Forum - View topicThe Best Anime of Fall 2024
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Lion-kun252
Posts: 1 |
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I really do not want to poo poo peoples' opinions on different anime, believe me I am not that kind of guy and think people should like what they like, I just do not understand peoples' love of Blue Box. I'm not trying to be passive aggressive, I sincerely tried so hard to get into this anime and understand what people see in it.
It is just so aggressively vanilla, the characters are so bland and have no characteristics other than being "nice" and "hard-working". Hina is like easily the best character by extension of being the only character who actually has a pulse and that's actually a problem when she so easily overshadows the two main leads. All the tropes are played out during the development of their relationship in the most cliche ways I could predict exactly what was going to happen. Oh summer festival with Hina, let me guess he will bump into Chinatsu and they will have to help a lost child find their parents while Hina is left alone to stew with her insecurities. Yep, right on queue. Also there's just no spice to their relationship, no points of friction between their personalities, no real dramatic hooks, no real character growth because they don't really have characters. It just doesn't come off as exploring the subtleties of adolescent romances to me because I have to believe adolescent romances are a lot more interesting than this. And I speak this from a place of someone who has watched a lot of romantic comedies, harem ecchi comedies and romance anime in general. I really wanted to like this and relate to the people who gush about this story, my feelings aren't out of malice but out of genuine sincerity to understand what it is people see in this story and characters. I feel like the one guy who can only see a white dress when everyone else insists its blue. I understand that there is a place for vanilla, hell I like a few vanilla romance series albeit not being my favorite type of romance. Just from this season alone, there was 365 days to the Wedding, a similar vanilla-ish romance series that I found way more compelling in exploring adult romances with two anti-social weirdo leads who knew nothing about romance but seeing them fumble in their misunderstandings and misconceptions together was genuinely gripping and heart warming. The two leads didn't have extreme personalities and there were no big dramatic moments but it explored the subtleties of their relationship in genuinely insightful and engaging ways and it actually caught me off guard several times in the development of their relationship. I don't watch the Beastars anime but I did read the manga so I can vouch the anime's romance is probably way more interesting and gripping than Blue Box as well. Vanilla aside, this season alone we had Yakuza Fiancee, Amagami Sisters, 2.5 Dimensional Seduction, Ranma 1/2, Dandadan, hell even Arifureta (the trashy guilty pleasure of mine with the main lead having a harem of eight women) had far more compelling romantic chemistry. Just from one season ago, we had Pseudo Harem which was basically Two Teenagers with Good Romantic Chemistry the anime that was far more interesting and compelling than Blue Box. Not mentioning the heavy vanilla hitters of that season like Days with my Step Sister or Alya. Oh and if we're not going strictly vanilla, there were Spice and Wolf and Makine, they happened. And this isn't even mentioning the absolute King of Romance anime this year which was Dangers of my Heart S2. Probably top three romantic series I've ever watched and there's not a single gimmick to it, just a story of two people with very stark appearances and personalities finding points of commonality and falling in love with each other and growing from their relationship with each other. Now that's a subtle exploration of romance and I'm sorry no matter how hard I squint, I just can't find anything in Ao no Hako that could come close to holding a candle to BokuYaba. Also I am sorry to say this but this anime is absolutely, frustratingly miserable and terrible in being a sports anime. It has this problem of not being able to make up its mind on if it even wants to be a sports anime and just half asses it whenever it focuses on the badminton or basketball. I'm up to date with the anime, that's 12 episodes and I have not learned anything interesting, meaningful or insightful about badminton or basketball or rhythmic gymnastics, not the tactics or strategies people commonly use, not the feeling of the flow of the game and the back and forth dynamic between two opponents or teams, not the general ruleset of the games (I still don't know how badminton is different from tennis!) and not why the characters themselves play these games and if they find them fun at all! The sports are just a vehicle for the two main characters to interact, I have no idea if Taki or Chinatsu genuinely like their sports and if they find them fun or if they just want to get better as an excuse to be worthy towards each other. Look, I'm not asking this anime to be Slam Dunk or Haikyuu but actual effort on the sports side would be nice so when Taiki presumably finally has a big win after losing miserably twice this season, I would actually care. This post went a lot longer than I thought it was going to, well sorry for all the words, I just hope I carried across my feelings that I wrote this not out of a place of wanting to hurt other peoples' feelings, just venting my frustration that I can't see what other people see in this story, I just think there's way better romance anime just this season alone and I cannot fathom as hard as I try why Blue Box is so beloved. I really wish I did though! |
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NobaraBG
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I was also surprised Orb didn't get more love. I while I do adore all of the dorks MC's and gorgeous animation in DAN DA DAN, Orb really hits all the right notes for me. It's made me sob uncontrollably on more than one occasion. Orb is on the same level of prestige as Vinland Saga IMO. |
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staab99
 Posts: 125 |
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Edited my old post
But yes Dan Da Dan is my favorite show of Fall 2024. Last edited by staab99 on Mon Dec 23, 2024 11:14 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Hal14
 Posts: 728 Location: Heart of africa |
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Bravern is a great show but this article was for just Fall 2024 not 2024 as a whole |
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NeverConvex
 Subscriber Posts: 2584 |
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I think that's because this is just for the Fall 2024 season? Bravern got at least one (actually, 3, I think?) nomination back in the Winter 2024 'Best Of' article. |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18507 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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It's actually not that unusual for a title to be on over half of the Top 2s. YATAGARASU was picked as frequently for the Summer '24 season (7/13) and Delicious in Dungeon was also over 50% for both the Winter and Spring '24 seasons (5/9). That aside, add me to the list of those surprised by the under-representation of Orb. I can't deny that DAN DA DAN did some impressive things, but Orb was the title that blew me away this season. It's a shoe-in for my Top 5 for the year, while DDD might be a Top 10 title for me. I am, however, pleased to see multiple mentions of Magilumiere and DanMachi 5, though, which are the other titles I'd number among the season's best. |
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Iron Maw
Posts: 537 |
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I'm surprised Re:Zero wasn't higher most lists. Then again it was 3rd season of a long running show and it only had 8 episodes released without much happening in them.
Dandadan's praise is definitely deserved, quibbles aside one might have with it, the show and manga is top quality. As a manga reader who has caught up with everything its best newgen shounen I've read by a country mile and just keeps get even better. S1 was just the warm up, next arc is alone blows away anything that came beforehand. |
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NeverConvex
Subscriber Posts: 2584 |
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Yeah, I think it cutting off before things really seemed ready to heat up kind of undercut its performance. |
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Iron Maw
Posts: 537 |
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I was initial excited about the format until I saw how the production would break up the 42 episodes S3 would have. At least the turn around will be quick and the later half will definitely be more interesting from what I remember in books |
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Shay Guy
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Yeah, I feel you. I'm still following the manga on the Shonen Jump app, but it's not at all one of the ones I'm most engaged in. Hell, I usually prioritize Me & Roboco over Blue Box. I get the sense Taiki and Chinatsu are both meant to embody a sort of ideal of shonen-sports-manga virtue, and the appeal is in that "purity" of these unfailingly diligent paragons inspiring innocently blushy feelings in each other. Which I guess inspires a lot of nostalgic appeal in people, the way something like Akebi's Sailor Uniform or whatever does -- and that's never been the sort of thing that appealed to me so much. Partly because my own ~seishun~ period sucked (Blue Box drinking game: take a sip whenever someone uses that word), and I've never been that keen on narratives that either try to appeal to an imagined rosy past or suggest that I would've been happier if only I'd been more virtuous. As you might guess, I find the view of adolescence in Dandadan a lot more fun, where everybody's lovingly portrayed as some form of idiot, all bouncing off each other. Momo's probably the smartest, going by her combat acumen, and she's still a coarse, aggressive loudmouth who freaks out whenever she's reminded what Okarun's name is. And Ranma, of course -- it's precisely their lack of emotional intelligence and honesty that made Ranma and Akane one of the all-time great anime teen couples. (Antanante gets it.) It's something most creators of "tsundere" characters since have failed to recapture, because they focused on the girl in isolation, not the relationship. And while I'm not as huge a fan of BokuYaba as some, I do like it a lot -- and I get why it doesn't scratch the "pure love" itch Blue Box does, because it is very much about awkward horniness and fumbling for identity. (Stepping away from both romance and manga with anime adaptations for a moment, RuriDragon is also a top-notch portrayal of adolescence -- and it relies on a very non-idealized, naturalistic portrayal of awkward, sometimes even sullen moodiness. Not that it's not "nice" in its own way; there's no real jerks in the cast.) …You know, I think the closest thing I can think of to Blue Box's appeal might be The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten. Except there it's about the miracle of a deeply depressed male viewpoint character bonding with the "perfect" girl, not the "ideal" sports-manga couple seen as a pair. |
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dmanatunga
Posts: 80 |
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You aren't the only one. From all the hype I was happy to have a chance at a good romance again, but I just could not connect with it. So just went back and watched Toradora to get my fix instead. Dandadan and Orb were my go tos. Dandadan enjoyed the animation as manga reader, but looked forward most to Orb since didn't know what would happen. Also need to finish Sengoku Youko. As a lover the manga, wasn't ecstatic with the adaptation, but happy it was not a Lucifer situation. But I really hope that Spirit Circle gets adapted and that the studio really does it justice. |
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joemuszynski
Posts: 59 |
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A really strong season of one of the all time best. Natsume, that is!
Last edited by joemuszynski on Tue Dec 24, 2024 6:50 am; edited 1 time in total |
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staab99
Posts: 125 |
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I made a huge mistake and completely misread the title! Lol This issue what happens when you are on vacation and barely read the articles title I will delete my message, please disregard my comment. |
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pi8you
 Posts: 197 Location: Minneapolis |
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The best anime this season was DAN DA DAN, hands down, followed by Sengoku Youko and Orb.
My favorite anime to anticipate and tune into each week, however, were Dragon Ball DAIMA, Demon Lord 2099, Negative Positive Angler, Magilumiere, Yakuza Fiance, Shangri-La Frontier, Ranma, and, somehow, Let This Grieving Soul Retire. |
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kgw
 Posts: 1201 Location: Spain, EU |
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I'd like to say Dandadan it's my favourite, but, when you're reading the manga week by week it's a bit tiring watching all over again (that's why I read, but do not watch Blue Box or Magilumiere*). So I guess Ranma is my comfort anime, probably due to nostalgic reasons. Also, surprised by Yakuza Fiancee; it's not far from the clichés of romcoms, but the idea that you can have characters in a sentimental relationship who are not bumbling idiots who can't think straight for five seconds** is refreshing. Oh, they sometimes are way worse and dangerous than idiots, but that's refreshing, at least.
* being in Amazon is another reason. ** that's why I like Blue Box, the manga. No misunderstandings for five chapters or a whole season.*** *** Dandandan's are adorable idiots who fight aliens/yokai, there is a difference here. |
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