So, the Winter 2017 anime season is starting up. There's a lot of good stuff airing - most notably Konosuba and Little Witch Academia.

The shows airing this season can be found here.

The most popular shows on MAL going into the season are:

1. Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo 2: Second season of Konosuba, which I consider to be the funniest show of 2016. Definitely worth checking out the first season if you haven't already.
2. Ao no Exorcist: Kyoto Fujouou-hen: Sequel to the extremely poopular shounen anime, Ao no Exorcist.
3. Masamune-kun no Revenge: Nice guy's revenge fantasy gone wrong. Be warned: Depending on how much they adapt, you might have to deal with an incredibly annoying character.
4. Kuzu no Honkai: Drama/Romance story of two teenagers who are in a relationship, despite the both of them loving someone else. Don't really know anything about it beyond the synopsis, but if you're a fan of this type of thing it seems like it's worth checking out.
5. Little Witch Academia: Basically anime Harry Potter. If you haven't already seen them, the movies are definitely worth the watch.

So, what're you guys planning to watch this season? What are you most excited for?

 

Little Witch Acadenia: The one I'm looking forward to the most.
ACCA: 13-ku Kansatsu-ka: This one has a strong pedigree; it's based on a manga by Natsume Ono, and has One Punch Man's director and series composer/script writer on staff.
Demi-chan wa Kataritai: Another monster girl show, but I really enjoy the manga. I'm hopeful that the adaptation won't suck.
Kuzu no Honkai: The summary paints an interesting premise, but this is the one I'm least sure on. The director hasn't done anything particularly good as far as I can tell, but the script writer and series composer has a lot of good stuff on his resume. I hope it's good, but won't be surprised if it isn't.

 

The first episode of Little Witch Academia was pure joy. I was worried there would be a quality dip from the OVAs but there wasn't. All of the comedy worked for me. Sucy trolling Akko is always fun.

The only "negative" about the episode is the lack of Diana, who I liked in the OVA. But I know she'll show up in the next episode.

Other than LWA nothing really interests me this season. I guess I'll just have to wait for the new season of Yuki Yuuna, Steins;Gate 0, Code Geass, and the various Fate series to come out. I think they all debut some time this year.

 

When LWA comes out legally I'm gonna be so excited to watch it.


So far.. eh season.

Blue Exorcist is Blue Exorcist. Shonen. Fun if you like the genre, which I do, so that's neat.

ACCA has potential.

Chain Chronicle: ??? Don't know. Weird, because they had that movie and the series just seems to be a recreation of the movie, and it's based on a game in the first place? People invested in the game will probably be more interested.

elDLIVE: Not quite sure.

Hand Shakers: Holy fuck, overdose of computer graphics. Waaaay too much, to the point of distraction.

Interviews with Monster Girls: I generally don't like SoL, but something about this seems like it could be interesting? The first episode wasn't bad. Gotta watch a couple more.

Miss Koboyashi's Dragon Maid: Meh. Lost interest in the middle of the first episode. Standard comedy.

Tanya the Evil: Decent. They're kinda throwing us head-first into the setting, though.

Schoolgirl Strikers: Fanservice power rangers. Don't know why I expected anything different.

Spiritpact: Holy shit, this is awful. Just bad. It's not even "So bad it's good." It's just a terrible show. The animation, the plot, the characters; all of them awful. I can't find a single redeemable factor about this thing.

 

Konosuba and LWA are both looking strong so far after only 2 episodes, nothing else has caught my eye though

 

Didn't watch all that much yet, but so far I've tried:

KonoSuba: Only watched one episode bu it was pretty solid. Hopefully the best character isn't sent away for too long.

Interviews with Monster Girls: Tried episode 1 and then dropped it. Nothing engaging, really.

Tanya the Evil: Watched all three episodes. Really liking it, probably the best show so far. Animation is great, really digging the setting with the trench warfare, using magic to emulate dogfights, the explosions and action is just gorgeous. The whole explanation as to why the protag is who she is is a bit lame and SI-esque but I can roll with it. So yeah, it's pretty fun so far.

Gabriel Dropout: Yeah, it's moe stuff but honestly, it's been pretty entertaining and fun so far. Made me laugh quite a bit. A pretty solid time waster. A show where you'll know if you like it by episode 1. If you do stick with it, if you don't, don't bother trying to get into it.

Still want to watch Little Witch Academia but I don't think that one is on Crunchyroll.

 

Not sure if this completely fits, but the new season of Voltron is as good as the first one was!

 

Kuzo no honkai has blown me away so far. Best Anime I watched in a long time. Gorgeous animation, great voice acting and fascinating characters and character interactions. It has a lot of weight to it. So good.

 

I hear you, Kuzu No Honkai is the standout anime for me too. I heard the manga is just wrapping up and that the anime is supposed to cover it fully, which is also a big plus. In addition to your praise, I would note that the soundtrack is absolutely gorgeous as well.

I'm actually enjoying multiple anime's this season, but Kuzu No Honkai and Youjo Senki are the 2 best easily, with the former edging out the latter.

 

Spoiler

I'd agree... except for the reveal that Miss What's-her-face is a borderline sociopath. That immediately took my interest down several levels.

Like... couldn't she just be normal and they could tell the exact same story?

 

Nemrut Peteks I also watched the first few episodes of it as they came out, and was blown away by the animation and intrigued by the premise.

The last two episodes (last week's especially), however, made me frown. Normally, I'd have just dropped a series right then but the animation is good enough that I wanted to maybe give it another chance.

So I read the manga. Or at least as much of it as I could stomach.

I have literally never, in all my years of reading manga or watching anime, seen such a steep downward spiral into shit territory.

I'm not going to watch anymore episodes as the stuff coming up truly gets the shit parade started in earnest, if they choose to stick to the manga (which for all appearances they're going to).

Take this as a warning. If you do continue watching, good luck and may god have mercy on your souls.

 

Republic Duly noted. I'm still going to wait for the shit to hit the fan though.

 

Kuzu no Honkai - @Republic's warning is a bit ominous, because I'm absolutely loving this show so far.

There are plenty of drama manga that aim themselves at a more mature audience, weaving in more complex characters and themes than "Girl likes boy, boy doesn't know, 24 episodes of will they, won't they ensures". Unfortunately, I haven't really come across any anime that actually go for that. Even the better ones like AnoHana, Kokoro Connect, Toradora and OregaIru are all very much teen dramas.

So yeah, lot to like about Kuzu no Honkai so far.

Exploration of sex in relationships, and how how sex and love are most definitely not linked. Also HOW it's done is fantastic too - almost every sex scene so far has been painfully awkward and in some ways, anticlimatic.

Characters have been great so far. Despite generally being extremes, they feel like real people and not caricatures. I am even enjoying Akane (despite the fact other people here seem to dislike her as a character) - probably because we get enough POV for her to get a feel for how she views the world. One of the most refreshing aspects is that just about everyone is really intelligent. For instance, Mugi understands precisely the type of person Akane is. It's a refreshing change from the absolutely clueless sort of characters you usually see in anime drama.

Despite all the characters being absolute extremes, I really get the idea that the theme that the story is trying to get across is each of them is an archetype for normal people - even Akane.

But yeah, hope it doesn't go the way Republic is forewarning. It seems like every time you come across a promising character or thematically driven anime - eg, Parasyte or Erased - they ruin it later on.

Youjo Senki - It's a SpaceBattles SI fic! First episode didn't grab me at all, but from episode two it had me hooked.

It entirely works because of who is the main character is. They really came up with a great protagonist for a story like this.

KonoSuba S2 - I love this series so much. Funny comedy, zero romantic content and just really nice interactions between the characters.

I am getting a bit over the protag being such a dick to his companions though. Like it's getting past the "sarcastic protagonist" territory and more into "arsehole" territory.

Kobayashi no Maid Dragon - I feel a bit ridiculous recommending this, as it's the sort of anime I stay away from, but I'm actually enjoying it almost as much as KonoSuba. The deadpan female protagonist who (so far) seems to have no romantic inclinations makes it a nice blend of comedy and uplifting lightheartedness, with some scenes thrown in.

Masamune-kun no Revenge - Dropped. Sort of went into it hoping for some B-grade fanfiction plot, but it's even more meh than expected. Entirely ruined by the girl being an over the top "ojousama" who is even more shallow than that kuudere archetype usually is.

 

Youjo Senkiis basically my shit anime taste test of the season. It's so terrible in so many ways that I know to avoid the recommendations of anyone who likes it.

 

Tanya the Evil would be better if:

- The stupid fucking "middle-aged guy reincarnated as a loli" thing were dropped.

- The MC was at least a teenager.

- "Mages" were much less generic.

It's too bad that what could be an interesting war show with magical elements (I'm thinking something like The Skitterleap) has to be tainted like that. As it is, it's barely a guilty pleasure.

 

I think the setting would be a lot more interesting if mages weren't so overpowered. I mean, let's see they can play the role of:
- Artillery
- Air to air combat
- Bombing (air to ground)
- Special operations
- Recon
- Snipers

Why even have an army or any other military tech at all - which I guess is actually in line with the point the story is making. But it also kills that awesome World War I/II feel we saw in the first episode.

I think mages shouldn't be able to fly. Kill their mobility and suddenly the rest of the military makes more sense and it'd give an excuse for the mages to be more apart of that war feel.

 

On one hand, I do adore the dogfight style of mages air fight. The visuals and explosions are great and the action fun. On the other hand, yeah, mages are hilariously OP. Guess I would remove their long range artillery capability function to make for a bit more balance.

Then again, all major factions have access to mages, so it's not a total curbstomp. The advantage the german mages have for now, I can't see it lasting. Then again, it seems like things will look significantly worse in terms of allies for them this time around.

The main thing I concur with is that I see no reason for Tanya to have the body of a twelve year old. It's just bizarre and robs the whole thing quite a bit of dignity. I enjoy her as a character and am really entertained by her personality, but she really should have been aged up by at least 5-6 years.

As to the mages being able to fly, I agree we are getting robbed of the trenchware for a bit, but then again, the dogfights are fun two.

Really happy to have something in the WW1 setting, by the way, altered though as it is.

 

Completely agreed on Tanya's age.

I mean, it's not like the show has actually used that trope for anything, given that apparently this is a perfect meritocracy. Apart from a few comments, the fact she's young hasn't played into anyone's interactions or relationships with her - they all treat her as her position demands.

It would have been different if this was an obstacle she had to constantly fight against (though not sure that would have been particularly interesting either), but at the moment her age is purely there for her character design - for the lolis.