Anime of the Season

Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni- Iyashikei 'easy-mode' isekai series.  An early example of the type that was a bit too light.

Fate Apocrypha- @kivandopulus  This is not a sequel but rather an alternate world with a completely different set of characters and on a timeline that diverged around WWII.  Unlike other Fate series, the war is a larger-scale one between two sets of seven Servants, and the resulting battles and stories are of a much larger scale.  This series is also known for having some of the best battle scenes in anime, so it isn't something that should be dismissed outright, even if you don't like Fate.

Knight's & Magic- This was my first experience with the maker/fighter type isekai reincarnation.  This type of protagonist started to appear more in the last five years or so, and a lot of the web novels and light novels of the type are pretty good.  This one in particular is a fun watch, as the battles remind me of Escaflowne if they had a mech-obsessed Earthling redesigning them from scratch.

Isekai Shokudou- A mostly 'stand-alone episode' series about a cafeteria connected to an isekai.  It is basically iyashikei and little else, but it is fine if you want a break from heavy stories and don't necessarily want girl meets boy.

Youkai Apartment- Another slice-of-life series, it was one of the few I actually enjoyed in the last ten years.  The jokes are pretty old and the story isn't anything to write home about, but I enjoyed it anyway.

No Game No Life Zero- @kivandopulus Umm... your misunderstanding is pretty obvious here.  This is a prequel to No Game No Life, covering the mythological age before the world became Disbordia under Tet.  I need to note here that the translation/localization (all of them) for this movie is abominable.  I actually just recommend watching it without subs, because the subtitles will only confuse you.  Somehow, they managed to mess up EVERY SINGLE IMPORTANT LINE IN EVERY SCENE of this movie.  I was really amazed that it was still possible to mess up a localization this bad in modern times.  It made me nostalgic for the pre-crunchyroll age, when if someone put out bad subs, someone would come along behind them and fix them.  The dubs are even worse, since they also mess up all the most important scenes, making it incomprehensible.  On the other hand, the animation, the story, the characters and the voice-acting for this movie are all top-class (in Japanese).  I don't know how many times I've rewatched this movie, crying every time.

 

 

Side stories with many of the same characters are also sequels to the series in broader sense to me. I choose to dismiss it outright, because series often put severe limitations on authors. It's ok when only world setting is given with freedom of story like WH40K, but Fate series as well as Gundam limits the plot concept and conflict with only small side-tracking available. It has to be Holy Grail war of up to 12 servants, and can't fix that by altering timeline. All that clinging to some franchise is even worse than ongoings that just continue same story. I value original stories, not repeated interpretations with alterations. I'd like to see more finished stories and more authors rather than stimulating fanservice works of same creators who can't go on since there's no motivation for that.

When I see prequel, I expect at the very least to learn how protagonists got acquainted. We never learn that for Sora and Shiro. We learn nothing that characters would have recollections of. I choose to call something that has no real connection to main series alternative dimension for simplification as calling it mythological age does not add relevance for the original series story compared to complete alternative dimension. It could have been a meaningful prequel, but it's instead meaningless prequel with redundant information about the worldbuilding instead of protagonists. Movie is impressive and deserves a masterpiece status if treated as stand-alone product or if there was a sequel to the series. But in current situation when movie is issued only after 3 years and today after 10 years since release there's still nothing else, the whole situation with the movie looks like mockery to me who watched it for the first time now. Unreasonable, perhaps, but situation is too infuriating after we've seen the fate of Berserk.

Edited January 4 by kivandopulus

2 hours ago, kivandopulus said:

Side stories with many of the same characters are also sequels to the series in broader sense to me. I choose to dismiss it outright, because series often put severe limitations on authors. It's ok when only world setting is given with freedom of story like WH40K, but Fate series as well as Gundam limits the plot concept and conflict with only small side-tracking available. It has to be Holy Grail war of up to 12 servants, and can't fix that by altering timeline. All that clinging to some franchise is even worse than ongoings that just continue same story. I value original stories, not repeated interpretations with alterations. I'd like to see more finished stories and more authors rather than stimulating fanservice works of same creators who can't go on since there's no motivation for that.

 

It would be fine to state that... if you had actually watched that anime.  While I'll be the first to admit that reusing the same universe/multiverse places constraints on the writers/creators in question, there are plenty of times where a sequel surpasses the original in some aspects.  In this case, the only repeated characters from previous entries are ones who only make cameo appearances.  All the main characters are unique to this particular plotline... and the fact that you didn't even notice this tells me you are basically looking at the Fate name and saying 'oh, it's Fate, so I'm going to bash it for being Fate'.

Honestly speaking I didn't care for Fate franchise enough to getting mad over someone else criticizing it, but to each of their own when it come to it. Let me comment in regard of Summer 2017 anime here.

NGNL movie - Apparently the reason on why there's no second season is because Madhouse staffs do their job too well, so much the staffs afraid the second season won't satisfy the fans if the studio can't get ahold the anime staff for the first season, although that reasoning is just being conjecture. Anyway, the movie is about Sora and Shiro ancestor in the world before Ted enforce the rule where all conflict must be resolved through the game, so naturally there'll be some good war scene in there.

Princess Principal - It's CGDCT anime with the cute things those girls do are doing the spy mission and helping their friend to ascend the throne (One of the girls is the princess who is fourth in line for the throne) in Alternative Universe of England. That aside, it's more or less the anime about spy with England divided into two factions (Kingdom and Commonwealth) with the girls working for Commonwealth faction. The staffs did air the episode out of order just like Haruhi, so you need the guide to watch the episode in right order. It has second season which prove this series is quite popular, although it's available in form of six movies with only three out of six movies are available as of now.

Hina Logi - It's like GL spinoff such as Soul Eater Not, To Aru Railgun, or Hidan no Aria AA, and what I can guarantee is there won't be male MC from the main series or even the heroines (So no case like Touma in Railgun or Aria in AA). For Hina Logi (And also the main series Luck and Logic), it was made as the promotion for new card game, and it share the lore from the card game.

Classroom of the Elite - Ayanokouji is definitely can be said as someone who willing to do anything in order to raise from the bottom, something that Kinugasa like to write back when he's focused with writing Kaito in Akagoei trilogy. Yes, the original material of this was written by Kinugasa, and at least he can use the excuse that the novel is still ongoing in case he need to end one volume in unsatisfying manner just like his usual VNs. By the way, conveniently it has the third season in Winter 2024, so at least Kinugasa is quite successful with this. Oh yes, the premise is more or less like Assassination Classroom with the focus is on the students who dumped into the lowest hierarchy, although of course Kinugasa didn't write the alien character as the the stand in for Koro-sensei.

Made in Abyss - It has cute drawing with some of frightening contents (Of which there'll be a lot) which to say is quite contrast, and such formula manage to attract a number of audience.

Isekai Smartphone - I did watch this on Youtube, and let's just say that it might be work as the anime that you watch in the boredom, which of course turned out to be quite successful so much that it has second season. Story wise, it's more or less the author wish fulfillment with Touya is blessed by the God, and can bring smartphone which can connect to the previous world network. Not that I can calling out anyone else who liking it, seeing that one of the anime that I'll watch is very similar with this (9999 Tank) only with the MC is not from another world.

Isekai Restaurant - It's about the chef who has his restaurant can be connected to the other world every Saturday, and each of otherworld people will do whatever they want to enjoy the food at the restaurant. The anime is pretty much episodic with the goal to show delicious food the customer and audience, so you can enjoy this without the worry of the epic plot (Unless you want to make a fanfic on how the door to the restaurant can trigger great war with a lot of casualty). Again, it's quite successful in Japan because of the very light story, so it has second season as well.

That's all for what I can write in regard of Summer 2017 anime here.

Edited February 3 by littleshogun