Finally, I have mastered the art of Photoshop wabi-sabi.
Reminder: Any and all statements made in this post are solely representative of my current mindset. All thoughts, criticisms, and scores given are likely to change as I have more time to consider my thoughts, feelings, and context of the final product. In other words, this is little more than my raw personal opinion at the season's end. Why anyone would want that opinion is beyond me but, regardless of whether I get it or not, this is my summary of the Summer 2019 season of anime.
Opening Statement: Another season, another handful of quality anime for me to review. Overall, I have to say that this was a fairly solid season overall. There some highs, some lows, and far more in-betweens as there are every season but there were a far larger quantity of quality titles in Fall 2019 than I usually expect. From the simple, comfortable isekais like Honzuki and Noukin to the galaxy brain titles like the third season of Psycho-Pass, there was a lot that I personally enjoyed and plenty for the bottom feeders who live for trash like Assassin's Pride. Regardless of what I liked or how much I enjoyed the season as a whole, though, I have to say that, above all else, this season impressed me the most with the sheer range of topics viewers had to pick from. Shoune, isekai, and ecchi titles are a dime a dozen these days but we had everything from history pieces and gatacha adaptations (three of them at that) to some unusual slice of life titles and an action series I can only describe as "transhuman noir." What's more, I even got a few unpleasantly pleasant surprises from the Netflix space that I simply assumed I'd never have access to unless I stooped to outright piracy. So, on the whole, this season wasn't half bad.
The Good:
Starting off strong, if also a bit disappointing, Psycho-Pass 3 returned us to the world of the Sybil System where Japan is ruled over by an all-seeing administrative program that somehow manages to monitor the mental health of every citizen. Through this, the Sybil System can stop crimes before they even happen just by noticing an increase in someone's color-coded "hue" that grow darker as they trend toward negative emotions or potentially harmful actions. Unlike the previous two seasons and sequel movies, though, Psycho-Pass 3 doesn't focus on inspector Tsunemori Akane. Rather, we begin in media res with a pair of new inspectors and their latent-criminal Enforcers as they try to steadily uncover a series of crimes instigated by the enigmatic Bifrost System and its Congressmen who are playing a game of social control and wealth accumulation that puts their very lives on the line. To make matters even more confusing, the struggle between Sybil and Bifrost has somehow landed Akane in a kind of house arrest situation, gambling with Sybil itself while she awaits judgement for supposedly killing a man without it affecting her hue or labeling her as "asymptomatic." It's up to the Public Safety Bureau's new Inspectors, Shindo Arata and Kei Mikhail Ignatov, to solve these mysteries and so many more now that Japan has found itself in the midst of social reform that'll allow refugees to enter Japan and become citizens under the Sybil System--a prospect many Japanese native will upset the balance of the System and, by association, cloud their hues. The only problem, though, is that, despite the show's hour-long episodes, absolutely none of these mysteries are solved by the end of the series. Everything is still just as muddled as it was when the season first began. Kei and Arata certainly get a lot closer to uncovering the nature of Bifrost but everything is more or less left unresolved in the hope that people will go out and see the sequel movie(s)--a situation that should be all-too-familiar for any long-time Psycho-Pass fans. Namely, the problem is that there's a very strong possibility that the upcoming film(s) won't see an American release since we also didn't get the sequel films for the original two seasons of Psycho-Pass. Still, while the series itself might be incomplete, it is still something of a return-to-form for the series. Rather than the dull drag of the series second season, Psycho-Pass 3's brain-bending puzzles and action to make it feel more like the original series than any other entry into the franchise thus far.
While it might not be as "galaxy brain" as Psycho-Pass, No Guns Life gives us a fairly solid series that tackles one of the sci-fi genre's other favorite social topics: transhumanism. Namely, No Guns Life tells the story of a detective tasked with hunting down criminals and rogue cyborgs, also known as "Extended." Unlike the white-collar or high-profile crimes typically scene in other transhumanist shows like Ghost in the Shell, though, No Guns Life offers something closer to Blade Runner in that it trends closer toward noir than a police drama. From the top down, the world that Inui Juzo lives in wreaks of the trash and sludge of your basic industrial sci-fi slum where the long arm of the law can barely reach and has very little accountability where it can. It's a world of gangs, drugs, and knock-off cybernetics that are more likely to hurt you than help you. So, it's up to Juzo to help keep the streets at least a little clean and keep the gangs and junkies honest. Of course, that particular job isn't all that hard for him, what with his head being a giant revolver with a mouth. So, with gun on head and a medical cigarette in his mouth, Juzo is ready to take on any job he can even if it means going toe-to-toe with the Berühren conglomerate who manufacturers the cybernetics that have turned Extended like him into a public threat. In other words, this is a series full of the sweet, high-tech grunge that makes schi-fi noir so much fun. It's full of character, offers some solid comedy, and has enough high-octane action to keep it's more thoughtful moments feeling fresh. If there's any real complaint I can level at it is that it's more comedic tone and inconsistent pacing of the main story make it a little difficult to take seriously when it tries to play things straight.
Incidentally, I could level the same complaint at this and last season's shounen hit, Dr. Stone. That's obviously not to say that I dislike this show; quite the contrary, actually. Offering something of a twist on the isekai genre that has taken the anime world by storm, Senku's adventures in science in a world that's reverted back to the stone age make for some legitimately compelling drama. It's a real joy watching Senku work to build a nation of science while the clock is ticking down to when his nation of science will inevitably have to go head-to-head with the kingdom of might that being built by his musclebound rival, Shishio Tsukasa. What's more, the show's astounding ability to turn on the waterworks as the cast get blindsided by some raw, quality emotions make it feel like a real standout from the usual shounen fodder. But, again, the light-hearted tone and juvenile comedy that make up the majority of the series make it just that much more difficult to take seriously during those more heartfelt moments. Regardless of how seriously I can or cannot take this series, though, I have no problem acknowledging that Dr. Stone might just be one of my favorite shounen titles--just short of My Hero Academia, of course.
Ho boy, on the topic of personal favorites, emotional waterworks, and heartfelt drama, Stars Align (Hoshiai no Sora) is definitely up there as one of my favorites, both for this season and overall. Initially playing itself off as your basic underdog sports anime, Stars Align quickly reveals that it is something far more personal and emotional. Using soft tennis as an easy means to pull together of misfits just looking for companionship and a constructive way to vent their various frustrations, the anime functionally turns each member of the cast into a vehicle for showcasing some form of child abuse that teenagers deal with today. From physical and emotional abuse to outright denying their child's existence, Stars Align pulls no punches when it comes to showcasing its various forms of abuse. This, of course, means that this show definitely won't be for everyone and might be a bit on the soul crushing side. On the other hand, though, it should be said that this series also makes sure that it gives everything its due diligence. At no point does the drama, once it hits, feel forced or particularly melodramatic simply because the show does a fantastic job of setting the tone and establishing what might be wrong with each of the cast members though subtle tics and reactions, making them also feel that much more real in the process. Apart from how sensitive the subject matter can get, the only real complaint I have with the series is how it ends on a cliffhanger, albeit one I've determined was intentional and one that spoke to one of the show's more subtle themes.
Trending toward a different kind of dramatic violence, Vinland Saga is yet another show that just blew me out of the water despite it's deceptively simple premise. When focused on the perspective protagonist of the series, Thorfinn, Vinland Saga proves to be be little more than your basic revenge story. Wishing to kill the man who murdered his father, Thorfinn sets off an a journey to train up and become a warrior worthy of his father's legacy. Here's the twist though: because he was beside his father when he died, Thorfinn is forced to sail with his father's killer just to survive. In this way, he and Askeladd form a tenuous contract where the viking mercenary will allow Thorfinn to duel him whenever he does something significant for the Viking's invasion of England. Here's the other twist though: Thorfinn is just one of many perspective characters this series has to offer and each of them have something to offer this story's glimpse of the Danish invasion and conquest of England. Yet, more than just the perspectives its characters offer, Vinland Saga proves that it is a masterpiece from top to bottom, able to effectively use visual tone, atmosphere, and music to create a memorable, captivating experience. Even its brief injections of comedy do wonders to help flesh out this antiquated era of strife and make it feel real, even when it says or does something that isn't entirely accurate to the era or region (i.e. Askeladd making a reference to shogi).
Now, to offer some much lighter fair, Ascendance of a Bookworm (Honzuki no Gekokujou) easily stands as my personal favorite show of the season. It might not be as compelling as Stars Align, as thoughtful as Psycho-Pass, or action-packed as Vinland Saga but what it is is a show that fits a particular niche for me that nothing can hope to contend with. Initially starting off as your basic isekai, we're introduced to the character of Motosu Urano just as she finds herself reincarnated into the body of a sickly five-year-old peasant girl named Myne. Determined to create a renaissance of literature akin to what she was used to as Urano, she sets off an a path to make books in a world where books are rare and typically hoarded by nobles and the church. Lacking even some of the basic tools for the job, though, her quest for literature also results in her introducing an avalanche of products and scientific advancements to this feudal fantasy world. Rather than feeling like an overpowered genius like Senku, though, Myne's passion for books and specialty in household DIY projects make her knowledge of various subjects feel a lot more believable. On top of that, Myne's journey does wonders to flesh out the nature of this world since her youth and inexperience offer a solid means for other characters to offer much-needed exposition to fully set the scene. Pairing all those well-thought-out considerations and the show's generally positive, "can do" atmosphere make this an incredible fun, relaxing, compelling, but also quite simple watch.
While I might not be happy with how I eventually came to watch the "Netflix Original" Teasing Master Takagi-san (Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san) Season 2, I can't say that I didn't love the new season to pieces. Still very much your basic skit series, the second season of Takagi-san picks up more or less where the first season left off. Nishikata and Takagi still spend each episode playfully trying to one-up each other as they test and explore their budding romantic feelings. The only real difference this time around is that the series feels far more focused and driven. Rather than just showing skit after to skit to fully introduce us to these characters, the second season goes all in on making their relationship actually happen. Slowly but steadily, we watch Takagi grow more and more bold in her teasing. We see much more physical contact and a particular focus on getting the bashful Nishikata to be comfortable with holding her hand, thus cementing their connection..
The Tolerable:
As it is with almost all sequel seasons, my ability to recommend a show or not hinges on whether or not you've been following it up to this point. In many cases, recommending sequels is just a matter of describing whether things picked up during the most recent season or, in Food Wars (Shokogeki no Soma) Fourth Plate's case, whether things ended well. The latter is especially true for the fourth season of Food Wars since the last one ended at a very odd point, i.e. right in the middle of a tournament arc. Odd as that choice might have been, though, season 4 picked things back up fairly neatly and went right back to work showcasing the strengths and quirks this near-pornographic food anime is known for. More than that, though, the season's end left us at a good point to end on while still teasing that more might still be on the way if there's a staff up to the task of adapting more of the manga.
Though I'll personally admit I started to grow tired of it's repetitive ecchi comedy, We Never Learn (Boku-tachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai / BokuDen) Season 2 is another good example of a series that could be picked back up because it ended things well. In fact, it might have ended so well that the manga readers have started to riot over the anime's ending teasing who will actually win Nariyuki's hand when all is said and done. Regardless who wins, though, I'll also admit that I appreciated how this season took the time to focus on where all these characters plan to go in the future. Sure, we know what each of the girls need or want to study once they graduate high school but very little thought has been put into Nariyuki's goals until now. While I'd say his ultimate path was one I saw coming a mile away, it still felt satisfying to see him and the rest of the cast take some all-too-necessary steps forward.
Granblue Fantasy Season 2, on the other hand, is a solid example of it being necessary to just explain that there's enough of a reason to pick the series back up. Like the previous season, Granblue's second season still features that distinct thin-line art style that made it stand out visually and stick fairly true to the gatacha game's original aesthetic. The only real difference is that this season is a lot for focused and directed than the previous one since it adapts some of the early story's more intense and personal arcs--Albion Citadel, Mist-Shrouded Isle, and Golonzo Isle Arcs, specifically. So, if you felt there wasn't enough reason to get invested in the main cast of characters, this season might just be the right one for you since it gives some much needed backstory for the crewmates of the Grandcypher, albeit with some slight changes made here and there since the staff took full advantage of their opportunity to rewrite the original story to a certain degree.
With the sequels covered, we can finally get into the season's new offerings on the "Alter of Alright." Written by the same author who gave us KonoSuba, Kemono Michi: Rise Up (Hataage! Kemono Michi) is yet another comedic isekai with a weird twist. Rather than giving us a wimpy, scumbag loser to mock, Kemono Michi asks the question of what would happen if a pro-wrestler was summoned into a fantasy world that doesn't seem to have any knowledge of basic CQC or martial arts. While, ultimately, the answer is that he'll just make his own damn wrestling franchise with orcs and demon lords, the episode-to-episode conceit of the series is that Shibata Genzo desperately wants to open up a monster pet shop but repeatedly fails to realize that dream due to the financial investment necessary and his own idiocy. Like KonoSuba, though, Genzo also has a talent for acquiring companions who are just as stupid and scummy as he is. So, if KonoSuba Season 2 happened to be your jam, this one will be right up your alley.
If you happen to prefer tabletops to wrestling mats, though, this season gave us an interesting entry into the CGDCT (Cute Girls Doing Cute Things) slice of life genre with After School Dice Club (Houkago Saikoro Club). Focused on showing how games can bring people together, help them break out of their shells, and make them consider new possibilities, the series follows the lives of four young girls with differing levels of sociability and skill at games. Some aspects of these chracters' stories fall a little more flat than others--i.e. Miki not knowing how to have fun-- but, regardless of their individual quality, the story of how each girl undergoes some kind of personal growth as they bond over a love of board games makes for a fun watch. The only real problem apart from those little dips in character quality that the show itself doesn't look all that great. Its art style is a tad basic and outdated, looking like something you'd expect from the early 2000s, rather than 2019. So long as you can look past that, though, its not half bad.
Yet another entry into the CGDCT genre, Didn't I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?! (Watashi, Nouryoku wa Heikinchi de tte Itta yo ne! / Noukin) exists as an interesting blend of genres and tropes that, on paper, sound ridiculous but actually manage to work fairly well in practice. Namely, Noukin starts off with your basic over-powered reincarnation scenario as the deity in charge of Kurihara Misato's reincarnation takes her request to be reborn as someone totally average for too literally and puts her power level smack-dab in the middle between the world's strongest elder dragon and a single-celled organism. Once that initial gimmick is made clear, though, the series quickly turns into little more than another all-girls club anime as Misato, now named Mile, and her band of adventurers-in-training form a party and start tackling various quests and typical problems with feudal fantasy worlds (arranged marriages, scumbag landlords, etc.). Most of the time this formula turns their their adventures into long, comedic skits as Mile teaches them fighting techniques she picked up from anime and manga that ultimately save the day. Other times, though, it offers some surprisingly compelling character drama grounded in the more problematic aspects of your generic feudal fantasy. So, somehow or other, the series functionally manages to pull off being a jack of all trades and master of none in the world of anime tropes while still remaining true to its CGDCT core.
In stark contrast to Noukin's ability to execute on a number of different ideas and genres well, Fire Force (Enen no Shouboutai) was a series that desperately needed to stick to a particular tone, theme, or goal and run with it. What we got instead was your bog standard shounen title that constantly undermined its more serious and compelling character action with forced gag comedy and brief moments of ecchi that only served to make me actively hate the female characters--not because of who they where or what they did but because of what what the show did to them. From Maki's "Gorilla Cyclops" slapstick to Arthur's unbearable idiocy and Tamaki's "lucky lecher" curse, the sheer, childish stupidity of this show's cast made it nearly impossible to take it or its developing political/world-building intrigue seriously. The operative word there, though, is "nearly." Right around the introduction of Captain Benimaru, a good two thirds of the way through the first season, Fire Force almost entirely drops its juvenile gags and manages to stick to being a much more compelling story about a boy desperately trying to save his brother while the world teeters closer and closer toward the brink of destruction.
While it's technically another sequel, Bananya and the Curious Bunch (Bananya: Fushigi na Nakama-tachi) oddly stands apart from its previous season. Rather than continuing the episodic adventures of the adorable canana-like, cat-like Bananyas, this new season creates a whole new setting full of brand-new Bananyas to adore that is oddly reminiscent of Kirby's Planet Popstar. From the yowling volcano shaped like cat to the shooting stars that gift the Bananyas with toys and accessories from Earth, everything about this setting makes this sequel just that little bit more cute and colorful.
The Ongoing:
It might only have two more episode left that are slated for late March but that does still quality Azur Lane as an "ongoing anime" that I plan to finished once those last couple episodes finally air. Based on the massively popular gatcha mobile game, Azur Lane basically takes the concept of "ship girls" that Kancolle pioneered and reimagines the ship girls by putting them into warring factions similar to the Axis and Alliance of WWII and now that the threat of the Sirens (no real difference from Kancolle's Abyssals) has all but passed. One of the show's most interesting additions, though, is its use of the characters. Rather than just being a CGDCT anime, Azur Lane actually focuses on telling a story of how war affects people the longer it goes on. On the one hand, we're given grizzled veterans like Enterprise who have lost their innocence to the war and, despite hating every second of it, see no end to the conflict other than outright destruction and submission of the enemy. On the other, we're given the perspectives of each faction's next generation who either fall sway to the previous generation's propeganda or want nothing more than to end the war by building bridges through friendship and diplomacy. While not quite as fleshed out or nuanced, it should be noted that there are some strong similarities between Azur Lane and Land of the Lustrous that, I'll admit, might be the main reason I'm determined to watch this series despite it's creepy obsession with little girls.
At this point, do I really need to give My Hero Academia (Boku no Hero Academia) any more attention and hype? I mean, everyone knows by now that this series is one of the hottest and most well-written shounen series we've gotten in recent years, right? Well, just to make things perfectly clear, I'll simply state that I'm still very much in love with this series. While the adaptation of the Overhaul Arc might be a bit more clumsy than the other arcs thus far--not that that's necessarily any fault of the production staff, as noted in this neat piece Crunchyroll put out a week or so ago--it's still some top-shelf shounen action that only has me chomping at the bit for the great series of arcs and characters that we'll be getting once Overhaul is out of the picture.
The Downright Terrible:
Ho boy, where do I even start with this one. While technically it should go in the "Tolerable" section because I did tolerate it for a whole season or the "Ongoing" section since it is still continuing into the next, I feel like it would be more accurate for me to call it "Downright Terrible" since that is where my feelings on Case File nº221: Kabukicho (Kabukicho Sherlock) ultimately lie. Built on the premise of adapting the classic stories of Sherlock Holmes for the dingy, crime-infested streets of Kabukicho, there were a lot of things to like and dislike about this series. For starters, the way the series builds this iteration of Sherlock as a rakugo otaku nut who almost certainly falls somewhere on the high-functioning end of the autism spectrum is actually fairly novel and engaging, offering the series a range of comedic gimmicks that aren't so overdone that they get old. Though they might be lacking in character, the introduction of a number of other detectives who work with, against, or outright steal their successes from Sherlock also work to pad the series with some fairly fun gags and avenues that make it easier for the average viewer to pick up the pieces of each mystery alongside them or the show's version of John Watson. Where things eventually turned sour for me, though, was the show's brand of comedy or, more accurately, the focus of said comedy: trans women. Throughout the series and even the series OP, Kabukicho Sherlock turns its trans characters into ongoing jokes that start off as fairly inoffensive and playful. This can be noted in the show's adaptation of Mrs. Hudson as a huge, burly trans woman who constantly comes on to John and most of the one-off male cast despite their repeated disgust at the idea. I can force myself to tolerate at least that level of crude comedy. Heck, I'll even admit that I chuckled at the show's crude use of an elephant roar when one of the show's idiot detectives learned that the girl he was crushing on still had a dick. Where the line got drawn for me, though, was the show's use of trans representation to create the most needlessly vile representation of Jack the Ripper I've ever seen. Namely, this version of Jack justified her killings and mutilation of her victims because of her inner turmoil over transitioning, i.e. cutting off the dicks of her male victims out of hatred for the one she still has and eating the her female victims' uteri out of some twisted desire to own a real, functioning uterus. While the reveal of who Jack was was done perfectly, in my opinion, the justification of this already renowned murderer drew the line in the sand for me. After that, I couldn't ignore the fact that every trans character in this series was either a shameless flirt with no respect for consent, implied prostitutes, or a psychopathic murderer. After that, I couldn't laugh at the show's jokes anymore because I'd always remind myself of how angry I was over that needlessly vile characterization that just took things way too far for me to tolerate. So, I'll simply say this: while I'll admit to this being one of the most interesting and creative adaptations of Sherlock I've ever seen I simply couldn't bring myself to keep watching it. If you can manage to look past that moment and enjoy the series, more power to you.
Oddly enough, my other "Downright Terrible" this season is another that I'll admit had some merit but I just couldn't stomach after a while. First off, let me just say that Babylon is a stunningly directed work with scenes and shots that are so well-framed and paced that I wouldn't be surprised if someone told me the director had a history in making art house flicks. Directorial quality doesn't necessarily equate to overall quality though. From the first, Babylon sets itself up to be a bit of a doozy of a think piece as it proceeded to go into a discussion on the morality of death and mankind's fear of death. Already this topic makes the show into something of a trigger-fest for its audience since, obviously, suicide is a touchy subject for a lot of people and for very good reason. Be that as it may, the series goes out of its way to set up a scenario where this topic could be explored. Alongside this tough topic comes the show's actual A Plot and the explanation for the show's name. Coinciding with the introduction of a law that could functionally legalize suicide, we are introduced to the character of Magase Ai, a woman with the uncanny and functionally supernatural ability to "rape" the mind of anyone she talks to and convince them to commit suicide with a smile on their face. In other words, while the show's cast of detectives try to put a stop to this legal suicide law, waxing poetic about mankind's history with death the entire while, they also have to track down this wholly unnatural psychopath of a woman who, in her own words, simply wants to prove to our lawful good detective that true evil exists. This clash of concepts and tones are what decidedly killed my interest in this show. While I'll admit that the discussion on death and suicide was a bit stuck up its own ass, I at least felt like it could lead to some interesting discussions. The wholly unhinged and, again, near-supernatural pursuit of Magase Ai and her succubus-like abilities, though, wholly disconnected the series from it's more down-to-earth B Plot and invited a number of problems I just wasn't willing to put up with. For example, with the introduction of Magase Ai, we get the grand, sweeping, and incredibly sexist statement that women, with their inherent sexual allure and manipulative nature, are the source of all evil--clearly referencing the biblical "Whore of Babylon." This is, of course, all a load of bollocks and proved to be more than enough reason for me to drop this show like the sack of shit it is. But, like Kabukicho Sherlock, the actual straw that broke my will to keep watching Babylon was a scene of obscene violence featuring Magase chopping off a female detectives limbs while her male coworker watched while the series cut back and forth to his family cutting up food for his son's lunch. Dictatorially, the scene was a thing of genius. Personally, I couldn't being myself to keep watching after that obscene display of edgy, sexist violence.
Closing Statement:
All-in-all, I can't say that this was a bad season. I might even go so far as to say it was a great season. After all, this might very well be one of the most topically diverse and engaging seasons I've seen in a long while. From high concept sci-fi, transhuman noir, and edgy think pieces to food porn, tabletop CGDCT, and an isekai I can say I love without reservation, there was something for everyone this season and most of them were pretty high quality. Heck, even the shows I personally grew to hate ended up having enough going for them that I could see people liking them despite my complaints. So, if any of the shows I loved, liked, or hated caught your interest I hope you give them a chance and end up loving them for it. And lastly, as always, if you ever want to hash things out from the shows you watch or want to call me out for totally missing the mark on your favorite series, I can always be reached by e-mail or Facebook. Here's to another season and dozens of more shows for me to obsess over.