The other day I was talking to a member of Anime Club and I had asked what anime he had seen, and which ones he would recommend. He couldn’t think of any specific examples because he had seen “over two-hundred shows”, and it was getting to the point where he needed a list to keep track of them all. It was absurd, and it occurred to me just how little of the anime genre I had seen, and how much of it I will never find time to see. How does someone find the time to watch two-hundred shows? It’s not fair.

Kill La Kill: 7/10
I shouldn’t like Kill La Kill at all. The over-sexualized female leads, weird emphasis on fashion and clothes, and even the “moral” introduced within the first few episodes should have destroyed any chance of me liking it. But, to be honest, it was a lot easier to overlook than I thought it would be. Once I was able to accept the over-the-top “magical girl transformation” fan service, it made it a little easier to focus on the things that mattered. The story and characters are well written, and much like Gurren Lagann, the story escalates to surprising heights. Kill La Kill does a pretty good job of satirizing obsessions with clothes, fashion, and even fan service itself by blowing it out of proportion, which I came to appreciate. However, I found the show really uncomfortable to watch in the last several episodes. It’s a shame that the story and characters, while interesting and admittedly compelling, became bogged down with lewd scenes that were barely tolerable to watch. Despite that, I was surprised at how much Kill La Kill reminds me of American cartoons with the over-the-top animation and the exaggerated, goofy art style. Overall, Kill La Kill has its moments of good and bad, and if you’re looking for a goofy yet interesting story, then it’s worth looking into.

Wakfu (Season 1): 8/10
Some friends and I watched Wakfu together, and I think that contributed to my overall positive experience with the show. For most of Wakfu, the show is pretty fun and episodic, with only glimpses of the underlying story presenting itself until the surprisingly emotionally compelling finale. Considering that the show is based off of an online video game, it does a pretty good job of including the lore and immersing the viewers into the world, not to mention its throwbacks to other popular video games and anime were nice touches as well. The show was animated entirely in Adobe Flash, and as such much of the animation has a floating quality to it. It’s a little strange to get used to at first, but it really allows Wakfu to stand out with its unique style. The colors are bright, and the character designs are all distinct and memorable, and the soundtrack is solid.

Terror in Resonance: 10/10
Terror in Resonance is a beautiful, creative show. The dynamic, crisp animation never fails to impress. The show is thought-provoking, witty, and the suspense is really well done and keeps the viewer hooked start to finish. The soundtrack is wonderful and calm, a stark contrast to the show’s premise, but it enhances each scene perfectly. Lisa may not do much in terms of contributing to the narrative but her interactions with Nine and Twelve helps to humanize them throughout the show; in particular, her emotional bond with Twelve is genuine and sweet. In general, all of the characters are memorable, interesting, and easy to sympathize with, and it’s hard not to get particularly attached to Twelve’s dorky charm and Shibazaki’s mad detective skills and dry sense of humor. I had a lot of questions throughout the show, but by the end, all of my questions were answered through the expertly executed and heart-wrenching finale that the story was continuously building towards from the very beginning. It was nice to see that Terror in Resonance was able to effectively “show, not tell” the audience for a change and I really enjoyed that it required me to put a lot of the pieces together on my own. If I have any complaints about this show, it’s that Terror in Resonance is SHORT. It’s only 11 episodes long, and one hand, it offers a tight story, but on the other hand, it’s a shame that it ended so soon.

With little time to watch anime, my list of recommendations continues to grow. If you have any recommendations for what I should watch, feel free to list them in the comments below!