First Thoughts on the Summer 2014 Anime Season


Of the few titles that catch my attention this season only a few stand out thus far. These are my initial thoughts of the first episode for each title.

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Akame ga Kill!
This is one of the few titles that’s been hyped ad nauseam for the past few months – a surefire hit. I don’t know if I like it honestly. It delivers mostly on shock value and fan-service, and the art was all around a serious let down. Some scenes looked as if the animators had spent more time on them than others (the gorier ones at that), leaving behind extremely average animation throughout. It suffered from the fact that instead of showing us the story, they just explained it all outright. But as it stands the plot seems like it can carry its own weight, despite the gore and ample fan-servicing. The anime revolves around a group of high-level assassins taking down extremely criminalistic individuals.
I’ll probably give the anime 2 more episodes to keep my interest.

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Aldnoah.Zero
This was perhaps my most anticipated series of the batch this season, and I wasn’t let down. The first episode showed a ton of promise, introducing us to a parallel universe where, in 1972, Apollo 17 lands on the moon and finds a special gateway to Mars. The humans who colonize Mars find immeasurable and ancient power and begin to detest the humans on Earth. Crazy advances ensue and war begins. This is a mecha anime, taking a lot of influence from previous series, but not shying away from the comparison and embracing it. The art was beautiful throughout, the characters believable, and the plot engaging. From the creators of Gargantia, I’m sure this will be one of the highlights this year.
I will most likely see this through to the end.

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Glasslip
First things first, the art is truly astoundingly done. I’m usually not partial to slice of life animes, but I do look forward to seeing this one through. From the creators of Nagi no Asukara, it’s gorgeous. The characters all kind of blended together though, and the plot was hard to follow however. In the end, despite the fireworks and the beauty of it all, it just ended up being a bit boring.
I hope to get through this anime, so I’ll give it up to episode 5 to win me over.

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Rail Wars!
Fan-service and train engineers. That’s all you need to know really. It was a particularly forgettable experience, in which we watch a handful of protagonists get through school to become engineers. I’m assuming they’ll race the trains and stuff.
1 more episode – maybe 2.

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Sailor Moon Crystal
Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon is back for a 20th anniversary edition. This time around the art harkens back to the original manga instead of the classic anime series, which is a bit off putting at first, but you get used to it. Anime styles HAVE changed drastically over the years. I find Usagi’s voice irritable to say the least… But it’s Sailor Moon! Despite the extreme levels of campy storyline, and… uhh “Moon Prism Power Make Up”, I’ll watch this merely for the nostalgia of being a 90s kid. This episode does well to recapture the feel of the classic series for a new generation of kids.
I plan to watch through this anime.

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Sword Art Online II
SAO is back! To some that means extreme fangirling. To others that simply means sighing, groaning, and finding every excuse to explain why SAO is overrated. This is entirely a setup episode, meant to build up to Kirito’s venture into the new VRMMORPG, Gun Gale Online. The artwork is consistent, if not more visually appealing than the first season, and the plot (as it stands for this season) doesn’t have any plot holes that I can see (yet). Interesting foe with a terrible name, Death Gun is a formidable foe. Looking forward to seeing more of this new MMO.
As it is SAO, a generally polarizing anime in regards it’s fans, I plan to watch it all obviously. Unless it gets absolutely terrible.

3 thoughts on “First Thoughts on the Summer 2014 Anime Season

  1. I watched the first episode of Sailor moon crystal and i was definitely taken aback as usagi’s hair is much lighter then the original series. Sort of weird thing to notice but I got used to it. Still haven’t gotten around to watching the first episode of sword art online II. I am looking forward to it 🙂

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