Forum - View topicThe Best and Worst Anime of Fall 2023
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JustMonika
Posts: 1167 |
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Best for me:
A Girl and Her Guard Dog Girlfriend, Girlfriend S2 The 100 Girlfriends Who Really x5 Love You Spy X Family S2 Our Dating Story: The Experienced You and Inexperienced Me Shy 16bit Sensation: Another Layer The Idolmaster: Million Live! Worst: JJK S2 Still need to watch: Butareba The Apothecary Diaries Frieren: Beyond Journeys End Shangri-La Frontier I Will Survive Using Potions Last edited by JustMonika on Sat Dec 23, 2023 3:00 pm; edited 3 times in total |
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killjoy_the
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This season was a little weird to me because it kind of all fell within expectations, there's usually at least some surprise.
Stuff I had read the source Frieren had an amazing start and some brilliant episodes, and doesn't have very good action arcs and slowly loses itself in its own cast of characters instead of focusing on the iyashikei nostalgia it does so well. My original thoughts when I read the manga back in September still perfectly line up, though the production elevates it enough that I'd consider the anime better than the manga (the post is in PT and has some very slight spoilers if you care) https://i.imgur.com/2t2afqZ.png. Best of the season for sure Apothecary Diaries is as 'just ok' as the novel was. I feel like it eventually leads to some better payoff, but the anime won't get there with its current pace. The production is pretty, but I feel like it should've worked on the pacing instead. My original thoughts on the first LN https://anilist.co/activity/402960695 Love with the Villainess wasn't as fun as the first novel was, but given it only adapted that and not up to the second volume, which is what I feel made this series special, there wasn't too much they could do to make it better I guess other than being a bit too liberal in the adaptation and changing things. Still, the novel was a little better, I feel. My original thoughts on it https://anilist.co/activity/323141865 Sequels Paladin is just as nice as it was before. Nothing too special, but the character writing somewhat consistently surprises in just being not cliché Dead Mount just exacerbated the problems that the first cour had (feeling focusless) and stopped focusing on the good (Misaki's character being a lot more nuanced than the average Narita girl). Couldn't keep watching, and ended up being my only drop of the season. Worst of the season if we're counting drops JJK S2 is better than the first season, but that's because I didn't like the first season. I liked the movie, and it's not as good as that - the Shibuya arc just starts way too slow, and even though it picks up near the end I feel like it wasted our times a bit too much New stuff Undead Unluck is really inconsistent, but it feels good seeing this production on something where the writing isn't as bad as Fire Force's (though it tries sometimes). The world is a lot more interesting than the average shounen I feel, while I'm not as much of a fan of the characters. If we're not counting drops for worst, then it's actually a three-way tie between this, Paladin and Apothecary, but I'm still kinda positive on all of them |
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Hiroki not Takuya
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Rebecca's thumbnail for "worst" perfectly conveys the reaction to Guard Dog... BLECH! But I'd keep my mouth tightly closed if I were that gurl, that tongue is too close...
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Hiroki not Takuya
Posts: 2691 |
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To say Shield Hero S3 was the Worst seems a little unfair because there were definitely worse that aired, like Buteraba. Mind you, the latter had a great concept but was so poorly adapted and the LN so thin in material that it came our the worse for it. One point for trying?
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WizardOfOss
 Posts: 97 Location: Oss, Netherlands |
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I'm still far behind with many shows as a result of a three week holiday to Japan, and because of that also dropped a bit more than I usually do.
Best is a battle between Frieren and Pluto. Can't decide yet, as one is still ongoing and the other I have yet to finish. But I can't imagine anything coming close to these two, not even AoT. And great to see some love here for Overtake!, but as much as I enjoyed it, it's just not at this level. Worst will surely be MF Ghost, had this not been about cars I 100% would have dropped this. The protagonist might be the worst Gary Stu in anime history, the girl apparently became an Angel without having the tiniest clue about their role (and not even got a hint from the outfit she's wearing), and the racing only pretends to be realistic but is absolutely not. And even worse than that: Most of it is utterly boring. It's absolutely baffling to me that MFG scores (slightly) higher on MAL than Overtake. That's like a Porsche 718 beating a 911 GT3 RS....oh wait 
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tintor2
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Guess Frieren really stole it. It felt to me like what To Your Eternity should have been in regards to themes and production values. Already Himmel's death in the first episode was sad as heck as it wasn't a single violent scene but instead a natural death which actually left a major impact in the narrative as it made Frieren realize the fragile human life. The next episodes were amazing thanks to its mix of action and slice of life moments. One thing, never marathon the series cos the flashbacks become more obvious than the ones from LOST. Frieren taking Fern and Stark was also a neat accomplishment considering how nice are their episodes but we have yet to see Sein's episodes.
Close I guess this season has been Spy X Family, but I wonder if wear nostalgia glasses for Captain Tsubasa. I also enjoyed Goblin Slayer but some excessive fanservice felt like the season was turning into an isekai (is the girl really called cow girl?!) About Jujutsu Kaisen there are things that bothered me besides Nobara's death. What's with the fake villain twist? How did Not Geto stole a body between the movie and first season? Why does Gojo gotta get sealed? He was the one of the funniest characters in the entire series. Then we have padding in fight scenes that don't add anything to the characters like Choso vs not Geto from yesterday. |
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Sekaro
Posts: 395 |
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If Gojo wasnt sealed, the arc would have been finished in less than a few episodes. The whole point of taking out an overpowered good guy character out of the equation is to create higher tension in its conflict. I thought that was pretty obvious. It also highlights the issues regarding Jujutsu society as a whole as everyone is becoming too complacent now as evident by the fact that they are ok with letting Gojo do all the heavy lifting, not knowing of the looming danger that came as a result of that. I agree that Choso vs Not Geto felt like padding but it was still a pretty cool & well animated fight so i'm willing to overlook the padding. |
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Greed1914
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If I had to pick a single best show of the season, then it's Frieren. That one came out strong and never really let go of the position. However, I think 100 Girlfriends deserves some special mention, which it did get in the article. I'm not going to tell you that a harem anime is going to be a genuine contender for anime of the year, but if you're a fan of the genre, this one is doing some unconventional things that make it stick out.
I have to agree with putting JJK as a most disappointing title. It didn't do anything that I would call particularly bad, and some of it is downright understandable with how things are going at MAPPA. The disappointing aspect to me is how much the Shibuya Arc does without giving chances for it to breathe and have weight. Big spectacle fights become almost forgettable when EVEN BIGGER spectacle fights immediately follow. Deaths of fan favorite characters get followed up by deaths of more fan favorite characters. It feels like the author had all these ideas, but couldn't decide where to put them, and so they ended up crammed into one arc. |
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Glordit
 Posts: 688 |
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e: oops! I didn't read the title.
Fall favorites: Dekoboko Majo no Oyako Jijou DR. STONE Kusuriya no Hitorigoto Sousou no Frieren Shangri-La Frontier Kamierabi Kimi no Koto ga Dai Dai Dai Dai Daisuki na 100-nin no Kanojo Megumi no Daigo: Kyuukoku no Orange Migi to Dali MF Ghost Overtake PLUTO Ragna Crimson Tearmoon Teikoku Monogatari: Dantoudai kara Hajimaru, Hime no Tensei Gyakuten Story UNDER NINJA Buta no Liver wa Kanetsu Shiro Didn't really have that many I found boring: Hoshikuzu Telepath Kawagoe Boys Sing Comments: Shield Hero 3 and Goblin Slayer 2 didn't make any of the lists because, I was constantly back and forth with how I felt about it. Sometimes it was fun, others it felt like it was getting stale and they needed a reason to push the story along more. I don't find Hikikomari Kyuuketsuki no Monmon boring but it too seems to flip flop between themes too often at times. Butareba delved into some grim things later on but Project no.9 could not keep up with the schedule and the animation tended to tank hard in last few episodes, though I still am enjoying it. Mig & Dali, UNDER NINJA and Ragna Crimson is absolutely wild, stupid and fun and I loved every second of it. I think a lot of people looked over Kamierabi since it was CG, it had a rough start it started to develope quite an interesting story. Bullbuster also didn't make the list, I will however say it was an enjoyable show for those who perfer stories about workplaces. There's obviously a lot more but I'd be typing for days. TL;DR Fall 2023 was very enjoyable, it had a lot of surprises. Last edited by Glordit on Fri Dec 22, 2023 11:38 am; edited 6 times in total |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18498 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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^
Glordit, that would be a list for the whole year. We're just talking about the Fall season here. With as packed a season as this was, the diversity of these lists was expected. Guess I've missed the boat on Scott Pilgrim (not at all familiar with and previous iteration of it) and am still left wondering how deep one has to get into 100 Girlfriends Who Really x5 Love You in order to start finding it so great; the three episodes I watched didn't overly impress me, and I've been watching harem anime since the early Tenchi Muyo! days. Still, people had talked about those two enough that seeing them pop up wasn't a surprise. Overtake! making an appearance really caught me off guard, though. That made so little initial impression on me that I almost forgot it was airing this season. Frieren is my #1 pick for the season, and for pretty much the same reasons that Ricard and Gunawon state. (I also agree with Lynzee that Frieren herself can take a while to warm up to, but that makes her all the more satisfying a character in the long run.) I could also see reasonable arguments for any of Pluto, The Apothecary Diaries, The Ancient Magus' Bride s2p2 and maybe the AoT finale. The Eminence in Shadow s2 is good enough to be runner-up in most other seasons, but it just has too much competition this season.
I wholly agree that there were way worse shows this season than Shield Hero s3 (I'd classify it as mediocre, not bad), but I wouldn't put Buteraba among them. (I have found that one to be much more intriguing in the long run.) No, labeling anything other than The Kingdom of Ruin or A Girl and Her Guard Dog as the worst of the season is dong a disservice to the rest of the season's roster. (I could maybe see an argument for Berserk of Gluttony, too, since that's such a horrible adaptation of its source material; that would definitely be my Most Disappointing pick.) |
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Glordit
Posts: 688 |
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My bad! I got excited thinking it was the EoY version. |
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Gnarth
Posts: 175 |
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Frieren eats all the competition this season. A stunning, smart, poignant, poetic, reflective, emotional masterpiece crowded with some of the best animation I've seen in recent years. Honorable mentions for Ancient Magus Bride and Apothecary Diaries, loved the first and loving the second. Really liked the AoT finale, but it doesn't really feel right to compare it to the rest for obvious reasons.
Worst is probably Kingdoms of Ruin that squashed every bit of promise it could ever have, and I agree with who called Jujutsu Kaisen the most disappointing. Not bad, but so much wasted potential. Last edited by Gnarth on Fri Dec 22, 2023 11:24 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Minos_Kurumada
Posts: 1192 |
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At a conceptual level, there is nothing wrong with JJKS2.
The problem is that... its season 2, I feel we are missing 2 seasons of content to make me care about everything that's going on. The fact that the show tried to use not one but 2 last minute flashbacks in order to make me care about the demise of one of the 3 main characters and still fail speaks by itself. |
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Oggers
 Posts: 378 Location: Ontario, Canada |
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Best for me would be a tie between Frieren and Scott Pilgrim Takes Off. Like everyone else, I was caught off guard when it was revealed that the latter wouldn't be a straightforward adaptation of the original comics, but what we did get is just as enjoyable if not more so. It was great to see different takes on the characters this time around, and O'Malley's character designs translate extremely well to Science SARU's animation.
Runner-ups would be The Apothecary Diaries and Pluto, though that's mainly because I'm behind on both of them. No worst, since as I've mentioned, I don't watch anime I know I won't like and I'm not big on hatewatching in general. |
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flamemasterelan
Posts: 497 |
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So, an interesting little note about this is that it reminds me of when Nintendo was promoting Twilight Princess and they kept calling Link a "cowboy" in this game. In the interviews that followed, Aonuma and Miyamoto had to clarify that the Japanese understanding of a cowboy (or cowgirl , in this case) doesn't actually match up to the American one, and they basically think it refers to someone who works on a farm or ranch. |
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