The use of split screen and overall editing style was actually really refreshing. I thought the animation style was nice and different. I managed to figure out that “Oni-chan” in this instance is just a family friend rather than her actual brother, but it’s hard to dispel the thought given Japan’s propensity for that story line. Like watching an emotional train wreck in slow motion. I’m not saying Crunchyroll, Funimation and the rest are angels in this regard, but they are definitely more responsive due to the fact that anime is their main business. This is a manifestation of a concern I have with Netflix and Amazon trying to wade into the anime space - I have no confidence about their stewardship or attention to the anime community. Netflix supposedly has picked this up, but for some inexplicable reason they haven’t aired either of the first two episodes. The show seemingly avoided a few pitfalls in it’s debut and managed to make the two main characters slightly more than one dimensional. The opening wasn’t half bad, but we’ll have to give it a few more episodes to prove itself. I feel it’s a bit like a Monty Hall problem - we could very easily end up with a goat. The humor seemed to build from where they left off, but overall I’m left with more concerns than before - usually not a good sign. This time around, there was so much of the “rough edges” it felt like someone thought that was part of the aesthetic success of the first season (which in my opinion was not a positive factor the first time). The first cour was rough, but it felt on purpose and for the most part was balanced out with decent effort and framerates. After seeing the first episode, I have a second concern: the animation budget. It was clear they didn’t know what they had the first time, so I hope they don’t end up ruining it because of the unexpected popularity. I’m a little concerned about what they have planned this time around.
Season 1 came out of nowhere and for many was the best show of 2016 (and easily the best comedy). If I had to bet, I’d say they might go aggressively after Shingeki no Kyojin 2 as an exclusive. Will be interesting to see what shows they pick up this coming year. As a happy paying subscriber of Crunchyroll, Funimation & Netflix, as well as an Amazon Prime member, I’m not sure I will be diving into yet another pay-for stream service one unless they start buying up enough shows to really deprive CR. I don’t know what to think of this - to say their catalog is bare bones is significantly understating the situation.
One “shocking” bit of news before we dive in is Amazon’s new pay-for anime channel called Anime Strike as part of their paid streaming service.
With the holidays I fell behind last season, so I’ll be playing catch up and hopefully try to stay more current for this one. There is a wide variety with comedies taking the lead. My first impression of this season seems to be understated but solid.
After a bit of research, I switched over to a very good API provided by - and to be honest, I’m this close to switching my anime tracking to anilist full time (my profile is here) ( Update: Done and done).
Second, with transitioning to kitsu.io, my bootstrap script that helps me put this post together became OBE. First, I had a few shows from last season I wanted to finish off before diving into this one. You’ll probably notice that this first impressions post is coming out a bit later than usual (and probably before the fall retrospective).