I review anime over at Diabolical Plots and this season I've been banging my head over the overabundance of simulcasted anime I want to see. (I guess I'm just a big kid inside.)
In my winter first impressions I went over the new winter shows I was checking out and the older ones from summer and fall that were returning/continuing into the winter and it was turning into a wreck.
Usually I try not to watch more than three shows at a time, but due to Aldnoah.Zero and Tokyo Ghoul returning from summer, Yona of the Dawn and Parasyte continuing from fall, and very promising newcomers in Death Parade and Fafner: Dead Aggressor: Exodus, I was going to have to choose between my top two choices of each season from the current to the past two. And to top it off, Magic Kaito: 1412 came out of nowhere and got licensed mid-run.
After the initial few weeks, my viewing schedule has largely shaken out based on what I've actually wanted to watch the most as soon as it comes available, and in no particular order, they are:
Aldnoah.Zero - The second half is quite a bit different from the first, and while I was initially disappointed, it's ramped up again and I still have much love for Slaine, who is one of my favorite characters, not just in the show, but possibly for all anime.
Parasyte - I keep swinging from completely digging Parasyte to being lukewarm/annoyed with it, but I'm a huge fan of the manga so I keep watching. The series is pretty faithful considering they had to update the time period from the 1980s, though a couple scenes don't work as well with the newer tech. There are some pacing issues to it that feel very weird to me that I completely never noticed in the manga and I wonder if it's because of the different medium.
Death Parade - New show, but full of mystery and suspense. I like trying to puzzle out the secrets of purgatory bar Quimdecim's guests before they're entirely spilled out for the audience. The mostly anthology format works well for the show and I like that it's so self-contained. And that this show doesn't revolve around teenagers!
Fafner: Dead Aggressor: Exodus - I'm enjoying the sequel to the original Fafner: Dead Aggressor and I'm surprised by how much I missed Soshi! He was barely in the movie and the show is really better for having him back. At first I was worried where the story would go now that the original protagonists are all adults, but this is still a war story where war is not glamorous but a duty that must be done. Kazuki has yet to step back in a Fafner, but I'm sure that's where we're going. I'm actually really happy the show isn't shoving him in as soon as possible.
When I have a hankering for something else and I'm caught up on those four I watch Magic Kaito: 1412 because of its stand-alone nature. Each episode is its own story with very little reference to anything that's come before and it's good cheesy fun that I don't need to think about in order to enjoy.
While I still like Yona, it's a little too slow and derivative to make it a must watch the day it goes live (it's time to go collect all the magical followers to help on this journey!). Tokyo Ghoul is a much different show after the mid-season finale and I'm afraid I haven't entirely acclimated to it, so I'm holding off for later, when I'll likely binge watch it. Right now, I'm just not sure it'll get its groove back.
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