Well, I suppose I should write something about the new Love Live show, if only for old times sake. I can’t really say I have much productive to say about it – at this point in time, there’s an effectively infinite number of people who’re better placed to write about it than I am, and I’d rather just enjoy the show casually than try and pull it apart too much.
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Is this, perhaps, the most 2017 of statements?

This years Gundam Unicorn update is… I’ve still not watched more Gundam Unicorn. Although I somehow thought buying the second half of ZZ, which just turned up today, was a good idea? Whoops.

Let’s just put this lack of Unicorn-related momentum down to it being a good harvest this year. It feels like there’s been a constant stream of at least one thing a week I was particularly excited about watching every week for the last year, and at some points I was watching something new pretty much every evening. It’s been a good year for TV anime.

From a theatrical anime point of view, it feels a bit odd to call a year with not one, but two, new Yuasa efforts comparatively weak, but that probably more to do with how ludicrously stacked parts of last year ended up being, with things like A Silent Voice, From This Corner of the World, Kizumonogatari I&II and, I suppose, Your Name. Then again, it’s been a nice year to be in the UK in that regard, because we ended up getting at least something in cinemas here almost even month, and it’s entirely possible that any perceived weakness was more a result of not binging the years best content over a weekend, given the way this years SLA line-up panned out.

Also, that I’ve not been able to see the new Nanoha movie yet. Or No Game No Life. Or Heavens Feel. Guess there’s still some good stuff left to see after all.

Anyway, usual format from here on out. Spoilers ahoy, and don’t necessarily take anything I write about below this point as being that glowing an endorsement. I tend not to write about my actual favourite stuff of the year, since that’s hard, so, this is just the first few things I could actually formula any words on.

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I suppose I should at least acknowledge this exists, even though I can’t say I have a huge amount to say about the actual content, and even though I have absolutely no intention of writing about it on a the regular. Whether or not it’s a bad thing is something that’s up to the individual, but this was very much another episode of Love Live, same sense of humour, snappy pacing and clever use of transition and all.
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Seven years of doing these end of year posts, and I have a shocking thing to reveal : I’ve now actually watched two entire episodes of Gundam Unicorn. This was partially down to motivation spurred on by the TV broadcast version (I watched an episode of it, and decided I’d rather just watch the original edits), and partially because I decided to not let myself watch Gundam Thunderbolt until I’d finished watching the thing.

Neither point particually stuck – as is obvious from the prior statements, I’ve not finished watching the rest of Unicorn yet, and I ended up breaking down and just watching Thunderbolt a week or so ago (and, man, Thunderbolt is good). Don’t take this as a statement on Unicorns quality mind you – I enjoyed what I’ve watched of it, I’ve just found it weirdly hard to fit into my viewing schedule, especially this last season.

On the other hand, mind you, I am totally up-to-date on The Origin!

Anyway, as per usual, here’s too many uninteresting words about cartoons from the last year that aren’t really worth reading. The usual caveats apply – spoilers ahoy, and these aren’t necesasrily the best shows of the year, or things I’d necessarily recommend watching yourself, more just stuff I somehow managed to summon Words about.
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From episode 6 here, mostly because they somewhat bring attention to the fact, though one appears as early as the shows first episode, used there as a soap-box for Chika trying to recruit potential idol candidates.

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