I watched less anime than usual this season, and most of them aren't noteworthy enough for me to mention them: some isekai, a harem... harmless stuff that I mostly forget after I watch it.
Anyway:
Psycho Pass 3 and the new movies- The sequels no one asked for! I didn’t expect anything after the disaster that was Psycho Pass 2, but I was pleasantly surprised.
The first movie is just okay, but the second and third movies are great little self-contained stories that don’t overstay their welcome. The third movie in particular is quite good and I think it’s better than the Gen Urubochi movie we got a few years ago.
The season is made up of 40-minute-long episodes and is mostly solid. A highlight of this new season are the fun character interactions. Animation is high quality most of the time (the last episodes had a couple of rough moments). The main character is a little overpowered with is barely explained, almost magical detective powers, but I can get over that.
Unfortunately, the ending is just a cliffhanger for the next season or movie. Still, if this level of quality is maintained, I don’t mind Psycho Pass being a franchise with semi regular new content.
Movie 1- 6/10
Movie 2- 8/10
Movie 3- 9/10
Season 3- 7/10
Blade of the Immortal: This is still ongoing but so far, I’ve been enjoying it a lot. I haven’t read the manga, but from what I’ve seen on the internet, this adaptation is very abridged. It does not feel abridged to me though.
The animation is generally solid, with only a couple action scenes having noticeably suffered so far.
It’s a samurai show with blood and guts, what more could I ask for?
9/10 so far.
Vinland Saga: A good historical drama. You don’t see that every day. And one that maintains a degree of historical accuracy too! Sure, I can’t pretend it’s totally accurate to the period, it obviously isn’t. And the battles are standard anime exaggeration. But it manages to feel authentic despite these obvious exaggerations.
It’s a gorgeous show too. There’s CGI, but it isn’t overbearing, and the 2D animation is pretty enough to make me forget the CG even exists at times.
And the music is also fantastic, lots of piano, witch is surprising, but it fits really well.
This season only adapts part of the manga(witch I have not read), but the ending feels conclusive enough. That said, I sure would like a sequel.
9/10
Enen no Shoboutai: What is this? A shounen with good cinematography and direction? It cannot be!
What we have is a solid action show elevated by the already mentioned cinematography and direction. The animation is at times inventive and there are rarely boring shots. I’ve seen people complain about the fanservice, which is bizarre, because there isn’t almost any fanservice at all.
It’s getting another season, this one ends in a satisfying note, but it is clearly incomplete.
7/10
Babylon: MAGASEEE. It’s really good so far but the ending might be total garbage. I really want it to be good though because the main villain is fantastic.
I’m re watching Shin Sekai Yori now that I’ve gotten it on DVD and I’m noticing many things that went completely over my head the first time around.
For example, the animation is a lot more experimental than I remembered. Nearly every episode has some cool looking animation sequence.
The cinematography and background art are even prettier than I remembered as well.
I’ve also found myself caring more about the characters than when I first watched it. I guess before I was so caught up in the twists and turns that I didn’t end up caring much about the characters, but this time around certain moments hit me emotionally.
Knowing what comes also makes the already omnipresent sense of dread become almost unbearable. It’s like every action the characters make takes them closer to a horrible fate they can barely control.
Some spoilers ahead
I should note that I feel like the animation is vastly improved over the TV version I watched 7 years ago. My memories may be failing me tough.
Really fantastic anime, it’s going from a 9/10 to a 10/10 for sure.
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Next season doesn't look like much, but Babylon and Blade of the Immortal are still airing, so it'll be okay.