Anime Preview: Winter 2018

Hey there guys, Endblade here. For the few viewers that chance upon this page, thanks for the support! Today we're going to be introducing a new post - anime preview! You may have already guessed it, but this contains sneak peeks of the anime that is to come, and my thoughts on those anime, whether I will be watching and reviewing those or skipping on them!

The upcoming anime previewed below will not be listed down in any particular order of preference, but rather according to the MyAnimeList.net's upcoming anime section.

The new year is upon us, for those of you celebrating Christmas, I wish you a merry Christmas! For those of you who don't, here's wishing you happy holidays. As 2018 dawns, new anime air in January.

Why is the title called Winter 2018? Because in Japan (Northern Hemisphere), winter usually falls between December in the previous year up till end-February the next year. Hence anime usually begins with winter season rather than Spring. Spring falls within March to May and is the second season of the year in Japan, followed by Summer from June to August and Fall/Autumn from September to November. The cycle repeats itself the following year with Winter anime season again.

Well, that was long-winded. On to the more important stuff! This coming Winter 2018 anime season brings uss the following 20 anime! Note that there are more than 20 anime, but listing and previewing them all (some of them total trash) would be unproductive.

1) Overlord II


What's with people and mmorpg animes? Granblue Fantasy, Tales of Zestria, Sword Art Online and now this. Not dissing on Overlord, but I don't really understand the popularity of RPG anime. Having not watched the first Overlord season, I am in no position to comment on the possibility of this being a success, and it is unlikely that I will pick this anime up because most MMORPG-based animes usually fall pretty flat. Except maybe King's Avatar and Grimgar: Tale of Fantasy and Ash


2) Nanatsu no Taizai: Imashime no Fukkatsu


This anime looks like its' been around for quite a while, this not being the first season. So its' unlikely I will pick this up either, but it really reminds me of One Piece or Akame ga Kill. Not really feeling it for this one, but given that it has quite a few sequels, this should be decent at least.

3) Fate/Extra Last Encore


Fate/Apocrypha sort of disappointed me with the bar being set quite high from Fate/stay night UBW and Fate/Zero, one of my favourite animes. So I'm slightly apprehensive about this installment in the Fate-universe. I would usually rate this higher, but the heavy fan-service element of the Fate series lately has been putting me on edge about this franchise. Still have hopes for this anime but given that it isn't produced by ufotable, it might not be the unlimited budget works hoped for. Will definitely watch at least a first few episodes of this anime.

Pre-watch rating: 7.75/10


4) Citrus


Not too sure what to feel about this. This gives me the Kuzu no Honkai vibes of forbidden love and secret trysts, but it could go south quickly and become a incoherent mess if not handled right. Have some expectations for this anime, but not a big fan of such themes but I will give this series a shot, hopefully it doesn't disappoint.

Pre-watch rating: 7.5/10

5) Dagashi Kashi 2


Another show with a prequel. Is it me, or are animes this season having quite a few sequels of which I have watched none of? Might be a good thing, this anime doesn't look too promising witht e premise being slightly wacky and weird. The vibes that this anime gives off isn't too great. But I could be wrong. I'd love to be proven wrong.

6) Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card-hen


Okay, I used to watch Cardcaptor Sakura way back when I didn't have the internet. That was a good 10-15 years ago. Not too sure what season I was watching, but it was on my local television channel and boy was it good. At that time at least. Not too sure if I'll watch this, because Cardcaptor Sakura has been around for a long time and I might have missed quite a lot in the years that I didn't watch this series. But I'll give it a shot!

Pre-watch rating: 7.75/10

7) Saiki Kusuo no Ψ-nan 2


Okay, this anime just looks plain weird. Not sure if its' going to be good, but it gives me the One Punch Man or Mob Psycho vibes. Given that this is a sequel, its' unlikely I'll ever touch this anime, unless its' critically acclaimed.

8) Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyousoukyoku


This looks like another harem-fantasy RPG-like anime. Not up my alley but given that some shows like this can be quite comedic and interesting, I might give it a watch to see if it manages to enthrall me in its' fantasy setting.

Pre-watch rating: 7.25/10

9) Darling in the FranXX


A Gundam and Aldnoah:Zero mecha-themed anime? I'm watching it for sure! Looks interesting and sci-fi mecha anime with all the deus-ex machina has always appealed to the extreme side of me, and hopefully this anime will live up to my perceived hype and deliver all the robotic violent goodness.

Pre-watch rating: 7.5/10

10) Koi wa Ameagari no You ni


This anime seems like its' going to touch on some socially sensitive issues about love: the age gap - how big is too big of a gap? While I can see this anime becoming a silent masterpiece if handled correctly, things could also turn out horribly if the anime fails to describe the awkwardness and possible conflict the main character might have, if this anime seeks to address such issues in a real manner rather than something out of an author's sick fantasy.

Pre-watch rating: 7/10

11) Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san


Being adapted from a manga, this anime proves to be something interesting. It might just be the Tsuki ga kirei (yes I love that show) of 2017 if done right. I haven't read the manga but I have high hopes for this slice-of-life school romance anime.

Pre-watch rating: 7.75/10

12) Beatless

Can I say that this anime looks a lot like the game Nier:Automata and similar related sci-fi mecha series? Here's hoping that it will have actual thrilling action rather than just degrading into a robotic love story, which may not necessarily be bad but mecha ain't mecha without good animation fight sequences.

Pre-watch rating: 7.25/10

13) Kokoku


The vibes that I'm getting from the plot synopsis and the poster can only mean two possible outcomes: total disaster or absolute genius. The premise seems interesting, but can quickly go down the drain of slippery slope arguments and warped logic morbid fantasy into a spiral of insanity. For all intents and purposes, I am hoping that this anime will bring something fresh to the table rather than be your average psychological, predictable anime. Let it not be the horror and incoherence that is Ousama Game (no offense to those to like Ousama Game, too twisted and convoluted for me).

Pre-watch rating: 7.5/10

14) Ito Junji: Collection

What can I say? This absolutely unnerves me. A collection of an author's works of horror can only mean short stories of fright and despair, which appeals to me because it should provide a glimpse into the author Ito Junji's mind. Horror can be jump scare cliche, but it can be Stephen King-level of scary. Hopefully it is the latter and not the former. Not hoping for much, might watch an episode or two.

Pre-watch rating: 7/10

15) Touken Ranbu: Hanmaru 2


Okay. I have never watched Touken Ranbu, so I can't give a rating or evaluation on this one, because it isn't a standalone anime. But I just have this feeling that it will fall into the realms of mediocrity and plain cliche fodder.

16) Yowamushi Pedal: Glory Line

Not a big sports-anime fan, the last one I watched was Days, and I didn't really enjoy it much. Whats more is that this is a sequel, which I guess should appeal to fans of Slam Dunk or cycling enthusiasts. Not my type of anime, so unlikely that I will pick it up, unless rave reviews pressure me to sneak a peek.

17) Ramen-Daisuki Koizumi San


Is this going to be the next Shoukugeki no Soma? Or is this going to descend into absolute chaos and become a trainwreck. Well, the poster seems enticing enough for me to watch at least one episode, if not all of it.

Pre-watch rating: 7.25/10

18) Mitsuboshi Colours


Looks like a happy show for happy people. Might skip this one unless people highly recommend it, the target audience seems like its' supposed to be for children ages 12 and under.

19) Yuru Camp△

Yuru Camp, or laid-back camp, seems to be your typical slice-of-life, chill story with two heroines camping out in the wilderness. Not expecting much from this anime, but I wouldn't be surprised if it offers a refreshing take on the overused premise of camping, outdoors and great adventure awaiting the protagonists. But again, not really expecting it to blow me out of the water. Rather, this anime seems more like what your might want to watch in-between other heavier, action-packed anime thise coming season as comic relief or just to unwind.

Pre-watch rating: 7.25/10

20) Gin no Guardian 2


Another sequel for an anime which I haven't watched the prequel, so I don't think I can give any rating on this one, might skip it for this season with all the other anime on my already filled plate.

Final Thoughts

Winter 2018 proves to be a season with some promising anime, others scandalous and even more mediocre-looking anime that I would drop in a heartbeat. While sequels abound as they always do for anime, most of the titles which I will be watching will mainly focus on single seasons, because for most of the titles I have not watched their prequels and hence cannot give a judgement on those. Not many heavy hitters (that I know of) which are airing this Winter, maybe a might be able to find a few diamonds in the rough this season.

Only time will tell.

Until next time,

Endblade

Anime Review: Just Because! - Vanilla or something more?

Hey there guys, Endblade here. Today we're going to be doing an in-depth review of the anime: Just Because! so do note that there may be minor spoilers up ahead, but nothing too major or plot revealing.

To start off, I have always wanted to do an in-depth review of an anime piece, just to give my thoughts on the various aspects of the anime from the animation, plot, setting and the character development, of which all four aspects are crucial in determining if said anime is going to be a big hit or a huge flop.

Spot all the characters!

Before I would like to go any further, I would like to say that this review is not sponsored, nor is it claiming any rights to any of the screenshots or pictures that I have taken from the anime, all such photo rights belong to the creators of Just Because! - Pine Jam studios and Sentai Filmworks, without which would not have been possible to create an original story not based not a light novel or manga.
Firstly, Just Because! is somewhat different because as mentioned above, it is a 'original' story not based on an adaptation of a popular manga or light novel. Such series rarely get greenlit by studios to air, notable recent exceptions include the 2017 hit romance anime - Tsuki ga kirei (The moon, so beautiful) and arguably one of my favourite anime titles to grace 2017.

Going back to the statement 'original' story - why did I place the word between inverted commas? Not surprisingly, this is related to the plot of the anime itself.

Plot
Simply put, the story revolves around a group of high-school students (yes, the cliche group of stereotypes that we have known and grown to love) in their final year of study before pursuing different careers or furthering their studies. Eita Izumi (blue-haired guy) is a transfer student who keeps changing schools due to his parents' work commitments, and he arrives back in the same neighborhood he grew up in middle school. Mio Natsume (red-haired girl) is the same age as Eita, and Eita has had a crush on her since meeting her in middle school (cliche much?) but Natsume of course is oblivious to such affection, because then there wouldn't be any story to develop.

It is your typical, slice-of-life student story with a love-triangle to spice things up. Well, is this that reveal considered a spoiler? I guess most romance genre anime feature some sort of variant of love-triangle relationship, so its' more of a standardized trope if anything else.

Just because its' overused doesn't mean it can't work (pun intended). And that sentence sums up the story of Just Because!, not something game-changing but tried-and-true plotlines which seem to tie themselves up easily. However, the ending is as cliche as it can get, and although it does tie the anime up well, it doesn't do the story justice with the amazing character development given to each character.

Some scenes may seem a little unrealistic with emotionally-charged dialogue that would most likely be impossible in reality, but certain scenes where awkwardness between characters like in the screenshot below which was taken in an episode where the group of friends were at an aquarium.

Such small snapshots help to convey the silent awkwardness between characters, and this brings me to the next point in my review: Character Development.

Eita (top right), Mio (bottom right), Haruto (top middle) and Morikawa (second from right)

 Character Development
What Just Because! does well is in the subtleties of conveying emotion. Not to the detailed extent of Tsuki ga Kirei, but well enough to show the tension between characters like the unspoken affection Eita has for Mio, and other relationships that blossom during the course of the anime's run.

All the characters have their own hobbies, likes and dislikes. This is not an anime where the characters are simple character tropes. One good example is the character Komiya, who loves photography. Her emotions and dedication is seen in her work and the photos she takes throughout the series serve to highlight her character - straightforward, loud and dedicated.

Komiya and her love for photography

It is this silent nod to individuality where we can see each character develop in their own way, overcoming their own individual fears and struggles. The middle of the anime was the best portion, because the development of each individual featured Eita, Mio and their group of friends using the group for their own selfish reasons, much like how sometimes people in reality do so in their own circle of friends.

While the main five characters - Komiya, Eita, Mio, Morikawa and Haruto are well-developed and unique in their own motivations and personality, what I felt could have been improved would be the supporting cast and side characters. Their classmates were introduced but treated like their entourage rather than actual supporting cast, and their personalities were not well-developed. It could have been the large number of main characters which left little time for the minor characters to be explored further.

When someone talks about how real the characters feel, it is only as real as the setting of the anime allows it to be. The less realistic the anime setting, the characters tend to be less human-like and more extreme in polarities, like how like in Gundam you have the good vs. evil comparison and characters that fall into the 'absolute good' or 'absolute evil' stereotypes. Another example is the aniem Classroom of the Elite, which feature an over-the-top school setting with even crazier, complex characters. It doesn't mean that such shows don't do well, because their genre in anime allows such setting and characters to flourish.

Setting

Eita and Haruto

Setting the stage in Just Because! is your typical school type of environment, nothing crazy or out-of-sorts in this anime or some anime that features an unpopular club with weird characters cliche (looking at you Oregairu and you Hyouka). But it does well in using hobbies as the focus of the anime. Photography and Baseball, two hobbies which feature greatly in Just Because! and for good reasons. Baseball is popular in Japanese schools, and photography, well you can never go wrong with photography.

Using such hobbies to set a realistic and approachable environment where we grow to learn about the characters and see the story develop helps immerse us into the story and leaves us wondering - could such a story be an actual romanticized retelling of some writer's school life? While far-fetched, such themes are real enough to merit such thought and Just Because's normal Tokyo life helps to cement the idea of such a story playing out in reality.

I would like to use this time to praise the use of music, the moments where slow music is apt in certain scenes to help build tension or establish emotion and the absence of music in parts of the anime when it is not needed is another good point of Just Because!

Animation

One weak point is the sub-par animation of certain scenes, and the animation in general seems less of the selling point of the anime but the smaller budget such series' are allocated speaks volumes here. While the other aspects of Just Because! are compelling enough to make it a decent anime, the animation (hence the name anime) pulls down the overall rating and while not comical or horrendous, the vanilla animation (which isn't much because this isn't an action flick) makes it a little less impressive.

Final Thoughts

Pondering and wondering

While Just Because! is no pioneer in the school or romance anime genre, it sticks to its' guns and produces a simple, albeit slightly overused plot but mixes in apt use of music and framing to create a sense of realism and gives the feel that it might be someone's actual past, retold in a slightly romanticized manner.

When my friend told me he was watching Just Because! and it gave him the feels that he wasn't able to celebrate New Years' in a festival setting (one of the episodes in the show), I realized that the show itself evoked a sense of longing yet nostalgia of times past unobtainable.

A good watch if you are looking for something simple and enjoyable, and maybe it might offer you a chance to reexamine your own life and past. Not for the type of person who doesn't like to watch something true-to-life (one of the closest anime will get to reality).

You can check out my updated anime watch list (with ratings) over here.

Overall Rating: 7.5/10

Until Next Time,

Endblade