February 2015 Anime Pick

Season 3 for Kuroko no Basuke is airing and I'm still stuck at the first episode of season 2. I'm starting to think maybe I should drop this series entirely because I lost interest in basketball ever since I finished Slam Dunk. I thought Kuroko would bring the same vibe back, but it was different than what I expected. I'm three weeks in for the more recent anime titles and I think I have a good idea where they are heading.

Aldnoah.Zero

Yo. It took me so long to finish season one and I'm like "why didn't I finish this earlier". It reminds me a lot of Valvrave the Liberator, but I think the production team wanted to distinguish itself from the series by creating different protagonists. I have a feeling they are going to give season two a dark and tragic ending like Valvrave. So the basic synopsis is that Earth and Vers (Mars) are going to war with each other over an international conflict that was triggered by the assassination of the Vers princess. Vers is planning to conquer Earth for its plentiful resources of oxygen and water and holds a powerful technology called Aldnoah. They target Japan where the assassination first occurred and when the students and civilians couldn't evacuate on time, the students operate Kataphrakts, piloted robots, to fight Martian Kataphrakts. It's definitely a mecha genre, but there's some sci-fi drama in there for people like me. What I liked most was the tension between Inaho and Slaine and the struggles they both have. For Slaine especially, there is a wavering loyalty to human beings on Earth and the Vers empire. I'm excited to see his character transform in season two where he will have to make his most important choice, Earth or Mars?

Assassination Classroom

I heard of this series for quite some time and was a bit hyped to see it animated. The one thing I feared was that they would use the gimmick of having young students possessing a variety of assassination skills/techniques as a way to bring edge to a series rendering it completely unrealistic. I mean there's already tons of series involving large groups of child assassins or martial artists and authors tend to keep creating new characters rather than progressing the story. However, since Assassination Classroom is a comedy, this gimmick kind of works in favor. I did find a lot of the stuff in the story very funny and the octopus-like Koro Sensei has become my favorite character. He is the main antagonist and the target that the students are trying to kill, but at the same time he is a very fun teacher motivating his students. It makes me wonder if in the end the students like him so much they decide not to kill him (and lose the chance of getting a billion dollar reward). I was pleasantly surprised that they picked Fukuyama Jun for the role of Koro Sensei. He gives off a bit of Grell Sutcliffe from Kuroshitsuji in terms of playfulness, but as Koro Sensei there's reassurance and arrogance.

Stardust Crusaders Egypt Arc

I don't know any JoJo fan is NOT hyped over this arc. We waited three months for the continuation and I'm expecting a lot of cool stuff. I always thought some parts of JoJo were extremely funny, but seeing it animated was even funnier. So far I laughed really hard at the Oingo and Boingo episode. Ono Daisuke acting out the false Jotaro was amazing and had me laughing out loud. No one could resist laughing at false Jotaro's expressions. They were absolutely hilarious. I was a little iffy on the new opening and ending themes, but I grew to like them. (But no song can beat the intensity of JoJo~Sono Chi no Sadame.) The custom made Oingo and Boingo ending song was really catchy.

Death Parade

I was pleased to see Death Parade come around. If anyone had watched Anime Mirai, it was first featured as Death Billiards, a one episode thing. Now developed into a full series, I want to see more. I've only watched one episode so far, but I like where it is going. The story is that people that die at the same moment in pairs are sent to this place called Quindecim without any further instructions except that there will be a game and no one can leave until the game ends. The charm point of this series is the ambiguity of morality revealed in the characters as the game goes on. Even as the episode ends, there's no telling of who is "right" or "wrong" and it leaves the viewer to interpret the judging of the characters. I think their expanded cast of characters has some pretty cool designs that will reel in a younger audience.