2019-07-01
Looking back on the Spring 2019 anime season
It's time for my traditional look back at what I watched this past Spring season, to follow up on my earlier impressions. This was a decidedly small season for me, since I only finished two shows.
Good:
- Fairy Gone: This cour of the show wasn't flawless but it was interesting and generally well done, and it's certainly enough to get me to watch the next cour (which will air in the Fall season, starting in October). Marlya basically carried the show for me, and in general it was at its best when she and her compatriots in Dorothea were on the screen and doing things. As always, I enjoyed it partly because it was doing something different from the run of the mill shows that we usually get.
Decent except for Zenitsu:
- Demon Slayer: The show is generally pretty good as a shonen action
show (although it sometimes stumbles) and I continue to like Nezuko
and her interactions with Tanjiro. Unfortunately it is less successful
elsewhere, such as in its non-fight writing, and in particular Zenitsu
is extremely terrible; he embodies a great deal of shonen character
cliches that I hate and find extremely grating. It also looks like
it's about to settle down into basically a series of 'monster of the
time interval' fights, now that the initial setup has been done.
Due to both of these factors (but primarily Zenitsu), I expect to drop
the show soon.
(I read spoilers for Zenitsu's future developments and he does not improve the things that irritate me. If anything, he gets worse.)
Dropped (unless I get very bored):
- Wise Man's Grandchild (#9): It slowed down so that it was basically leaning on reaction faces to keep my interest, and that wasn't enough. I skimmed episode 10 very briefly, and apparently a lot of it was trying to give the main villain a vaguely sympathetic background and, well, I'll pass; Wise Man's Grandchild does not have writing that is anywhere near good enough to succeed at that. Probably further episodes pick up with some fighting, which would be popcorn entertainment if I decided I wanted that and can't get it from new shows in the Summer season.
I did not continue Sarazanmai. Various reactions from people with opinions that generally agree with mine make me feel that I made the right decision, however much I feel like I should watch an Ikuhara show.
Although this was a slow season, I feel satisfied with what I watched. I enjoyed Fairy Gone and Demon Slayer was entertaining and well done for what it was.