrong, but Hange figures out soon enough that he was likely tortured by the authorities to determine whether he revealed any crucial information to the Levi squad. Soon after that the authorities begin searching after the squad and Erwin is arrested. They also discover a kidnapping plot against Eren and Historia, which is easily foiled. But Levi believe the kidnapping was too amateurish to have been committed by the military police, and comes to a horrifying conclusion which is soon confirmed – the serial killer “Kenny the Ripper,” with whom Levi spent some time as a child, is after him once again, and the entire squad is in mortal danger.
Impressions: The first two seasons of Attack on Titan have had drastically different tones from one-another. The first was action-packed and often terrifying, relying on death-defying stunts and cruel violence to tell its compelling story of Titans attacking humanity. The second season was much quieter, focusing on some of the side characters and delving into the true nature of the titans as partly-human. Judging from just the first episode of season 3, it seems as though this season will begin to reveal more of the unsettling conspiracy that’s been looming in the background for quite a while. While I suspect that this season will post just as many new questions as it answers old ones, I do appreciate the shift in focus over the years, especially since Eren is an annoying protagonist and plot-related activities that draw attention away from his single-mindedness are good by me.
This episode does a great job of balancing its slow-burning tension with quick bouts of danger, especially as it reaches its climax. The fact that our heroes are as in-the-dark as we are adds a great sense of foreboding, especially as the danger transfers from a relatively known quantity – the titans – to the unknown upper echelons of the royal authorities. The only element I’m not entirely sure of yet is Kenny, who’s only in the episode briefly but seems like he might be the type of character who’s just nasty and cruel for shock value. It’s admittedly interesting to meet a character who has someone as capable as Levi feeling palpable fear, and the coolness factor of his steam guns is high though that adds little if anything to the episode itself. I suppose we’ll have to see where things go before I can make a final call.
Would I watch the rest? – Absolutely! This is one of the few series I’ve actively looked forward to and it’s a story that I’m completely invested in. I’ve done my best to avoid manga spoilers and I’ve been almost entirely successful (boo to the person who revealed a major character spoiler during a convention cosplay masquerade less than a year after the first season aired; they had to have known most people in the audience weren’t caught up on the manga). I’ve heard good things about how this story arc is progressing from people who are familiar with the manga too; it sounds like they’re cutting out a lot of the fat and the manga author is all for it. In any case, I’m really pumped to get caught up again and make the show my not-to-be-missed Sunday afternoon appointment.
Free! Dive to the Future
Streaming: Crunchyroll, Funimation
Episodes: 12
Source: Light Novel
Episode Summary: Haruka and Makoto are living in Tokyo and starting their college careers. Haru as a swimmer, and Mako in childhood education (so he can teach youngsters to swim). Rin has returned to Australia to continue training down-under. And, of course, Nagisa and Rei have made it their duty to ensure that their high school swim club has some new members. Sosuke is currently dealing with recovering from his injured shoulder. Haru gets a big surprise on his first day of classes when he meets an old friend, Asahi, who he swam with when they were kids. Asahi is part of their college’s swim team as well, and it appears that he and Haru will get another chance to battle it out in the pool. Both of them are curious about their friend Ikuya, who they haven’t heard from since parting ways prior to high school. It sounds as though Ikuya has made quite the name for himself on the swimming circuit, and Haru may get a taste of his skills at the newcomers tournament.
Impressions: First of all, there have been a couple of movies in between the previous season and this one, and I haven’t seen yet gotten the chance to see them. I found this plot summary over at Anime News Network to be very helpful in getting myself caught back up with the story and characters.
Free! has always appealed to me in multiple ways. It’s one of the first series that I can think of which deliberately targeted me, a female anime fan, with the sort of blatant fanservice that’s been common for years in anime aimed at male fans. I’ve never quite decided how I feel about this; I’m happy that I’m considered a viable audience and my heart absolutely flutters looking at hot anime dudes, but on the other hand I might be happier if the solution to the unequal treatment of fans’ desires based on gender meant a reduction in sexually-uncomfortable fanservice focused on women’s bodies rather than an increase in that focused around men’s bodies.
Philosophical musings aside, I was curious how a new director would handle that kind of content, considering that Hiroko Utsumi, the director of the previous seasons, has left KyoAni to direct this season’s Banana Fish and this season of Free! is directed by a fresher face (and a man). There are still plenty of young men in swimsuits throughout the episode, but I feel that fewer of those moments are as blatantly over-the-top and ridiculous as some in the previous seasons. Depending on what you’re looking for, this could be a good or a bad thing; I’ll leave it at that.
Aside from that, the animation in this episode is gorgeous as one would expect; the opening scene with Haru floating in the pool really shows of some beautiful water and background shots. Additionally, I believe the show has always excelled at developing its characters and telling emotional stories with the sport of swimming as a focal point, and I feel like this is already evident in the beginning moments of the third season. I’ve stayed with the series because I like the characters and enjoy seeing their lives evolve and progress.
Would I watch the rest? – I’m definitely excited to watch this season of the show, though part of me feels like it might be helpful to wait until the movies are all available. Reading a recap is fine and I’m certainly not worried about understanding what’s going on, but it would be nice to go into the experience knowing exactly what I’m supposed to know (especially when it comes to the events which occurred when the characters were much younger).
Yami Shibai: Japanese Ghost Stories – Season 6
Streaming: Crunchyroll
Episodes: TBA (likely 13)
Source: Original
Episode Summary: Ryousuke has always been afraid of thunder. When he was a child, his mother would hold him until the storms stopped, but she disappeared one day. Now that he’s older, Ryousuke still carries that fear with him. During a bad storm the power goes out in the house. While he’s looking for the breakers, the phone begins to ring. Ryousuke picks it up and hears a familiar voice on the other end – it’s his mother. She says that, because he was thinking of her, she reached out to him. Not knowing how she would know, Ryousuke becomes angry before hearing knocking at the window. On this phone, his mother starts begging to be let in. After minutes of pounding, Ryousuke throws open the shades only to see his father standing there. After Ryousuke lets him in, his father mentions losing his key, but then they realize they’re not alone. Sitting in the living room his Ryousuke’s mother, and his father seems especially horrified to see her.
Impressions: Yamishibai is a series of creepy stories presented in very bite-sized chunks (each episode is about five minutes). I’ve watched a good chunk of the series, usually waiting until the entire series is available before viewing it in one go. One thing I can say about the series as a whole is that it’s very spotty in terms of quality. Some of the episodes are properly creepy and make effective use of their short length (my favorite is one from the first season about hair in a copy machine), but others come across as goofy or silly rather than spooky. I suppose the success or failure of a season depends on the ratio of these two types of stories, as well as the type of story you prefer (I tend to enjoy the more serious ones).
I thought this episode was actually one of the better ones I’ve seen in the whole series, mostly because it relied less on jump-scares and more on atmosphere. The fact that the situation remains unanswered and unresolved at the end only makes it more effective, because it allows the viewer to speculate about why Ryousuke’s father would be so terrified of his mother’s return. The suggestion is, obviously, that she’s no longer living, and perhaps the father had a hand in her death. But there could be other possible scenarios, too.
As usual, the animation in the episode is minimal, but by design – it’s meant to mimic a style of storytelling called kamishibai, which utilizes still images. The images in this episode are really fitting, done in watercolor with white highlights. Considering how rain-soaked the atmosphere is, the splotches and pools of watercolor seem especially appropriate. It’s worth watching the episode a second time just to look over the art again.
Would I watch the rest? – I probably will, though I’ll likely wait until the season is over and watch the rest all at once as I have in the past. It’s a good way to spend an hour out of the day. I hope the ratio of “creepy” to “corny” is more balanced than it has been in some of the past seasons.
Encouragement of Climb – Season 3
Streaming: Crunchyroll
Episodes: TBA
Source: Manga
Episode Summary: Aoi is thankful to her friend Hinata for helping her to keep the promise they made so long ago – to climb a mountain. Though her first attempt at Mount Fuji didn’t go so well, Hinata’s continued encouragement of Aoi has helped Aoi start to feel up to another attempt. Right now, though, Aoi would like to thank Hinata for the cute Mount Fuji plushie she was given. Aoi wants to show Hinata a beautiful sight she’s never seen before, so asks her friend Hikari if she has any ideas. She recommends Mount Tsukuba which is one of Japan’s top 100 mountains and one with a great view of the city below. Aoi tells Hinata to meet her there at dusk, and to make sure that she brings a head lamp. They scale the mountain as the sun sets, admiring the wonderful rock formations along the way. At the top, the stars glisten in the sky much like the lights of the city below twinkle and shift. Hinata is thankful, and the friends vow to make another attempt at Mount Fuji together.
Impressions: I initially overlooked Encouragement of Climb back when it was just a series of 5-minute shorts. For whatever reason I just wasn’t feeling the short format at that time and the show seemed mostly very cutesy and insubstantial. Two factors got me interested in it later on, one major one being that the animation direction in the second season was supposedly very good (I was seeing clips posted on twitter and on Sakuga Blog fairly often). I also watched Laid-Back Camp in the meantime, which I loved; while the two series aren’t exactly the same, they seem to have a similar balance of friendly interaction, admiration of nature, and characters pushing their own limits at their own pace. It’s debatable whether shows with entirely female casts are ever really about girls themselves; one could argue that shows about cute girls are aimed at male fans who are looking for certain types of girls to admire. I prefer not to delve too deeply into that line of thinking unless the series itself is otherwise offensive in some way, because even if I’m not the target audience I still tend to like shows like this.
The visuals in this episode were really gorgeous. I’ve begun to have more of an appreciation for background artwork in anime; it boggles my mind how one image might only be on screen for a couple of seconds, when it’s clear that a lot of care was put into it to create a sense of space and depth for the characters to inhabit. Being based around the outdoors means that much of the artwork portrays the lushness of mountain foliage and the random beauty of rock formations. These images, however brief, really imbue the series with a sense of life and reality that might not have been possible if corners had been cut.
Despite not having a lot of context for the character relationships here, what’s admirable to me is how clearly Aoi’s and Hinata’s relationship to one-another shines through despite being unfamiliar to me. I’m a sucker for people showing kindness to one-another, and I get the sense that whatever other antics are on display, it’s more about how the characters bring out the best in one-another and, obviously, encourage each-other.
Would I watch the rest? – Yes, absolutely. I’ve honestly been meaning to for a while but now that I’ve “cracked the seal” so-to-speak, I feel like I could set aside some hours on a weekend afternoon and enjoy the whole thing.
Working Buddies! – Season 2
Streaming: Crunchyroll
Episodes: TBA
Source: Original
Episode Summary: Tapio and Kuehiko are two cats with vastly different temperaments and outlooks on life who end up working together by chance. Though they initially dislike one-another, through endless and varied forms of employment they learn to look out for one-another and eventually appreciate each-other’s company. Nowadays they’re both stuck in an editing studio together, editing a clip show of the previous season’s activities under the thumb of an unappreciative boss.
Impressions: It’s amazing how three minutes of one series and three minutes of another series can be so completely different. Yesterday I watched Yamishibai, which manages to wring a ton of story and atmosphere out of its short run-time. Tonight I watched an episode of Working Buddies! which takes about the same amount of time (maybe slightly less) and manages to squander it away on not much of anything. I highly suspect that this episode is more of a recap rather than an episode typical of the series, which is one reason why it might be helpful for me to just start from the beginning on my own time. I was initially enticed by the cute animals on the key art and I feel like I didn’t really get much of that due to the choppy format.
Speaking of which, I do really like the character designs and like how the characters are animated (kind of like 2D paper-like cut-outs on a sometimes 3D backdrop). Honestly, my favorite was the gothic lolita cat that I spotted during the ED animation (I’m hoping she’s actually in the show). Beyond that, though, there’s not really much to grasp onto here besides some goofy antics and a couple of quick gags.
Would I watch the rest? – I’m on the fence. I feel like I need to watch more to really know what the show is like, but this episode wasn’t what I needed to prompt me to actually go do that.