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Dated 31 May 2015: Welcome back, Kugimiya Rie

Dingo and Angela
Angela Balzac shows Dingo how large the pizzas are in DEVA.

The past couple of years have been pretty good for Kugimiya Rie roles, as it appears she has moved beyond the tiny, flat-chested modern tsundere typecasting that plagued her for so long. Notably, she was excellent in Rakuen Tsuihō (Expelled from Paradise) as Angela Balzac (admittedly another tsundere, but fortunately the neoclassical variety). Ordinarily I would not have expected her in a role like this, but she did an outstanding job. The movie itself is also excellent, so I'm definitely buying the Blu-ray when it comes out later this week.

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Dated 13 November 2017: The second season of Kekkai Sensen doesn't seem very Beyond

Sonic and Leo
Leonardo Watch, default expression.

Kekkai Sensen & Beyond seems to offer about the same level of interesting developments and entertaining action as the first season did, but I'm still not quite as enamored with the show this time around. I think most fans of the first season were primarily concerned about how the sequel would fare without Matsumoto Rie directing, but I don't believe the series has suffered too much in this regard. On its face, Blood Blockade Battlefront ought to be as enjoyable as it always was. If anything, it ought to be better, since we finally got some episodes featuring Chain who basically did fuck all the first season. But Beyond seems to be missing something to me, and I think I know what it is: White.

Chain
Snappy dresser, great hair. Pity she's a slob, though.

This is probably heresy, since White is reportedly an anime-original addition to the first season. Nevertheless, I think White helped tie the series together by providing a more cohesive narrative in an otherwise mostly episodic series. Scenes featuring White and Leo getting to know each other better helped me as a viewer get to know them better. Aside from Zapp, I don't believe I can say the same thing about any of the other characters. And in Zapp's case, all I really learned is that he's sort of a dick, and often not in an amusing sort of way. Ultimately, Kekkai Sensen is still good (it's currently the third-highest rated show on my seasonal chart), but it's also a little unsatisfying because I can't help but feel as if it could be better. It is still very flashy, even though the screen dims during the frequently literally flashy scenes. (This seems to be common practice these days for reducing the risk of inducing seizures among those susceptible to such.) There is probably a metaphor in here somewhere, but it will take a better anime detective than me to find it.

Dated 18 December 2017: I dropped seven shows during the autumn 2017 season

I wasn't planning on dropping Kekkai Sensen & Beyond. I rather enjoyed the first season, but I found the second season just mostly all right. It's not that the quality dropped, necessarily, but rather I discovered I really did prefer the first season's anime-original plotline about White a lot more than all the various canned adventures each week. Go figure. Even sloppy Chain antics weren't enough to keep me interested, alas. I watched eight episodes and gave it a 3.64 out of 5.

Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou (Girls' Last Tour) seems pretty good, and is well regarded on the Twitter, but it just isn't my sort of thing. I watched two episodes and scored it 3.43 out of 5.

Inuyashiki is...not very good. It has some good stuff in it, but it's an awful show that aspires to be good, the more I think about it. It has interesting ideas, but it would take a long time to explain all the problems I have with the series—much more time than I feel interested in giving it. Four episodes, 3.43 out of 5. I get the feeling it would score much worse if I ever re-watched those same episodes again, though.

The iDOLM@STER Side M does all the right iDOLM@STER things and appears to be a worthy addition to the franchise's anime lineup, but I'm not quite so interested in these particular characters. It probably could have kept me watching with a lot more 765 cameos. I watched four episodes (five, counting Episode 00). 3.00 out of 5.

Niwatori
CHICKEN IS TOP BIRD.

Juuni Taisen lost me by killing off the only character I liked. Worse, I had no interest in any of the other characters at all, and the entire show was pretty underwhelming for a battle royale. I also would have had no idea NisiOisiN was involved had I not been informed. Dude must have phoned this one in. It's not even bad in original or interesting ways. I just didn't give a shit and never felt as if I was given any reason to. Seven episodes, 2.86 out of 5.

I dropped Blend S after one episode and wanted to quit halfway through. That one fucker was too annoying. 2.00 out of 5.

I knew Itsudatte Bokura no Koi wa 10 cm Datta. (Our love has always been 10 centimeters apart.) was going to irritate me at some point. I didn't expect it to fall off a cliff, though. Three episodes, 1.89 out of 5. Its 1.53 standard deviation is easily the highest of any series I watched this season.