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Dated 17 April 2017: An outsider's perspective on Granblue Fantasy the Animation

Katalina, Lyria, Gran, and Vyrn
Most of that will buff right out.

I learned everything I know about the Granblue Fantasy game from an IRC and the Twitter. It seems like it would be a moderately amusing way to waste time, but I'm mystified at how dedicated some of the players are, particularly those who probably would not self-identify as especially hardcore or committed. It seems as if there is an addictive quality to the gameplay, because when people talk about how they are doing, the representations always seem to be about quantifiable achievements and metrics, instead of how much fun they are having. This (admittedly small) circle of fans seems disinterested in the anime. They are either critical of its quality, or they ignore it entirely because it stars Gran (the male player character) instead of Djeeta (the female player character alternative).

Cat and Katalina
At least take off the metal gauntlet first.

I am watching Granblue Fantasy the Animation with no real understanding of the gameplay or story and only the aforementioned framework as any sort of context. From this vantage, Granblue Fantasy the Animation seems "fine," but isn't particularly captivating. It's a fantasy anime with fantasy-type elements, but these elements are not components of a well-thought-out world, but rather just there because they're just expected to be there or because they make for neat visuals. Just don't be thinking too much about them; it's fine.

Katalina and Lyria
She's even wearing her new sandals indoors.

As for the characters themselves, again, they are merely adequate or unobjectionable, without really any particular aspect that seems interesting or novel so far. The antagonists who have been introduced through three episodes are all very obviously villainous with cartoonishly evil voices to assist the audience in establishing cursory perspectives about them without having to really pay attention. Maybe Djeeta has something going for her, and the show suffers dramatically from her omission, but—as I understand it—the game plays out exactly the same regardless of whether the player chooses to play as Gran or as Djeeta anyway, so I'm not sure what her presence in the anime might have improved aside from perhaps maybe everything just works so much better because Djeeta is easy on the eyes.

Gran, Vyrn, Lyria, and Katalina
Is there a reason why the shrimpiest character is the only one with a Big Gulp?

Granblue Fantasy the Animation also competes with Zero kara Hajimeru Mahou no Sho (Grimoire of Zero) and Shuumatsu Nani Shitemasu ka? Isogashii desu ka? Sukutte Moratte Ii desu ka? (WorldEnd: What do you do at the end of the world? Are you busy? Will you save us?) this season, both of which are better shows for the time being. The former has Not Shimakaze explaining the difference between majutsu and mahou (a distinction you may remember from Fate/stay night) and is yet another entry on my list of anime about people who love books, along with Read or Die, R.O.D. the TV, Dantalian no Shoka, and Demonbane. SukaSuka is the adaptation of a light novel and has a super-long title, so I'm pretty dubious about it, but the first episode was reasonably good and non-objectionable, so maybe it has some promise. It's too early to tell how Granblue Fantasy the Animation is going to end up, but it's starting in third place among its peers.

Dated 24 April 2017: I've already dropped 10 shows from Spring 2017

Nono and Fudou
This is not Re:Zero.

There are a lot more shows each season these days than there used to be. I'm willing to give a lot of them a try, but I'm not quite as willing to slog through something in hopes it gets more interesting later. Lest you think I'm being too negative because I dropped 10 shows before the fourth week, bear in mind I'm still watching 17. Cripes, that is a lot. No wonder I never make any progress through my sizable backlog of anime I'd like to re-watch someday.

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Dated 17 November 2020: More dropped shows from the Autumn 2020 anime season

Kasumi
Kasumi is a treasure trove of facial expressions.

In addition to Senyoku no Sigrdrifa and Assault Lily: BOUQUET, I've also dropped Tonikaku Kawaii (TONIKAWA: Over The Moon For You), Love Live! Nijigasaki Gakuen School Idol Doukoukai (Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club), Guraburu! (Grand Blues!), and Kimi to Boku no Saigo no Senjou, Aruiwa Sekai ga Hajimaru Seisen (Our Last Crusade or the Rise of a New World). Damn, these are some long titles. Of this batch, only Last Crusade is legitimately bad. The rest of them I would watch during a duller season.

Tsukasa and Nasa
Dude's wife is a saint for putting up with this shit.

In the case of TONIKAWA, it's fine when Nasa isn't freaking out, but he freaks out a lot, and I don't see much benefit in putting up with this when I could just read the manga instead. These sorts of reactions are much more tolerable in print than as anime.

Love Live! Nijigasaki is probably really just on hold, and not actually dropped, since I've seen every other Love Live! thing that's out there. Then again, the franchise will probably continue to churn out new properties for some time, and I certainly don't feel obligated to watch those future installments. The characters are sort of dull, though. I probably would not be dropping Nijigasaki otherwise.

Guraburu! seems fine, and each episode is only a few minutes long, so it's not as if there would be much of a commitment to continue watching. However, it's clearly aimed at people who play the Granblue Fantasy game, so I'm wasn't getting much out of it.

Iska and Mismis
Wide car.

Kimi to Boku no Saigo no Senjou, Aruiwa Sekai ga Hajimaru Seisen put more effort into the title than the show itself. Really, it's not even worth explaining. It's as unimpressive—if not worse—than the trailer suggested. I somehow still watched three episodes for Tenchan, though.