Winter anime is here and where to watch it has been pretty confusing. Normally, I'd rely on Crunchyroll, doing what I can to support the official release but with Amazon and Netflix muscling into the market this seasons anime is a bit scattered and hard to track down. I'll make sure I mention where you can find an official release as I go through what I've been watching of this season so far.
Darling in the Franxx
Darling in the Franxx is a mecha anime done by the same studio as Kill la Kill so that gave me some idea as to what I was getting into.
Its world is a bit complex but from what it I can tell so far these kids are in some kind of experiment that makes them compatible to piolet these giant robots called Franxx to fight monsters that have forced humanity into small isolated pockets on the planet...I think.
The way in which their mecha are piloted is...strange but I like that style of the mechs, I like that girls basically become the mechs. If they just cut out the boy part of the piloting I'd be all in but then we'd have no plot with what is basically the mecha version of the mysterious transfer student plot line.
Overall I'm enjoying it so far and interested enough to keep watching.
You can find this anime officially on Crunchyroll.
Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens
I didn't know what to think after the first episode of this anime. It hopped from character to character, each seemingly disconnected from each other. I eventually realised that it felt similar to Durarara! in that respect, except rather than the supernatural side of the city being the hook we have a city where 1 in every 8 is some kind of hitman.
Three episodes or so in and the story is starting to focus, you can see how the seemingly separate characters are going to fit together and the two protagonists have become obvious.
I'm enjoying this one too and looking forward to when each of the characters threads are going to cross.
You can also find this one officially on Crunchyroll.
Kokkoku
The reason I wanted to watch this show was in the synopsis. It said that the mains character's brother and nephew are kidnapped. Her family are given a huge ransom with an unreasonable deadline, so her grandpa pulls out an old stone and enacts a spell with them to stop time. Her, her father and her grandfather go to save them in a world where time has stopped.
Not the full synopsis but enough to show the parts that pulled me in. One, the protagonist has so much family! Four generations of living family in a media form where we are lucky to see both parents most of the time! Two, her father and her grandfather come with her, that's one old adventure party compared to the usual highschoolers.
Kokkoku has these things and a pretty cool opening setting it apart from the others in this season. It's got an interesting premise, an interesting cast and I'm in on this pause world ride.
Amazon Prime is where you can find the official release of this series.
The Seven Deadly Sins: Revival of the Commandments
Colour and Chaos! Seven Deadly sins took me by surprise when I first watched it. I had no idea what to expect but found myself loving the overpowered action and bright, colourful characters! It's always given me a Fairy Tail kinda vibe.
This second season begins by correcting the ending of the first season with impressive fluidity, getting back in line with the manga.
It's been a bit strange for me to watch, as I haven't usually read any of the manga before watching an anime, in fact, I haven't properly since Bleach. I never enjoy an anime as much when I have read the manga but Seven Deadly Sin's colour and exaggerated fights are always great to watch even when I know what happens.
Sadly this is a series Netflix has so it will be a while before it sees an official release.
A Place Further Than the Universe
This defiantly isn't my normal anime choice. The main reason me and my other half started watching it was mainly due to the fact it was one of the first out this season and we needed something to watch.
I didn't expect to enjoy it so much. High school students off to Antartica! It's a cute anime with great characters you just want to root for the entire way through the journey. It's a delight to watch.
You can find it on Crunchyroll.
Violet Evergarden
Feeeeeeeels. This anime with rip your heart out and never let go. It'll just keep squeezing and causing pain because this poor girl...I would say needs a hug but she doesn't she just needs recovery time.
Violet Evergarden is a young woman recovering from a harsh life where she was used as a weapon in the war. She knew nothing but fighting and orders, even losing her arms in the war but now the war is over. To make it worse, just before the war ended, her commanding officer, the major, admitted he loved her.
Violet is confused by this. She has heard of Love but doesn't understand what he meant by it, what she is supposed to do with it. She quests to find answers and as the audience, we hope she finds a bit of understanding and normality on the way.
You can find the beautiful anime on Netflix and by some miracle it is being released week by week. (But not in the US from what I have read)
Fate/EXTRA Last Encore
I'm so mad at this anime. Not for its content but the fact it's release date was so late. I have been so excited for this anime for months now and I get to its anime season and it's damn late. I know you'd be fashionable late Red Saber but god damn it give me my fate anime!!!
Sorry, rant over. Sadly, due to its late release, I'm giving this impression purely on one episode. I can say it is VERY different to the game it's based on so far. I'm thinking it'll go back to formula after this first episode but who knows considering what they did to the start.
Overall I'd say it was weird. It tried to explain things but didn't do a very good job. It kind just stuffed some narration in there and seemed to hope that would do it but despite playing the game it's based on even I as getting a bit lost with it. I'll still be watching it because I love the fate series (can you tell by the other blog posts I've done about it: Fate/Apocrypha, Fate/GrandOrder) but I'm hoping it improves from here.
As with most of the fate series Netflix has it and sadly like Seven Deadly Sins, this means we won't see an official release for a few months.
Enjoyed reading this? You can find my thoughts on last season here: New Anime Season! Here's what I'm watching!