Anime Review: Fall 2014 Anime Season

As you all probably know by now, I suffer from a shortage of free time outside of school. And next week I have midterms. Joy. Because of this, I won't be able to make a Fall 2014 Anime Review video like I normally do each season. However, I don't want to leave you guys hanging, since I did mention in my last full video (in the description anyway) that I would do this. So, here you go: a short review of the three shows I finished this year. Let's start!

1. Gonna Be The Twin-Tail! 

Synopsis: The story follows Soji Mitsuka, a first-year high school student who has a passion for the Twintail hairstyle. No, really, he's actually obsessed with twintails. It's unhealthy, to say the least. One day, he and his childhood friend Aika encounter a monster-type thing and a woman named Twoearle, who tells Soji he must fight the monster. To do so, she gives Soji a bracelet that allows him to transform into a twin-tailed girl with the power to fight what he now knows as the Guildys, using the power of the Twintail attribute!

Opinion: What a freaking stupid show! Granted, stupidity is not automatically a bad thing. In fact, it is very easy to sit back, relax, and watch a stupid show without putting in much thought or effort. The show also seems decently self-aware, at first. As the anime went on, however, it seemed to forget that it was a parody and went full-out "I can be taken seriously!", because it tried to get the viewer involved with its characters and feel sad over their tribulations. Sure, this can work, but when you get down to it, you're trying to make us feel invested in a guy who can transform into a girl and is obsessed with twintails? Who can relate to that? I certainly can't, though that's mainly because I hate the twintail hairstyle with a passion...due to a traumatizing first-grade picture...but that's not really the point. The only character I really liked was Aika, because she was tough, took no nonsense from anyone, and would always put Twoearle in her place (Twoearle was so...annoying...). Everyone else ranged from okay to insufferable (again, Twoearle). The animation ranged from decent to terrible, and the music was actually really good, if not a little repetitive. The voice acting fits.

Recommendation: Overall, it's a pretty bad show, even by "so bad it's good" standards. Only watch if you're truly interested or already know that you like shows of this caliber.

3/10 

2. Amagi Brilliant Park

Synopsis: The story follows Kanie Seiya, a high school student (big shock) who is roped into saving Amagi Brilliant Park, a failing amusement park. Hijinks ensue.

Opinion: For whatever reason, I was really interested in this show when I first heard about it. I don't know if it was the setting or the fact that the prestigious Kyoto Animation was behind it, but I really wanted to watch this show. And, well, at first I wasn't incredibly impressed. Yeah, the animation looked beautiful; yeah, the characters were fun; yeah, the situations were nice and wacky; but I felt like the show really lacked a direction and was meandering into filler (sort of). Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it, but I felt like they were doing stuff just for the sake of it, and forgot about the actual plot. Then, episodes 10, 11, and 12 happened, and those three episodes changed my opinion completely. In fact, I was probably more emotionally invested into those three episodes than most other airing anime this year (well, except for Barakamon and Parasyte), which is a feat on its own. I'm glad I picked it up, and I'm happy to declare this one of my favorite anime of 2014 despite its flaws.

Recommendation: Overall, this is one of the most enjoyable shows of the year. Is it perfect? No. Will everyone like it? Probably not. Did I like it? Yes, more than I thought I would. And I hope that you will too.

7/10

3. Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works (Part 1)

Synopsis: Do I even need to say it? I've written this synopsis too many times to count. Oh, all right. So, there's this thing called the Holy Grail War in which seven masters and their servants fight for the Holy Grail. These masters are mages, and their servants are the spirits of historical heroes summoned by the masters specifically to fight in this war. Shiro Emiya is your typical average high school student (wow, it's like he isn't the third one mentioned in this post) except for one thing; he knows how to use magic to repair things. One night, however, Shiro witnesses two mysterious beings fighting each other. One notices him, and kills him. However, a mysterious person revives Shiro, and then he goes home. At his house, the being that tried to kill him earlier returned, but by accident (or is it?) he summons his own servant, Saber. As it turns out, he's a master in the Holy Grail War now, and he has no way of getting out of it.

Opinion: Oh boy, where do I begin? First off, I went into this with unfairly high expectations, so the show was almost guaranteed to suck because of that, especially considering how many times it's happened before (ex. Tokyo Ghoul's anime, Terror in Resonance, Dream Eater Merry, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Psycho-Pass, to name a few). I tried to keep my expectations low, but even without being disappointed there are some major problems. For one, the pacing is incredibly disjointed. One episode will just feature all the characters talking about random stuff about the Holy Grail War, the one right afterward will be entirely dedicated to fights. Ironically, if each episode were 45 minutes like Episode 0, 1, and 12 (which were episodes I really liked), then this problem wouldn't be all that noticeable. Then there's the characters. The only new characters I even remotely liked were Rin and Archer (excluding Kirei, Saber, and Gilgamesh because they were main characters of Fate/Zero), with Shiro devolving into a really boring protagonist, Sakura being annoying as hell with her "senpai", and everyone else just fading into the background. Archer, however, is still one of my favorite Fate characters (even just based off of the Deen version) and remains that way. The presentation, however, is just as good as I expected it to be. The action scenes look absolutely phenomenal, and the only thing that kind of bothered me were the character designs at points. The music wasn't the most memorable, but it fits, and the voice acting was great. Looking back, however, I think I was too harsh on the Deen version, because, while to a lesser extent, the same problems carry over into this version. I'm starting to point fingers at the original source material instead of blaming Deen for its relatively bad anime or ufotable for their slightly failed efforts.

Recommendation: Overall, this was a slight disappointment considering my overly high expectations, but that's my own fault, isn't it? I'd suggest watching it, but don't expect anything too too amazing. It's a good show, and definitely above average, but not a great one.
6.5/10

So, what did you guys think of the fall season? Let me know in the comments section of the video this will be linked to! See you guys next time!