I'd just talk about the 3 that I'm still currently following now and 2 of them are actually sequels too, which makes this season having only 1 series that actually kept me watching from the start, which was Noragami. And even that series had almost made me drop it after how their plot progressed on the earlier part of the series but I'm glad that something more serious had developed into the story and it wasn't just purely humour any longer.
This would also mean that among all the other seasons of the year, this has got to be the weakest and poorest series lineup I've ever watched... There are however some series that I was originally very interested in, like Buddy Complex and Hamatora, but the plot just doesn't move in quite the way that would interest me... I wouldn't totally dismiss the idea that I might be watching them after they have aired finish, which I may be doing, but for now, they are just not cutting it...
The 2 sequels that I'm currently following now are Chuunibyou and Seitokai Yakuindomo, and for the later, it is a slice-of-life so not much complains over there... As long as it is funny, everything is clear to go. For the former, it was nice to see another anime couple really recognised instead of the usual - dragging of wanting to confess or not and wanting to be together or not and only at the very end then the duo would be together - kind of show. Yes, I'm talking about Tokyo Ravens (which I will get to that later on) Chuunibyou has been great showing how Rikka and Togashi actually attempts to further develop their relationship, including the fact that Rikka is still residing in her "chuunibyou" world which makes romance this kind of thing, difficult for her to understand... but in the recent eps, we finally got this:
which is a freaking big plot driver from now on. Dang, now I will question quite a bit on the existence of Shichimiya. Contrary to our belief, she isn't exactly one that will try and get close to Togashi by herself but rather, she respects the relationship between Rikka and Togashi, which makes her existence somewhat of "being here to make you jealous" kind of thing. But from ep 7, we do know that she did harbour feelings for Togashi in the past, and it is more of like a "one step behind" kind of situation after she finds Togashi after so many years and he was already attached to Rikka. Like I said, this was a sequel so after seeing their 1st season, the 2nd would be a must-watch for me that is...
Noragami on the other hand sure had its ups and downs. Honestly speaking, the starting driver of the plot of "making Hiyori normal again" is forgotten and lost somewhere in the show. Now it feels like that part of the plot was used and was there only for the introduction of Hiyori's half ayakashi form and after they achieved that, it was thrown away and left aside. That however did started to deter me since I thought that hey, this would possibly be a slight slice-of-life, coupled with slowly moving pace on getting Hiyori back to normal, but boy was I wrong. The main bulk of the plot still resides over on Yato himself and his newly acquired Shinki - Yukine, which is being a total pain the ass. I'm not complaining now that Hiyori has been forgotten but am rather glad that they had shifted their focus on both Yato and Yukine for quite a while now and has been progressing rather smoothly now. To me, Hiyori seems more like a side character now rather than a female protagonist since she doesn't actually quite add to the equation of the show... somehow... It is good too, to see how these Ayakashis are impacting the real world although not all can see them and how Yukine, after being revived from the dead to be Yato's shinki, is feeling dejected from the world and now, he had crossed his own boundary and had led both Yato and Hiyori into danger.
Every desire that Yukine has will blight Yato even more, up to a point where Yato might even lose his life for it and that is exactly what was happening now. The latest episode seemed quite pointless which them trying to solve a bullying case until at the very end, where it was actually used as a plot driver for Yukine to "cross the line" after seeing how he is "dead" and am unable to have friends like the other. This also shows how much consequences are if one actually tries to bring back the dead and at the same time, unable to be seen by others. It doesn't feel right to say that Yukine is "alive" since he can't be seen and especially for someone at such a young age like him, feeling dejected and left out is probably the most painful thing he could feel which was why Yato feared for him when they reached the school, which might trigger his inner desires, which did, in the end.
Tokyo Ravens isn't exactly part of the winter season but that is still a series that I am still following and after their 13th episode with Harutora's monologue about wanting to confirm whether Natsume was Hokuto or not was the the main highlight of the series, both on the development of the plot and also on the beautiful use of animation at that point in time. It was after that episode that things started going uphill with the show, and with a recent episode of seeing Harutora fighting seriously, that episode was really exciting for the whole 20+minutes. I am glad that they have discarded the possibility of Natsume revealing her as Hokuto to Harutora and am disappointed too at the same time, but with the series hinting a possible revelation near the end, I can only think that it will fail again but my inner self definitely wants to see it being known... only a few episodes more to go and I am hoping very hard that I will be able to see that coming true :)
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Now as for the other series, like Nobunagun, things really did seem interesting at the start with all the "reincarnation" things lurking around, but when the plot really starts and she was recruited into the combat force, things became too normal, or just plain to me. Would've appreciated the fact if it retained the school setting unlike the one they have now, which was just boring to me now.
And Hamatora as well, basically it lost its steam over at episode 2, missions that are too easy to solve, too plain to think and really try-hard attempts to link cases together which in the end, turns out to be too obvious to see that they were trying very hard to do it. Didn't quite like the animation at the start too so you could say I was kinda prepared to drop this sooner or later.
And of course we have Mahou Sensou which didn't even make it to episode 2. Too forced storyline, little things explained, basically a very typical shounen series that you can find anywhere and everywhere.
Buddy Complex is however one that I might consider watching when it finally ends, the system that they use in their mecha does sound too cliché but it was that, that interest me from the start and also with the "time travel" kind of setting. But that point seemed to have been forgotten in the series as well, which is disappointing... so until the time where they actually bring that point back, then I will consider rewatching the series. Other than that, the plot is too dry and too slow for my liking so it's a dropped show for now.
What came more surprising to me was dropping of Nisekoi. Yes it was a SHAFT animation series and for me, which I tend to be bias towards SHAFT, dropping this was kinda out of the norm. But placing the plot on the table, this is just too boring, tooooo boring. It totally feels like watching some korean drama or something where you wanna say it but then you don't wanna say it, you suspect this but you dare not to confirm it.... Basically it is just frustrating to watch the show and SHAFT is honestly better of animating weird series with supernatural and out-of-the-norm themes like Bakemonogatari or even Sasami-san rather than a romance series like Nisekoi. I wouldn't mind starting to read the manga from now on but for the anime, nah, can't bear to watch it any further.
Only about a month+ or so and we'll enter into the spring season, and that is one that I have a lot of high hopes for, well for now that is...
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And here's livetune's latest song, which if I'm not wrong, is the OP theme of Project Diva F 2nd
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