Very happy to see a good example of the well-worn angel-on-Earth trope that actually does something interesting. While our main character Gabriel isn’t that special on her own (angel who decides that indulging in human otaku culture is better than being an angel), the people she surrounds herself with (manipulative angels and kind demons and wannabes) make this read as sort of a comedy version of Hataraku Maou-sama! (The Devil is a Part-Timer!).
2016 was actually a decent year to be a Diomedea fan, assuming you got the point of Mayoiga (The Lost Village), and Girlish Number was definitely one of the most promising entries at the beginning of the season. While it dipped for a little bit, I’m happy to say it managed to stick the landing.
I’ll admit to being a sucker for certain elements of this show, like having an initially unlikeable protagonist or having a dance party ending, but Girlish Number’s rather frank look at the world of Japanese voice actresses and how/why they come to be famous definitely took a lot of people in from the beginning. This is a show that starts with the protagonist annoyed because she’s on stage and someone else said what she wanted to say, and that first impression is an accurate one. Karasuma Chitose is one of my favorite heroines of the year because she really isn’t a heroine; she spends a lot of the show totally full of herself and it’s nice to watch her naturally come across comeuppance for her terrible personality rather than having the whole world crash down on her at once. Even more satisfying is seeing her come to a plausible realization of how conceited she’s been the entire time and decide that she can turn her conceit around into real determination and lead her (more experienced) friends just with her attitude. It wasn’t the best show of the season but I didn’t actually finish many, and this one I made it through to the end with a smile. 7/10
This was a show that a lot of people were really hyped up for before the season started, and there were good reasons to have high expectations of it. The combination of a great writer/production team and really excellent art direction is enough to win anybody over for at least a few episodes. Unfortunately, half of that crumbled when the show was halfway done, and dear lord does it show.
The show starts out compellingly, if a little episodic, telling a sweet and somewhat bait-y story about two girls adventuring in a different dimension to collect orbs that will grant a wish. The subtext is really what counts here, though, because it was strongly implied that the main characters were growing to be more than friends and that their character development would ultimately become important to the conclusion. Instead, the story suddenly kicks in and gives the audience all kinds of predictable standard nonsense, straying far, far from where it started, until the final episode became an incomprehensible mess as the animation took a nosedive. (If I seem bitter about it, this was also my attitude about last year’s Comet Lucifer, another show that could have been better but was utterly ruined by its ending.)
If you can appreciate a show entirely based upon its pretty looks (see also: Myriad Colors Phantom World, Sword Art Online) even if its production doesn’t stand up to analysis, I guess you might like Flip Flappers. Otherwise, it will prove to have not been worth your time.
This is about as well-executed as a single-season Wagnaria could be. The original had three seasons to work with, so even though it could have been resolved in one as this was (even though the manga wasn’t finished) we ended up getting more time to invest in the characters and their relationships. While this made things drag on (especially in the second season), it resulted in a third season that hit a lot of high notes while maintaining the absurdist comedy tone of the rest of the show. WWW.Wagnaria didn’t feel the need to build up and stretch out as much, but as a result is paced much more suitably than its parent show.
I actually found the main relationship between Higashida and Miyakoshi quite a bit more compelling than that of Takanashi and Inami from the parent show, mostly because Miyakoshi comes off as a lot more relatable (and unlike Inami, her major character flaw – her dimwittedness – wouldn’t plausibly get her fired, since we establish that Miyakoshi is very good at her job and at serving the customers) and also because the main character isn’t quite as thick-skulled as Takanashi (because I’ll admit that characters who don’t realize their feelings are one of my least favorite anime tropes and we see them constantly). These two pair up fairly early on in the most hilarious way possible and I found them endearing together the whole way through.
The beta relationships weren’t quite as strong, mostly because a lot of the cast are fairly two-dimensional (which I’m not necessarily complaining about, because time developing them further would be time taken away from the parts of the show that worked well, but some of the romantic setups have somewhat unfortunate implications), but this is the kind of show where you can tell exactly who ends up with who just by watching the first episode.
Altogether, it’s a strong work on its own with a commendably decisive ending, and while it never quite reaches the highs of the third season of its predecessor, I would consider it stronger than the first two. If you enjoyed Wagnaria even slightly, you’ll find a lot to like here.
I usually decide not to watch the final two episodes of a show until they’re both out. Penultimate episodes tend to have really big cliffhangers to make you desperate for the last part of the story, some kind of big final conflict to drive you crazy with desperation for the resolution. I’m really, really glad to have done so for this one because I would have probably been livid for the whole week. I’ve seen a lot of queer media recently where things ended tragically for the couple in question, and it’s incredibly relieving to see a story where things might work out for the better.
My rating for this show isn’t just because it became a defining male queer anime that actually progressed a relationship instead of constantly teasing them, though. I firmly believe Yuri on Ice!!! to be the show that held up the best by far from week to week as other shows (particularly Flip Flappers and 3-Gatsu no Lion) hit stumbling marks, though Lion has the opportunity to rebound in its second cour. The show kept me utterly enthralled even as it stumbled in production value by making recycled animation count as best as it possibly could, with all of it meaning something different each time we saw it. The tension of watching the skating tournament and the one-sided frenemy relationship between the two title characters grow into mutual respect, as well as absolutely masterful emotional beats that made it difficult to look away.
There were a few issues that can’t be understated, like the plummet of the production values as the series passes, and the two-dimensional nature of certain underdeveloped characters in the Finals, as well as the climax of the final episode happening too soon, but I found myself very, very easily able to overlook them because they are very minor in relation to the immense highs (and the amount of times I cried).
10/10.
Most likely my Show of the Year as well, since the only shows that came close for me were Haikyu!! and Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju.
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