Anime and Movie Blitz - Spring 2019

It’s that time again… Time to plow through anime and movies I’ve been meaning to watch but haven’t gotten around to yet. Here is a list of what I’ve watched these past few weeks and thoughts on them.

• Mob Psycho 100 - Season 2 - Fantastic! The first season of this show was great and this season is even better.

• Overlord - Season 3 - I really enjoyed the first season of Overlord and was disappointed with the second season. The third season isn’t as bad as the second, but certainly doesn’t have the magic of the first season. What is this anime aiming for? The overarching plot advances so little in this season and so many side-stories that go absolutely no where are covered. If a fourth season happens, I’ll definitely be reading reviews before checking it out because this series seems to have turned sour.

• Sword Art Online - Alicization - Sword Art Online gets a lot of hate but it’s a reliable and fun series to watch. This season (the first half of the larger Alicization arc) was just that: fun and enjoyable. It’s still jam-packed with anime tropes but it was refreshing to have a deuteragonist, Eugeo, in this season to shift focus away from Kirito. I can’t wait for the second cour - coming in Fall 2019 - to continue this arc.

• Us - A great sophomore entry from Jordan Peele. This one is significantly more layered and nuanced compared to Get Out and had me on the edge of my seat from the get-go. I started getting inklings of the plot twist when Red and Adelaide’s families were gathered in the living room.

• A Silent Voice - This movie is highly rated on MyAnimeList but I don’t think this movie is that great. It had its moments and the art style and animations are great. But the movie props itself up with heavy topics - deafness and bullying - and it doesn’t treat them with the respect and gravitas both deserve.

• Always Be My Maybe - My wife and I are huge fans of Ali Wong’s Netflix specials so when this rom-com came out we jumped on it immediately. While the plot is straightforward and predictable, this movie is hilarious and very well done.

• Sword Art Online - Ordinal Scale - Ordinal Scale is a movie that serves as a segue between the Gun Gale Online arc and Alicization arc. I screwed up and watched Alicization before this movie but it’s no big deal. This movie is Sword Art Online through and through: lots of fawning over Kirito, nothing groundbreaking, but an entertaining watch.

• The Rising of the Shield Hero - An otherwise great anime marred with some questionable plot threads early on in the season. The isekai genre has become inundated since Sword Art Online but this series sets itself apart in a crowded field. This season is still ongoing and I’m looking forward to wrapping it up.

There’s a ton more to watch but it’ll have to wait for next time! 👋