Forum - View topicThe List - 5 Best New Anime From Fall 2019 Season
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Charou
 Posts: 123 Location: Sydney, Australia |
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animenewsnetwork.com/preview-guide/2019/fall/fate-grand-order-absolute-demonic-front-babylonia/.151909
Well that lukewarm assessment of what many anime fans knew was going to be a superior production thanks to literal mountains of gacha cash and a heck of a lot of rabid fans sure didn't age well. This whale is mightily happy with Babylonia so far, but to be honest I am not sure it'll topple Apocrypha for me in terms of 'Fate anime I like to rewatch'. As the guys at Sakugablog put it, Babylonia is a 'no fun allowed' production. It's all very much on-point with minimal character model deviation (which I do find a bit bland thanks to Takeuchi's homogenisation), and I don't expect we'll see web-gen style sakuga blow-outs such as Fran's breakdown in episode 9 or, well, anything from episodes 22 or 24. Which is fine -- the whole idea of sakuga as 'highlights' indicates an otherwise middling product, whereas I expect Babylonia will be relatively amazing throughout. If anything, I have to keep reminding myself not to get used to it... __
A repeat/remake isn't a sequel. Almost the opposite, really, given a sequel continues a story with new content whereas a remake retells the story with existing content (give or take). I'm utterly amazed at how different the first episode of Lidenfilms' version is to Bee-train's. They're both 'faithful' takes on Samura's first volume, just from different angle. Bee-train were pretty adherent to the plotting by focussing on Manji/Machi, but Lidenfilms/Hamasaki *utterly nail* the bleak tone and make it much more about Rin rather than Manji, relegating his backstory to exposition and a little flashback. This works really well, because Rin's the one who has room to grow and change; Manji is your archetypal 'Man With No Name/Yojimbo' who handles the heroic feats...in his own way. Sadly Amazon's translators didn't bother to look at the award-winning graphic novel localisation, because in no world does 'perform, golden bugs' sound better or more 'try-hard' than 'FLIGHT OF THE GOLDEN WASPS!!!!' |
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kotomikun
Posts: 1205 |
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The only new one I've stuck with this season is Ascendance of a Bookworm. Stars Align sounds pretty good, but can't see myself buying a Funi subscription to watch a boys' tennis anime.
People can have different opinions; that whole franchise is a bit love-it-or-hate-it. Speaking of which, in my opinion, anything that starts with "Fate/" definitely does not qualify as "strictly new stuff, no sequels," so it shouldn't be on this list no matter how good it is. |
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Charou
Posts: 123 Location: Sydney, Australia |
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That's a fair point, and I genuinely feel terrible for anime fans who aren't into Fate because between Ufotable's UBW and the heaven's feel movies, Cloverworks' Babylonia and IG's upcoming Camelot adaptation. I believe they are really missing out on some of the best the medium has to offer. So all in all, we both have our quibbles with how ANN do things. Maybe it would have been a fairer assessment had it been from someone who was at least a little invested in the source, given Babylonia's existence as an anime was the result of a fan-based poll that absolutely gave zero craps for accessibility. 
But I got into Fate *for* the animation, by way of the usual gateway drug Fate/Zero, which I was told would have more context if I sat through Deen's soso series first...which I did. Questionable animation aside, I recognised it had solid writing driving it, which is a big plus for a multi-work franchise imo. So while Fate is a love-it-or-hate-it thing, it's certainly a not-going-away-in-a-hurry thing, and in this case I think it's just better to accept the sheer amount of quality anime associated with the franchise. Related to that, I recognised that SAO has some amazing animation (sasuga A-1, unironically) but when I tried to watch it the basement-tier characterisation was a huge hurdle. Not so much for the same person who dragged Babylonia through the dirt, who gave the first ep of the returning Alicization a 4.5/5. Go figure! 
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11439 |
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Or as they say, all squawk and no eggs. How about offering your own list? (inB4 "the whole season is crap") My top 5 are Ahiru no Sora - yes, pretty generic shounen sports anime, but what can I say, that's my jam Babylon - I may be the only one who loved the twist at the end of episode 3, but the whole package seems like it was made to suit me Beastars - they seem to be trying to do something a little different here, so I'm on board to see what they have in mind Blade of the Immortal - I don't have the manga to contaminate my enjoyment of it, so at face value, it's looking really good to me, plus the artstyle earns points for my nostalgia for Texhnolyze Kono Oto Tomare! - I'm pleased to see it doing so well in this poll. Still sad we never even got a chance to vote for it for the Weeklies. I also want to say that this new List format is really awkward. I hope they get some YT cash from it, but it's just weird to have it written by Lynzee and spoken by Jacki. When she says things like, "I wonder" or "like I have," who is "I"? Is this Lynzee's voice or Jacki's? Is Jacki playing the role of Lynzee Loveridge? Whose List is it now? Minor correction - the kids in Stars Align are in middle school, not high school. |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18263 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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We'll have to agree to disagree on this. I have watched nearly every single minute of Fate franchise animation to date (excepting the Prisma Illya movie, which isn't available legally in the West) and have found the franchise - even the parts you're mentioning here - to be uneven in quality.
In fairness, I might not have marked Babylonia's first episode down quite so harshly if I had been aware of episode 0 existing at the time I wrote that, but even factoring that in, the set-up is still severely lacking. Maybe if it had been pitched as "sequel to" the OVA instead of just "related to" that might have helped a bit. I am not a fan of series which aren't marked as sequels which require you to have seen previous content in order to understand them and/or have played a game and/or be aware of the backstory behind how the series came to be in order to make full sense of why it's doing what it's doing in its first episode, and this series had all three of those factors. I suspect that my overall evaluation of the series will be more positive, as I had a better reaction to episode 2. As for the SAO jab, that series did a superior job of adapting its source material with its first episode; it started off the second half better than what the novel it's drawing from did, in fact. It spun off of previous events much more coherently and told a better story than Babylonia's scattershot first episode. Hence it got graded higher. |
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ConnormonCat
Posts: 57 |
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Cool to see Stars Align getting the love!
I was afraid it was going to slip under the radar, but with that team behind it, it seems to be doing well! It's definitely my pick of the season, with a lot going on under the surface and a cast of already really fleshed out characters. I haven't felt this invested in a sports show since Ping Pong or REAL. If we can include sequels, Vinland Saga, Beastars, Blade of the Immortal and Kono Oto Tomare make up my top 5. |
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Custom Apex
Posts: 142 |
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What do you mean? Does this mean you never bother watching any Fate animated stuff that weren't released in the States? |
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Utsuro no Hako
Posts: 1042 |
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This is like complaining that Flowers of Evil doesn't have enough panty shots for an ecchi series, or that Planetes is lacking in space battles. Stars Align isn't trying to be Yowamushi Pedal or Haikyu! This is a psychological drama series that uses tennis as a backdrop. |
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DavetheUsher
 Posts: 505 |
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To be fair Flowers of Evil had panty shots and other bits in the much better received source manga. "Nakamura unf unf" and all that. 
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Emerje
 Posts: 7371 Location: Maine |
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I love a good comedy isekai series, but Cautious Hero just makes me mad. I watched shows like Wise Man's Grandchild and Isekai Cheat Magician all the way through for the "it's so bad it's good" factor (or maybe more like a train wreck), but I doubt I'll watch a third episode of Cautious Hero.
spoiler[First I found his display of power against a slime more tedious to watch than funny. Then he draws in a demon and runs away, only to find out later that he could have beat it. The demon attacks the nearby village, holds the villagers hostage and outright decapitates one villager in a very non-comedy way. The demon was then going to kill two more villagers including a little girl but were saved just in time by the "hero". Keep in mind if he had his way he wouldn't have come back until later, he only went then because the goddess convinced him to, then he would have had three deaths on him. He kills the demon and saves the village, that he himself put in danger in the first place, and then destroys the village himself anyway.] How is this supposed to be a good series? It would be one thing if his cautiousness had some sort of big payoff in the end, but it doesn't. He's just does it to save himself while other people get killed. I just can't get behind this show. By top 5 ended up being (in no particular order) My Hero Academia, Fate/GO, Kemono Michi, SAO, and Chihayafuru even though it hasn't aired yet. Honorable mention to Iruma, it was really down to that or Kemono Michi. Emerje |
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Key
Moderator
Posts: 18263 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Aside from the Prisma Illya movie, what Fate animated content hasn't been at least subbed? Just a handful of OVAs, as far as I'm aware. (And no, I'm not counting Carnival Phantasm, since it's not a pure Fate title.) And no, with rare exceptions, I don't do fansubs anymore. |
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Thespacemaster
Posts: 1127 |
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IF i had to name my top 5 non-sequel titles that aired this fall i would say its like this:
1-Welcome To Demon School 2-Beastars(Im streaming japan netflix, i read the manga so i know what they say mostly) 3-Ascendance of a Bookworm 4-Hero is Overpowered but Extremely Cautious 5-Highschool Prodigies have it Easy in another World Overall it is a bit of an unusual season for me in terms of the type of shows i like. Demon School is a refreshing colorful and comedic show, Beastars is more of a social drama about the complex of society, racism, society that is very deep, Assendance of a bookworm is more of a slow and transit type of series, that takes more time to build up its characters and world and is a slow burner but still fascinating to watch, the last two are the usual isekai series one both of which add a new twist to the formula but rather than explain it your better of to judge them yourselfs. This is probably the last season i will see so many shows in a season as of now my life is packed with a new career and new responsibilities so i no longer have that amount of freedom to see so many but will still stream and watch anime when i can, Otakuness is in my blood
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Never_Know_Best
Posts: 178 |
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Okay, I’ll come clean; I added Berserk. I think the reasoning is pretty obvious however.
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MarshalBanana
 Posts: 5417 |
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Maybe my mind will change if I watch a few more episodes, but Babylons first episode did not impress much. Sure the characters look fine and have some interesting shading, as well as some nice shots sprinkled in. But most of the time it looked awful, the environments looks like some composed a series of stock assets together. And CG cars are bad enough in any show, but they seem to be extra bad in this one. As for the animation, while I get that it is just a talking head show, it could do with some sakuga acting at the key points.
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donhumberto
Posts: 810 |
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Glad to see my top 2 picks in the top 5: Both Babylon and Blade of the immortal have been great so far and will probably make it into my year's top 5-10.
I guess I'll have to give Stars Align a shot, since I dismissed it at first thinking it would be one of those ultra boring, by-the numbers sports anime where the plot can be summarised as "boy joins x sports club and his team makes it to the nationals. The end". I've also been enjoying No guns life and the Sherlock one, but, boy do I wish they toned down the silliness . Anyways, I still can't get over the fact that Pet (which was hands down my most anticipated series of the season and of the whole year) has been delayed (and at this point I really am starting to hope that it's only a delay  . Talk about a huge disappointment...
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