2014: Various over-hyped anime series!

Image courtesy via Pixiv

This post is brought you by G-Self and Build Burning Gundam. And as you can see on the title of this post, I’m talking about some of the over-hyped anime series that were aired in 2014.

While there are some series that delivered great results, only a few met with disappointment! And so, I chose seven titles that failed to make a good impression after receiving so much hype!

06. Gundam Reconguista in G and Gundam Build Fighters Try

I’m gonna start with two Gundam series as both shows share a spot in 6th place. In G-Reco, it’s all about Yoshiyuki Tomino’s return on the franchise; for GBF Try, it’s about continuing the success from its predecessor. While some people prefer GBF Try over G-Reco, both shows didn’t impress the majority of the fans during their milestone celebration.

In Reconguista in G, there are so many things going on at a faster pace that containing it into a 26-episode anime series isn’t gonna work. However, what I like about G-Reco is that apart from having unique Mobile Suit designs, some of the characters aren’t serious warmongers (except for Cumpa Rusita and Noutu Dorette) nor whiny kids who want to get slapped by the captain of the ship. Of course, you have to have good patience if you want to finish it.

Meanwhile in Build Fighters Try, it’s trying to continue the success of its predecessor. However, it failed to capitalize the hype as while there are interesting Gunpla models shown on GBF Try (Gundam Tryon 3, Star Winning Gundam), having a 3-on-3 battle format wouldn’t work as teamwork is either rarely executed or nothing at all. The reason why it wasn’t the main focus is that combatants rely on super-powered gimmicks in order to win matches. Not only that, seems that people are getting serious on a Gundam series aimed at kids, where they want to know what happened during the seven-year gap.

In the end, I feel that both Gundam shows didn’t make a great impression to fans, especially G-Reco which it needs some love if you pay closer attention to Tomino’s latest series. After all, what’s important is that Bandai makes money on selling plastic model kits.

06. Mekaku City Actors

Moving onto Number 5 is Studio SHAFT’s anime series based on Shizen no Teki-P’s Kagerou Project. While I like having professional musicians doing Jin’s various songs (although it’s up to you whether you prefer Miku Hatsune or LiSA, Luna Haruna, any artist from Aniplex), the story flow is somewhat a mess that opinions are divided among viewers.

Long-time fans will consider this anime adaptation as non-existent. But for newcomers like me, it was a disappointment as it end up being lackluster. Sure that having the Mekakushi Gang defeated the final boss and somewhat brought Ayano back from the dead is satisfying, it doesn’t explain what happened to the rest of the gang apart from Shintaro.

In any case, it’s a disappointing adaptation and some of the viewers move onto better things like Dogakobo’s Mikagura Gakuen Kumikyoku, which is slightly better than Mekaku City Actors even though it doesn’t have music from Last Note.

04. Akame ga Kill!

Coming in at number 4 is Akame ga Kill!, which is Takahiro’s attempt on making shonen series. While it viewed as a second coming of Kill La Kill, it wasn’t meant to be.

You see, this series is more darker than Kill La Kill with character deaths happening in both sides. Speaking of characters, some of them aren’t interesting like Tatsumi, while others aren’t fully-developed at all after being slain like Chelsea, Wave, etc. Apart from character deaths, the plot is moving so fast that it caught up with the manga. And so, WHITE FOX decided to do an anime-original ending where both the Emperor and Prime Minister Honest is killed and the empire is liberated.

And honestly, I like how it turned out ’cause I’m not gonna look forward for the second season anymore. But in the end though, Kill La Kill came on top over Akame ga Kill! As for Takahiro, he has some success on Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru.

03. Aldnoah.Zero

In 3rd Place, it’s Aldnoah.Zero and I was supposed to put this show as the best Summer anime in 2014. However, it went to Hanayamata instead thanks to the second half of Gen Urobuchi’s masterpiece.

Just kidding about Gen Urobuchi as he didn’t write the rest of the series, so the script-writing went to a different person instead. Had Urobuchi-san wrote the second half of Aldnoah.Zero, the ending would look different from what we have right now.

Apart from the ending, it seems that Aldnoah.Zero only focuses on both Inaho and Slaine, leaving some characters like Inko, Rayet, Lt. Marito, and Klancain having little character development, especially the last one where he just appeared as the series draws to a close and becomes Princess Asseylum’s husband in the end. What the fuck!?

So while this mecha series have stunning visuals and epic music from Hiroyuki Sawano, the only thing that didn’t made into a great mecha series like Aldnoah.Zero is the cast of characters. Ironically, only Cross Ange managed to do that and despite having average animation and ridiculous plot, Mitsuo Fukuda and Sunrise did well on developing characters aside from the protagonist Ange.

02. Kantai Collection

Taking 2nd Place is Kantai Collection and it’s supposed to air in Summer 2014 until this anime adaptation emerged in January 8, 2015. While my first impression on KanColle was that it’s similar to Strike Witches, but it wasn’t meant to be in later episodes.

For one, I’m disappointed that an off-screen character like the admiral has become an important character, ranging from choosing Fubuki as a flagship so he could marry her afterwards to paying real money in order to win the Battle of Midway against the Abyssal Fleet. Now the admiral is supposed to represent a player of KanColle (or us, the viewers of this anime adaptation), but having little or no presence at all from beginning to end is the most disappointing part of all.

Apart from the admiral, there are things that I don’t like on this adaptation such as Fubuki being the main character despite having half-assed development due to being out-of-focus in some slice-of-life episodes, not having an explaination on Kisaragi’s resurrection as an Abyssal battleship, Ooi’s extreme clingy-ness to Kitakami, and the major ass-pull that happened on the final episode.

In the end though, Kantai Collection was just bad and fans of this series just stay away from it and pretend that Diomedia’s anime adaptation didn’t happen… until they decided to green-light Season 2 of KanColle that will air in the future!

01. Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei

And let’s wrap this post with the most over-hyped series in 2014. Rumor has it that Madhouse made Magical Warfare looked terrible, so that they could heavily promote this anime adaptation of Tsutomu Satou’s light novel series: Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei. At first, I expected that this show would be better than MahoSen, but it turns out that it was mediocre despite the constant hype on Mahouka.

First of all, I thought that Tatsuya Shiba was the most badass character in existence despite having problems on casting magic faster. But overtime however, it seems that I’ve started to dislike Tatsuya mainly because he doesn’t show emotions at all.

Oh, and he’s nigh-invulnerable as Tatsuya can survive from a gunshot wound, and he can revive fallen comrades as seen from Ep. 25 so it turned me off a bit. Also, let’s not forget Tatsuya’s biggest fan Miyuki, who praised her “Onii-sama!” very much and Miyuki is somewhat jealous when a girl approaches her brother! Honestly, I think she should have sex with “Onii-sama!” instead of denying it.

Apart from having issues with the Shiba siblings, there are many problems in Mahouka such as adding scientific jargon that you need to open up Wikipedia or Google that specific term should the former didn’t work, gaining controversies due to having right-wing views, and the progression of the story where it just moved slowly once it reached the second arc: The Nine Schools Competition. Yes, that arc is so horrible that it makes me wonder why it did exist.

One of the things I don’t like in Nine Schools Competition arc is that the enemy group called the No-Head Dragons are just sitting around and indirectly sabotage the First High School so that they can make more money by betting other schools. Apart from tampering devices and such, seems that they’re not capable of putting up a fight against Tatsuya Shiba as he destroyed the group without storming into their hideout. So in the end, they’re just fodder for the almighty “Onii-sama!”

But in any case, I have to say Mahouka is the most over-hyped series that it end up as the second worse anime series in 2014 behind Glasslip. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s another season for Mahouka ’cause it’s one of the most popular light novel series right now.

Image courtesy via Pixiv

Anyways, that’s about it for this post and I end it with a nice picture of the Shiba siblings. Congratulations for being over-hyped and shitty at the same time!

Well guys and girls, I’m out for 2014 Anime Season…