So I've been watching Seiken Tsukai and Absolute Duo out of sheer boredom, and I've gotta say, they're pretty shit tier.

Tokyo Ghoul's second season has shit ass pacing, and the story telling still doesn't make sense. Really saddened tbh.

 

If you think they're bad, stay away from Unlimited Fafnir and Shinmai Maou no Testament. The latter, specifically, is rather horrible. Even taking into account the usual quality of ecchi anime, it's really bad. Definitely the worst for me this season.


By the way, am I the only one watching Kantai Collection? It isn't great, but it's better than half of the stuff I'm watching this season, and I haven't considered dropping it yet, despite being a bit bland. I'm kind of sad there are only three more episodes, to be honest.

The last two episodes of Death Parade have been amazing and intense. I was at the edge of my seat from start to finish in each. After I watched Episode 9 upon its release, I re-watched the entire two episode story again, and it was still riveting. Though that speaks for a large portion of the series, thus far.

Maria the Virgin Witch has been one of the most boring anime I refuse to stop watching. I have no interest in what happens next, and while I do feel an intense hatred for the antagonists, I also really don't give a shit about their comeuppance. I also hate the main love interest. For some reason I keep watching, however. In any case, it doesn't really hold to my personal taste, but it's the type of anime I can see certain people loving.

Ansatsu Kyoushitsu is everything I want in an anime and more. Fun, relatable characters, a plot that's easy to follow but not easy to predict... I look forward to the new episode every week, and that's at least partially because it always leaves me smiling by the end of the episode.

 

Recently watched Toradora! For anyone interested in drama/romance/slice of life, I would recommend this.

The reasons I would recommend it are that the main cast (aprox 5-6 ppl) are all very well developed characters with their own distinct voices, behavior and motivation. While the main point of the story is romance, I think it doesn't necessarily conform to the usual molds. The male lead, in particular, is interesting and the contrast between him and the female lead never gets old, though it does develop as the series goes on.
Some more details, could be considered a bit of a spoil:

Spoiler

Ryuuji Takasu is an orderly young man. An excellent cook, a fan of cleanliness, and a good student. He takes care of his mom and harbors distaste for his deadbeat dad whom he never met. He has trouble making friends because his face looks as if it's perpetually locked in a glare.
Taiga Aisaka is an impressively short, bad-tempered girl who is of the 'violence solves everything' opinion. Lives alone in an apartment paid for by her estranged parents, and has no concept of housework or cooking.

The plot begins when Taiga and Ryuuji join forces in order to set up Taiga with Ryuuji's friend Kitamura and Ryuuji with Taiga's friend, Minorin.

The series itself is 25 episodes long, and complete. In the end I enjoyed all of the characters, even if I had some doubts for some of them at the beginning. While the end result is predictable, it's still satisfying. There was no potential result that I wouldn't like, however, as all characters were well-made and I didn't dislike any of them(very delicious fanfiction possibilities).

Yeah, watch Toradora!

Edit: As an afterthought, the animations are much better than other anime of its kind. It only really becomes relevant by comparison, I think.

Edit2: Another reason.

 

Say, I'm considering watching Clannad and Clannad Afterstory. Has anyone watched this? Is it any good?

 

If you really want the feels, yeah, watch Clannad. Afterstory is even better. They are pretty much set as one of the top-tier classics.

As for Absolute Duo, the source material wasn't any good in the first place. The anime turning out to be shit-tier was kinda expected I guess.

 

Save your time and don't. The story and characters are garbage.

 

1 for and 1 against. Any tie-breakers?

 

Do you want tears? If yes, go on, watch it. Clannad is a classic pretty much.

 

Go for it. Clannad is great.

 

Clannad becomes a bit of a mess but it has some very powerful moments. I also found it funny quite often. It wouldn't be the first series I recommend to someone but I don't know what you've watched, so all I'll say is that it is worth a watch.

 

Holy shit you weren't kidding.

/me is tearing up by the 8-9th episode.

 

Does anyone recommend Strike The Blood ? I'm rather hesitant yo give it a try

 

Having done the Google Image Search, it looks like Darker Than Black plus fanservice.

So probably not worth watching.

 

Nah STB is shit tier pretty much. Generic harem with overpowered protagonist.

 

That genre has produced a pretty excellent story in wba, so it's not all bad.

The 2011 hunterxhunter remake is probably the best thing I've watched in a while, shame it'll probably never be finished.

Is beserk any good?

 

That's more a testament to Jon's writing ability than the quality of Highschool DxD.

I enjoy it. The anime is basically an advertisement for the manga (it ends on the worst cliffhanger possible), but what was animated is probably one of the best arcs from the manga. It has great characters and an intense plot, but, again, the worst cliffhanger.

If you're willing to hunt down the manga after watching the show, or are already a fan of the manga and want to watch some of it animated, then I'd recommend watching it in a heartbeat. If you saw Akame ga Kill and liked the idea of a grim fantasy setting, then I would suggest watching Berserk since it does it better - which isn't saying much, but still. If neither of those apply, then you may as well skip it.

 

The Berserk anime covers the best arc in the manga (which is basically a big flashback arc). It's a dark, gritty fantasy which is very different in atmosphere to what you generally have in anime. Dittoing Banta, it has intriguing and in depth characters, character interactions/relationships and a beautifully constructed plot.

There was recently a movie trilogy remake of the same arc. I only saw the first one, which was good (albeit with slightly weird 3D animation at times which I can't make up my mind on). Haven't seen the other two yet.

The rest of the manga is still pretty interesting, but not nearly at the level of that one arc. I almost feel you're not missing anything by just watching the anime (series or movies) and leaving it at that.

I think it's a top notch anime, and certainly one of the ones that really stand out among the 300 or so I've seen.

Regarding Clannad, I really struggle with Key (and Key style) anime (eg, Kanon (2006), Clannad, Little Busters). While I really want to like it, I always just can't feel the characters. They feel more like plot devices or caricatures than people. A puzzle for the protagonist to solve. Doesn't help that most adaptions try to adapt each route sequentially, so it makes the interactions and relationships feel even weaker, because the main character just moves onto the next girl's issues.

I finished Kanon really early on (and did love it back then), got through to about episode 12 of Clannad and dropped it. Tried it again several times, but just struggled. Saw first arc of LB and dropped that too.

 

You end up missing all the monster rape, which is probably a good thing.

This. It really ends up hurting the intended emotional impact, especially the second half of Clannad: After Story, which made me infuriated.

 

Agree a lot with the Clannad criticisms. It has its moments but I preferred it as a humourous series as I never really connected with the characters that much. That is often a problem in VN adaptations because there are multiple love interests and the anime adaptation tries to cater to all of them, which is really impossible to do well in the same story thread.

After Story does have some very powerful moments though.

 

Spoiler

Like when Tomoya abandons his daughter and turns into his own emotionally abusive father, and no one gives him any shit over it.