What Was Your Best and Worst Anime of Summer 2019?

[May_Lily]

With the Summer season coming to an end what were the series you all enjoy the most and the ones you didn't enjoy so much?

For me there are some shows I chose to watch that I have yet to finish, and I have not gotten to check out every anime of this season, or at least all the ones I was interested in the most. Even so here's what I enjoy and didn't enjoy so far of this season:

Most Favorite: Cop Craft
I am so far enjoying the story of what I learn people have refer to as "buddy cop" show, and the Americana setting feels a bit refreshing I guess (although I am not one of those people who want their anime to take place in a setting that is more familiar to them). The anime is also exploring a theme that is topical but in a way that is not so direct I guess. It's something I thought to mention for anyone who cares about such things (it's not something I generally look for). The only problem so far I would say this anime has is that sometimes the show uses still frames (is that what one would call it) during action scenes and is subtracts from the moment, but otherwise I so far see this as a great show.


Least Favorite : Miss Caretaker of Sunohara-sou
I don't hate this anime, but compared to the shows I manage watch from this season it seems to be the one I like the least. Its the typical harem series with this time the protagonist being a very young boy with a feminine appearance who desire to be more manly. I was curious to see how the show would address the kind of perception the protagonist has towards his gender, but I knew the chances for that happening in this season was slim given if the manga this show is base on does touch on that it probably happens much later then what the anime is covering. Besides from what I have watch it seems that the story is more interested in using the protagonist idea of his gender as a gag (I guess you would call it) for the jokes and hijinks it dishes out every episode then to explore what it means to be a man.


Honorable Mentions

Runner Up: O Maidens in Your Savage Season
While I do not have the kind of affinity with this show that I am sure much who had watch this would given my experience in the adolescent phase of my life was different compared to what the major characters in the story were going through, which ties into the theme the anime was exploring, I do see that it's a great show that certainly could serve as a good gateway anime. Also despite not having that level of affinity with this anime I ended up caring for characters so much to the point I was concern for their well-being, especially one in particular who did not get a full enough conclusion to her character arc like the others, although this is going to be remedy in the epilogue that would be releasing along with the final volume of the manga this anime is an adaptation from.

Favorite Continuing Series: Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
This show is looking to be my most favorite anime of the year so far. I always look forward to watching the latest episode on the day it's available on Funimation and enjoy every minute of it. I am also coming to like Tanjiro more as a protagonist given how he seems to be the embodiment of agape or principle love given how he treats both his friends, acquaintances, and even the oni he ends up slaying. I am also coming to like the supporting characters more as they grow closer to Tanjiro. By the end of the series I can feel they were really close enough to consider each other partners who like to work with each other. Oh and the animation has been fantastic throughout the series, especially when it came to the action scenes and the special effects of their attacks which is very appealing in an artistic way. With the next continuation with the manga adaptation going to film I wonder of this is how Demon Slayer is going to be adapted from this point forward. As movies?

 

[421cookies]

Favorite: Re:Stage DD
Don't mind me, I'm just a sucker for idol anime.

Second: Joshi Muda
It's just, Sugoi. Especially that TeishotokuP arc.

Third: Machikado
"Ganbare Shamiko", "Kore de katta to omounayo!", "Shamiko ga warui n dayo"
All the quotes are amazing.

Disappointing: Dumbbell
Why Doga Kobo…

Worst: Any good Isekai this season???

 

[Excelsior]

Most favorite

Kanata no Astra:
Despite the "potential plot holes" some might see, my suspension of disbelief is personally strong enough to see it through the end. Great, conclusive journey with satisfying pay off & ending. It also made me realize how merely actually having a conclusion manages to make it stand out enough in the sea of mediocre originals, unfinished (long running) adaptations, and the ever so deplorable 1 cour LN/manga advertisements. (Edit: I feel like I emphasized conclusion more than I needed to but I can't help it)
Also props to Lerche for pushing the limits of a 1-cour runtime to cram more content. 2 double length episodes at the start and finale, and all the skipped EDs...

JK Mudazukai:
In general a great comedy, interesting characters throughout. Personally can't help to compare it with NichiBros since they're running on the almost exact same premise, while I also enjoy NichiBros very much, Mudazukai gets a plus from me for coming up with more distinctive characteristics for its cast, and also bringing a sense of "actual timeline" by carrying jokes over to later episodes instead of mostly completely detached skits.
Ep 11

Spoiler

or chapter 58 in the manga is personally peak Mudazukai when Bino the author confirmed on her twitter that Baka & Waseda are character inserts for her and her husband, and that Teishotoku-P is an account they made together irl.

Machikado Mazoku:
An unexpectedly quite above average Kirara title. Not just girls "wasting time" over 1 cour (not that I hate that kind of stuff if you can see what I read and watch), but actually has an interesting plot, though this is also mostly thanks to the source material. Very fun characters, not a single thing worth disliking about. Also came up with some fun catchphrases.
TOKI KITERU ZO, folks.

Least Favorite (basically dropped)

Cop Craft:
Dropped at ep 4. I'm actually a fan of buddy cop premise. Ended up being a disappointment once episode 3 disaster happened and it never got back to even episode 1-2 quality afterwards in my eyes. The visual & audio flaws are too much to me to overlook.

Fire Force:
Dropped at ep 2. Was honestly interested in this at first because of the Shaft staff exodus. Liked the visuals (as expected from Shaft staff) but it's too strong on the battle shounen cliches for my taste. 2 episodes in and I already felt bombarded with literal "flash"backs of MC's backstory everytime he faced a new challenge. The direction also didn't feel very good, any lines of dialogue not spoken by the grown-up characters feel "choppy". Anytime the characters say something it felt like very short and they lack "flair" in the way they talk thus ended up feeling very monotone. I personally find such things to be a fun way to figure out a character's traits but this is what it left me feeling like.

Multi-target, One Hit Mom/Okaa-san online:
Dropped at ep 10. Loved the fact that it has Pochi.'s hands all over at the source as a light novel. Didn't read it but if what the anime offered is anything to go by it was running on fumes after ep 8 or so for me.

Honorary mention

Sounan desu ka for being a solid fun 6/10 show very consistently from start to end, and that bombastic finale.

Dumbbell for being a fun edutainment with fun characters. I read the manga and Doga Kobo did a good job with the anime. Loved what Ai Fairouz managed to do with Hibiki as her very first role.

El- Melloi for being a decently fun Fate spinoff. I can understand the flaws if one were to consider it as a mystery/detective show, which it admittedly doesn't do well because there's no way the audience can engage with the Nasu Deep Lore(TM) to actually solve the "mysteries". Which is why I look at and gauge it simply as "another Fate".

Tejina-senpai for, if anything, also being a consistent 5.5-6/10 comedy throughout. No major fuck ups, and

Spoiler

the fact that she actually can do tricks if not because of her stage fright kinda makes me want to root for her.

 

[DANDAN_THE_DANDAN]

I thought Sunahara-sou was a couple seasons ago. I know cause I watched it when it was on season.

Usually I'm up for all the shounen stuffs but Fire Force is still setting up its story and I wasn't emotionally invested in Dr. Stone until Senku meets the villagers which costed it like 1/3 of its cour. I'm all up for Vinland Saga but I watch it to find out what happens next rather than because I'm invested, like, it's good but in a different way that is not my cup of tea.

Apparently everyone liked O Maiden but it's not really my thing. I also avoided all isekais, and especially Arifureta cause its adaptation is just so horrible, dropped that at ep 5 after it betrayed my hopes of turning good somehow and forcing me to wait a whole week for a recap episode that wasn't necessary. Hopefully there's something good in next season's five isekais. Well I know that Imma enjoy the sequels then.

The shows that I really dig this season are Demon Girl Next Door and Wasted Days of Highschool Girl. Two slice of life, comedy shows which is really surprising to me as someone who's normally into anything but that. I guess I just needed a few laughs. Favourite episode from JK was the vocaloid one. Really moved me. I'm planning to read the manga.

Well those two and Demon Slayer. Demon Slayer is as high as those two. Can't wait for the movie.

I put Cop Craft on hold after ep 3, same reason as @Excelsior.

Really love Kanata no Astra, but I don't feel like it deserves the crown of "best anime this season"... mostly cause Demon Slayer is here. Kanata no Astra is a really concise, well thought-out, well-written tale that mixes survival, mystery, comedy, and sci-fi really well. It takes old tropes and put them in new situations which lead to great conclusions. Charactership is top notch as well.

Currently have four or five eps of Lord El Meloi downloaded in my phone, waiting for me to watch them. I plan to finish it but haven't get the nudge to yet.

Yeah that's all. My watch list ended up changing a lot from the one I started with, like, at first I ignored Demon girl Next Door's existence until I read the comments saying that it's cute and ended up binging the first half of the season to catch up.

 

[May_Lily]

@DANDAN_THE_DANDAN

I watched Demon Girl Next Door, and thought it was alright, but the show did not seem to hook me enough. Plus I had trouble following the subtitles at times given how fast they moved (which is due to how fast the characters were talking). I fell off from watching it after a while, but from a review I read recently from Anime News Network, the story does start getting good around the end of the series (which I thought it would given that it was hinting at some important information that I sure was going to come to pass at some point.

The similar thing was true with Wasted Days of Highschool Girl. I thought it was a nice show for what it was, and originally I was planning to use the show as like a palette cleanser after going through the emotions of watching O Maidens in Your Savage Season (given they both came out on the same day). However that did not work out as I fell off from watching both shows. When it came time to play catch up I chose O Maidens in Your Savage Season over Wasted Days of Highschool since I was more engage with the story of the former anime then the latter. Also, much like the case with Demon Girl Next Door, I had trouble reading the subtitles at times given how fast the characters were speaking (I guess that is a thing with comedy anime).

I guess I should give Demon Girl Next Door another try given how good the show get, but it might be more comfortable for me if I read the manga the show is base on.

 

[Afiaki]

Favourite?
Mo Dao Zu Shi Season 2.
Continues to be great. Every episode was extremely satisfying. It's amazing how much satisfaction can come from a single episode when there's so much happening. It was really enjoyable. The opening and ending themes are excellent this season as well. I wish they'd post an official OST already.
The art was better but they style hasn't changed, there was more drama, more depth, more action, and Wei Ying was on a date with Lan Zhan for nearly the whole season.

Although it was only 8 episodes, but it's only been a year since the first season and its third season is coming early-ish next year from the sounds of it. The Cornetto advertisements were hilarious as well, from mentions with banners, then separate animated ads, and then with Wei Ying eating and offering Lan Zhan a Cornetto inside of the episode. So out of place, but that made it so great.

It's better in pretty much every way to the first season, except for the amount of episodes.
But to be honest, I don't personally care if a season doesn't run the full cour so it doesn't bother me at all. Attack On Titan's 3rd season and the latest season "Part 2" were like this as well, and the payoff was excellent. To trade episode count for really high quality releases and a shorter wait time between seasons, I'd take that trade any day.


Least Favourite?
I was only waiting for Mo Dao Zu Shi, sorry other anime.

 

[axelTHEGREAT]

No Anime No Problem, lol

 

[ArpanaR]

Least favourite:
Isekai cheat magician

Most favourite:
Fairy Tail: the final series

 

[TestAddress]

Barely remembered any of the anime from the past. The only one that stuck is Deca-Dence and it is 2018.

I remember Netflix has a GREAT DEAL of packaged anime to even bother watching mainstream.

Levius, Ingress, Eden, Thus Spoke Rohan Kishibe, Samuraii 7, Make My Day, Yakitori, Gamera is the recent one.

 

[rukiares]

nothing lol I did not watch anime on that time