== Looking back at the Fall 2013 anime season

Since all of the fall shows that were going to finish have done so (and
been subtitled, which was looking chancy at one point), it's time for
the usual retrospective look back ([[as before Summer2013Retrospective]])
to go with [[my early impressions Fall2013Brief]] and [[my more or less
midway views Fall2013Midway]].

Clear winners:

* *Kyousougiga*: The show did not let us down. It ended excellently,
  with many great moments and developments along the way, and it never
  lost its sense of whimsy and spectacle. It earns significant bonus
  points from me for making what was previously an inscrutable background
  detail into an important plot point. Following [[my usual rule of thumb
  ShinguReactions]], younger Myoe is the major protagonist because he
  gets the most character development (although it should be noted that
  younger Koto gets her share too).

* *KILL la KILL*: It remains BURNING ANIME and populated with a whole
  collection of excellent characters. The Four Devas only improve as
  we get to know them and Mako continues to steal the show with her
  awesomeness. I am very much looking forward to more.

Plain good fun:

* *Yozakura Quartet - Hana no Uta*: My final view is that this was
  solid but not deep. On a technical level it has the best fights of
  the season (although *KILL la KILL*'s were more fun and gripping).
  One drawback to the show is that it's not a complete work in and of
  itself; it is simply a slice out of an ongoing series that doesn't
  reach an ending so much as come to a finale and then stop.

* *Log Horizon*: This has developed into a fully enjoyable blend of good
  characters, amusing MMO stuff, cleverly evil plotting, and interesting
  philosophical issues. I suspect that the eventual ending will not
  really satisfy me but until then the journey there is nice.

Ordinary:

* *Arpeggio of Blue Steel - Ars Nova*: For all that [[the ending actually
  improved the show for me ArpeggioDefense]] the whole thing was not a
  particularly exceptional show. It was decent and some of the battles
  were fun, but that was about it.

* *Kyoukai no Kanata*: [[Episode 10 excepted KyoukaiNoKanata10]] this
  show was a disappointment. KyoAni brought its A game as far as
  the art went and spent some effort on the characters, but [[pretty
  clearly fumbled the writing AdaptationBlame]]. The end result was a
  disappointingly generic and unconvincing light novel adaptation with
  better production values than usual.

  (KyoAni also supplied a masterclass demonstration in how beautiful
  art and complex animation does not create good fight scenes, but
  that's another entry. For now [[see the sidebar on my midway views
  Fall2013Midway]].)

Carried over from [[the summer Summer2013Brief]]:

* *Monogatari Series Second Season*: I wish I could appreciate the
  depth to this that [[other people see
  http://wrongeverytime.com/tag/monogatari/]] but at this point I can't
  see past a bunch of characters standing there spending a lot of time
  talking at each other and not saying very much while not much happens. I
  liked scattered moments of this season and many of the climaxes but
  not much of the stuff in the middle. I also think that Shaft's visual
  design has long since passed the point where it detracts from the
  experience instead of enhancing it.

In the worth mentioning category there is *Space Battleship
Yamato 2199*, which I finished [[midway through the season
https://twitter.com/cks_anime/status/405551951322304512]].
Although I have [[qualified views of it Yamato2199Views]]
I still think it was great.

Dropped:

* *Valvrave*: Let me summarize my view of the second season [[with a
  tweet https://twitter.com/cks_anime/status/410642237220208641]]:
	I like the first season OP song for Valvrave more than the
	second season.

  I'm serious about that. First season *Valvrave* was at its best when
  it was throwing one crazy thing after another at us, topping itself
  each time around. The second season mostly dropped that; while it
  had occasional moments of craziness it never really exploited them
  and in fact sometimes immediately killed off the characters it had
  just made so interesting. Oh, and I've gathered that the ending
  descends to carnography, which is [[not one of my favorite things
  CharacterDeathViews]].

My experiences with *Valvrave* this season are a valuable reminder that
I should listen to my gut. If I am repeatedly unenthused about watching
more of a show it is a big flashing sign that I should drop it right
away. Doing that with *Valvrave* at the first sign of lacking enthusiasm
would have freed up quite a number of episodes of time.

Overall I think that this has been a great season. Ignoring *Space
Battleship Yamato 2199* as not really being a 'this season' show, this
season is going to more or less contribute two shows to my 'best N of
2013' entry.