Clephas
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Kyoukai no Kanata- Urban fantasy with some good action and weird characters.
Log Horizon- Trapped in an MMO. Protagonist is high-quality, interesting character dynamics.
Yuusha ni Narenakatta- Similar to Hataraku Maou
Strike the Blood- Basically a vampire version of To Aru
Tokyo Ravens- Onmyouji action in an alternate version of Japan.
Nounai Sentakushi- Comedy series that is pretty ridiculous and ecchi.
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Hoozuki no Reitetsu- really the only notable anime from this season. A funny series that delves into the underworld of Buddhist myth (mostly Japanese with some Chinese influences) in a humorous manner with the main character being the cold-blooded oni, Hoozuki, who is the personal assistant to King Enma.
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Kamisama no Inai Nichiyoubi- ... seriously, you thought it was nothing but sol after the intro? *sighs* you obviously didn't watch more than the first four episodes kvan. This series is basically a 'naki' type meant to create catharsis through the characters' experiences in the post-apocalyptic world, while slowly coming to certain realizations about the true nature of the world as it has become.
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Seishun Love come- Great rom-com series that was incredibly popular at the time.
Hataraku Maou- While this series is dated nowadays and it shows in the boring second season, it was still a good comedy fantasy at the time.
Suisei no Gargantia- Starts out as a mecha sci-fi in an obviously dystopian future before making its way to a submerged version of earth plagued by the same aliens the protagonist was fighting in space. Generally an interesting story where the protagonist slowly starts to gain humanity as he deals with the survivors of Earth's fall and the legacy of the ancestors.
Mushibugyou- Shounen fantasy about a world where hyperevolved insects are fighting a war against the shogunate. Great action, decent story, ends without a conclusion.
Crime Edge- Mystery/fantasy based in the modern age where psycopaths' artifacts both alter the minds of their descendants and grant them power. Interesting but the series ended without the main story going anywhere.
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Mondaiji-tachi- Interesting isekai fantasy that never got a second season, sadly.
Maoyuu- This fantasy series is one of my all-time favorites. There are a number of reasons, from the stylistic choices, to the characters, and certain key points in the series that made me cry or proud of the characters. Considering that it is only twelve episodes long, it is stunning how much content made it in.
Zettai Karen Children The Unlimited- Even if you didn't like the original series, this prequel/gaiden is awesome to watch. Great esper action with a much darker atmosphere than the original series.
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Most memorable for me was Zetsuen no Tempest. The complicated relationships between the characters and the sheer drama and scale of the story made it an awesome read.
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Kingdom- First steps of the journey of Qin Shi Huang and his future general. Generally speaking, good action, excellent story
SAO- SAO's first season is considered to be the best for a reason...
Dog Days- Child-oriented isekai sports.
Oda Nobuna- Koihime Musou-style protagonist goes back to a point in history. Pretty standard issue stuff from a VN perspective, the only unusual part being that it is an anime.
Campione- Ecchi-heavy fantasy in modern times
Dakara ore wa H dekinai- Low-quality ecchi fantasy comedy.
Hagure Yuusha- Heavy on the ecchi and action, story goes unfinished and unexplained. Similar to Ikki Tousen and Queen's Blade in that nudity occurs at random times for no particular reason.
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High School DxD- Pretty famous ecchi anime series that even had several doujin eroge made about it. Has surprisingly good action for a harem-ecchi fantasy.
Papa no Iukoto- Good anime about a guy who takes in his cousins after their parents die. Lots of emotional moments.
Mouretsu Pirates- Rather incoherent science-fiction series based in a setting where space piracy has been normalized through a rather slapdash privateering system.
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HunterxHunter (2011)- Great shounen series. Ironically, the animation quality is lower than the original series.
Fate/Zero- Kvan, I know you have something against the Fate series, but if you can't recognize the sheer quality of ufotable's work on this, there is something wrong with you.
Haganai- High quality rom-com.
Guilty Crown- Weird fantasy series that has a lot of cool moments but is a bit incoherent overall.
Shakugan no Shana III- The conclusion of the series with the best action so far. Downside is that it jumps over a large swathe of developments between the two seasons.
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Dantalian- I actually helped fansub this one, and it is one of a very few anime I fansubbed that I didn't come to loathe. The concept is interesting and the characters are solid and well-developed. It is just unfortunate that it never got a second season.
Itsuka Tenma- I actually liked this one quite a bit, though it definitely is one of those anime you will either hate or love. Unfortunately, like many fantasy series of this era, it never got a second season and didn't end at a good cut-off point.
Kamisama no Memochou- This one was interesting... but it isn't to my tastes. Mysteries just don't do anything for me anymore.
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Ao no Exorcist- Low quality, overrated fantasy series with an interesting concept that was poorly presented.
Hidan no Aria- Low quality science fantasy ecchi with a Shana clone for a main heroine.
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Kore wa Zombie desu ka- Ridiculous comedy everyday fantasy with enough violence for it to be a Fate series but the atmosphere of FLCL.
Freezing- ecchi apocalyptic fantasy that somehow manages to be interesting for the first half but gradually just trails off.
Dragon Crisis- Setting and series had immense potential, but without a second season, there was no way for them to bring it to life. I was really fond of the idea of using relics to use magic-like abilities, as it had immense potential for a shounen-style fantasy action anime or a Fate-style dark fantasy action anime, lol
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Kuroshitsuji II- This sequel gives me very mixed feelings. On the one hand, I hated how it invalidated the ending of season 1's drama. On the other, the ending and leadup to it is awesome.
Densetsu no Yuusha- Great berserk scenes, weak comedy, generally an interesting series and concept. Unfinished.
Nuraryihon no Mago- Youkai lovers watch, other people not so much.
Asobi ni Iku Yo- One of the best ecchi harem anime to have come out ever. Not just because of catgirls, lol.
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Gundam Unicorn- One of the better Gundam series from the Universal Century universe, I'd say second place behind the 08th MS Team series. Action is top-quality, as is the animation. The story... is typical Gundam, lol.
Baka to Shoukanjuu- Low-quality comedy fantasy.
Omamori Himari- I have a weakness for non-human heroines, so I loved this one, but I was still annoyed that it never went anywhere.
Vampire Bund- A heavy-handed attempt at a modern vampire series that didn't quite match expectations.
Katanagatari- Violent series that is reasonably fun to watch, story is absurd though.
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Some companies utilize the rigid playing order well, but others do so poorly, seeking to hide lower path quality by forcing you to experience the lesser paths first. A classic example of this is Rui wa Tomo o Yobu as well as Comyu. In the former case, Rui's path is by far the weakest path in the game, and yet it is the first one you are forced to experience. The same goes for Benio's path in Comyu. This has a huge disadvantage, as it gives an impression that the game is lower quality than it actually is and leads to people dropping it without seeing the best parts. Ruitomo is still a top-quality game, but more than one person who has tried it at my suggestion has complained about Rui's path being so weak before dropping it.
On the other hand, Dies Irae does the same by enforcing that you play the game in the order of either Kasumi or Kei first, then Marie, than Rea. This actually works out ideally (especially since it links directly into the Shinzabansho canon), and it also allows you to ignore one or the other if you wish (Kasumi gets ignored the most often, incidentally, lol).
The most common use of Rigid Playing Order happens in chuunige as a genre. This is probably because the scenario directors and writers in these cases are far more likely to have a specific pathway to the finale than other genres. The methodology I came up with is to split heroines/paths into four tiers. I call these tiers the 'introductory path', the 'sub path', the 'main path' and the 'conclusion path'.
Introductory paths serve more as setting and character dynamic introductions more than anything else. They usually assiduously avoid presenting the 'hidden truths' of the setting and plot, while providing a truncated ending that deliberately falls short of what the reader would want. The aforementioned Benio and Rui paths, as well as the Anna path in Vermilion Bind of Blood all fall into this category.
Sub paths are a bit of an odd man out. For some reason, some VNs throw in random heroines and paths that have no real meaning for the story as a whole. Ayaya's path in Comyu and the 'normal paths' that sometimes appear in various games fall into this category.
Main paths are the most common type of path in plot-centric VNs. These paths have the quality of being conclusive when taken by themselves but do not resolve the plot's core conflict in a conclusive manner. Examples of such paths include Kei's path in Dies Irae, as well as most of the paths in Tasogare no Sinsemilla.
Conclusion paths are often represented as a true route, grand route, canon route, etc. The universal aspect of these paths is that they all resolve the core conflict of the plot in a conclusive manner, as well as tear the veil concealing most of the mysteries hidden in the other paths. They will often include variants of events that occurred in other paths that lead up to a grand conclusion, and there are often aspects of the plot that only make sense because you played the main paths prior to playing this type of path.
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21 hours ago, littleshogun said:
Well the reason why there's less VN with fantasy and science fiction setting is pretty clear, in which it need more money to make the assets compared to usual high school setting while it's just easier to write the story in form of WN (No need to draw sprites and background). Anyway as far as the difference concerned, I think mod Clephas here is more or less almost true. Also it should be noted that some of web novel writer are also just write it with on the spot idea, at least with my experience reading Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear. For the length, well it depend on the story, although if the story goal is already achieved in two volumes then we can say that the rest of the volume are already trails off (ie Bakarina).
Almost forgot to mention that the author usually write his idea in web novel and then improved the idea in light novel, as shown with Reincarnated as Slime with several plot in ight novel are different from the web novel version. Although such occasion is usually rare, because from what I see in Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear both novel have mostly same contents (With several more POV of other characters in light novel).
About two-thirds of most web novel writers are just pulling it out of their rears as they write... including me.
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13 hours ago, Dreamysyu said:
I noticed so far that the ideal length of a light novel seems to be between 5 and 10 volumes. The shorter ones often feel undeveloped, and the longer ones tend to forget what they were about. Actually, the only LN I've read that has more than 10 volumes and still hasn't lost its momentum is Honzuki. But in its case, the first 12 volumes are often considered more or less the extended prologue.
Death March is pretty good though it is over twenty volumes (too bad the anime was horrible), and so is Arifureta. However, I mostly agree...
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Railgun- Yuri-ish To Aru series.
Sora no Otoshimono- Ecchi comedy at its best, though that isn't saying much.
Kiddy Girl- A poor-quality sequel to Kiddy Grade.
Tatakau Shisho- Moderate quality fantasy in terms of story, extremely high-quality in terms of action.
Seiken no Blacksmith- Average fantasy series from an era chock-full of them.
Seitokai no Ichizon- Comedy series with no real content, still fun to watch.
Nyan Koi- One of the last old-style rom-coms.
Darker than Black 2- Still Darker than Black with good action, but the story is poorly presented compared to the first season and it lacks stylistically.
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Canaan- The conclusion of the 'Girls with Guns' themed series that began with Noir. Following an innocent and warm-hearted reporter and a cold-blooded and emotionally stunted assassin through their days in a country on the verge of civil war, with lots of Metal Gear Solid style happenings in the background. Seriously, it really resembles that series in atmosphere except for the camera girl.
Princess Lover- Another crappy attempt at combining a bunch of different heroine paths into a single VN... ironically, it is actually better than the original game, which is about as crappy as you can get for a rom-com vn.
Spice and Wolf II- Pretty much just more of the same, in a good way.
Needless- Weird post-apocalyptic fantasy, fun for a single go through but not worth rewatching.
Kara no Kyoukai 7- In a way this is the true conclusion of one of the story threads that began in the second movie (which was the first chronologically). It has a lot of interesting moments and drama, and it serves as the official conclusion of the main story. The movie that comes after this one is basically an epilogue.
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It's been the case to one degree or another since covid hit, but there is literally nothing this month in the way of non-fandisc, non-nukige PC JVNs. Considering that before covid, it wasn't uncommon for eight or nine to be released a month, you can see how far the industry has fallen in the last few years.
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Souten Kouro- Series following Cao Cao from the early days of his rise. It is fairly high quality and a good watch.
Haruhi Suzumiya- You either love it or you hate it.
K-on- The abomination that caused the term 'moeblob' to be coined. This series should never have existed, as it spawned even more abominations of a similar nature.
Tayutama- Middling quality, screwed up ending (for some reason, they didn't use the Mashiro path ending, despite her being the chosen heroine...)
Tears to Tiara- An abortive attempt to repeat the high-quality results they somehow managed to get from the Utawarerumono anime.
Asura Cryin- If it weren't for the protagonist being a Shinji Mk-??? then this would have been an interesting anime. Setting is often poorly presented despite the hints at greater complexity.
Phantom- In terms of action, it is similar to Noir and Madlax (fun if you like assassination action with guns) but it fails to fully capture the attraction of the gritty and down-to-earth (relatively speaking) VN from nitroplus.
Pandora Hearts- Fantasy series with an interesting concept and good heroine, but it never gets an ending.
07-Ghost - BL-ish fantasy action series that is actually good to watch if you don't mind the undertones.
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To Aru Majutsu no Index- At the time, a promising - if generic - fantasy shounen series. Unfortunately, though it was popular, the later seasons began to feel like a digression from what was good about it.
Toradora- One of the last classic-style rom-coms. High-quality and enjoyable, even today.
Black Butler- I liked this series a great deal (and no, not because of any yaoi vibes that kvan mentions above). I liked it for the sheer power of Ciel's personality and strength of will and pursuing what he wants.
Kara no Kyoukai 6- A digression from the rest of the series in the sense that it has no relation to the core story. However, it has some good action scenes as it follows Kokutou's brocon little sister in investigating problems at the womens' school she attends (it was also attended by Asagami Fujino).
Tytania- A high-quality space opera series that never completed. Still pissed off about that years later, lol.
Macademi Wasshoi- Comedy, ecchi, silliness, zaniness. This series is enjoyable for people who like absurd humor and ecchi. It also makes fun of Harry Potter unapologetically.
Kurozuka- Guy gets turned into a vampire by his girlfriend in the twelfth century, follows him during his periods of wakefulness into the future.
Shikabane Hime- An urban fantasy action series that never got to the point.
Casshern Sins- Basically tons of feels and violence in a melancholic world headed for ruin.
Yozakura Quartet- People trying to keep things together in a sanctuary city for youkai even as others try to destroy it. Never really goes anywhere.
Gundam 00 S2- Conclusion of Gundam 00, great mecha action and good story.
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Natsume Yuujinchou- Definitely a 'naki' anime, basically gives feels and has no other purpose. Youkai stuff is interesting, but ninety percent of it is trying to make you cry.
Kara no Kyoukai 5- Arguably the best of the movies in terms of action. This is also the climax of the series in the sense that Shiki confronts the behind-the-scenes enemy.
World Destruction- Incidentally the first anime I fansubbed, it is a mediocre action fantasy anime.
Nogizaki Haruka no- comedy rom-com, decent quality.
Sekirei- Ecchi anime with action on the side. Harem-building with a setting that never really comes to life.
Blade of the Immortal- Excellent action, failure to conclude the story, which was poorly presented anyway compared to the gore and violence.
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Code Geass 2- Generally a good second half for the series, higher quality animation than the first season, great ending.
Soul Eater- Medium-quality shounen fantasy.
To Love Ru- Ecchi romance with weak-willed protagonist and lots of crazy stuff.
Druaga no Tou- Low-quality high fantasy. Not really worth watching.
Kara no Kyoukai 4- Connects Shiki's past to the present Shiki in the story. Generally the weakest entry in the series, but it is still good.
Special A- Comedy SOL series... I remember doing the TLC for a fansub of this. Generally good quality and worth watching.
Kanokon- Trashy ecchi series that still hits the spot with a certain portion of the community.
Kyouran Kazoku- Good comedy.
Nijuu Mensou- Pretty high-quality series based in a fantasy version of the post-WWII era.
Kurenai- Fantasy series with a lot of focus on distasteful aspects of a high-society family in Japan.
Nabari no Ou- Ninja anime that has good moments but is mostly incoherent.
Kamen no Maid Guy- Pretty amusing comedy.
Golgo 13- cold-hearted assassin kills people for a living. No central story, episodic progression.
Zettai Karen Children- Science-fantasy series about three pyschic girls and their handler in an alternate future where the Japanese Empire was never defeated and open conflict between the empowered and normies is a real possibility. Has a great gaiden series with a more violent focus, but this is mostly light-hearted.
xxxHolic Kei- More of the good stuff if you liked the first season, otherwise not so much.
Anime of the Year 2014-II Spring - No Game No Life
in Anime of the Season
A blog by kivandopulus in General
Posted
This is one of those seasons full of halfway decent action fantasy (not isekai, for those who hate isekai, lol). Some of it is crap, but most of it is interesting to watch.
No game no life- Pretty famous for a lot of reasons. One was accusations against the mangaka for plagiarism. The other was the high-quality of the anime and demands from the fans for an immediate second season that never materialized. However, the prequel movie (that came out years later) is godly (if you ignore the abominable localization that has nothing to do with what the Japanese characters are saying), so please watch it.
Mahouka- One of my most-watched favorites, an overpowered protagonist series in an interesting setting where sorcerers are essentially designer babies and the descendants of designer babies created as weapons of their nations.
Blade and Soul- Decent Chinese-style fantasy based off of an MMO game that never really got much traction over here due to the glut of similar games at the time.
Seikoku no Dragonar- Fantasy series about dragon knights who bond with dragons and ride them into battle... except for the protagonist whose dragon is a bit unusual.
Hitsugi no Chaika- Fantasy series that is more than a bit creepy in practice. Still, has some good action and characters, so it is a good watch.
Black Bullet- First-rate post-apocalyptic science-fantasy. Basically a Muv-luv Alternative style situation combined with zombie infection type setup and a relatively stabilized situation. Protagonist is solid, but the downside is that the seeming main heroine is a loli and the other heroine is a psychopath that only shows it at certain times.