Recently I acquired myself a Crunchyroll Memebership, mostly because I was getting sick of trying to get non-legit streams on my smartphone late at night before bed. But every night, it's been a constant "What am I going to watch tonight? Oh, that looks neat, I'll give that a shot!" I thought for the current seasons of many animes, I'd give my "top choices" of what is pretty good right now.
Old Series
Hajime no Ippo - The new season has been pretty awesome so far. Any follower of the manga will now it's about 15 years behind, but the current arc that it started on is pretty enjoyable. Any fan of Aoki will really enjoy the current episodes, but I'm noticing that it's feeling a bit rushed in comparison to the manga. I can't tell if they're trying to make as much ground as possible in the anime to catch up to the manga, or if they know they aren't really "continuing" the series as far in the anime. Either way, any fan of boxing should really watch the entire first and second season, and then continue with the current third season. Very enjoyable.
Hunter X Hunter (Remake/Extension)- This series has been a personal favorite since the original rendition and OVA's, but the "2011" remake has been fantastic. They sped through some of the beginning scenarios to reduce the amount of time it would take to get to the "meat" of the series. There are about 5 true arc's of the series, and the original manga only took it through the first 4. This remake is now a good portion through the fifth arc, and is being done BEAUTIFULLY. I was really worried originally of how the current arcs transformation from manga to anime would pan out, but so far the raw emotion has come through perfectly. The voice acting fits EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER (and trust me, there are A LOT of characters in the current arc). Definitely worth a watch through. You can jump right into the 2011 version and not watch the originals. Some parts are missed at the beginning, but get filled out when needed, so there is a small amount of missed foreshadowing.
New Series
Ace of Diamond - Currently my most anticipated series weekly. A typical sports (baseball) anime about a highschooler that just truly enjoys the game. A talented boy who loves the game more than anything leaves his town to pursue a challenge at the most prestigious baseball highschool. From episode one, you know it's a sports anime, feels like a sports anime, but there is a decent bit of gag moments in it as well to make you giggle. I'm expecting to see more out of it than say, H2 or Major or any of the "roughneck Baseball" animes.
Yowapeda - Another sports anime, but a very... surprisingly enjoyable sport. Cycling. This one really caught me off guard. I saw it being updated in the sports genre, and at first I thought to myself "huh... cycling... That doesn't seem very interesting." One night on a whim, I decided I would check out the first episode and then go to bed. Four episodes later, I was sad that I couldn't watch anymore until it was updated a week later and couldn't get to sleep! The main character definitely fills the criteria of "non-sports" character interacting on a sports level with "hidden talent". I mean, he's a dorky, anime loving teenager who has done everything in order to fulfil his needs of anime. Not realizing, he's actually trained himself in cycling by riding 40km each way on a bike for anime. Typical sports anime situations occur, and now his focus changes. Definitely worth a watch if in the mood for a sports anime.
Kill la Kill - This one is the weirdest thing I've watched since Gurren Lagen. In fact, mix Gurren Lagen, FLCL, and anime "magical girl transformation" genre with some flairs of shonen and you have Kill la Kill. Seriously, it is so out there, but HIGHLY enjoyable. It's about a girl who goes to a school while searching for her fathers murderer. Simple. But instead of typical shonen or any fighting type show, your power is drawn out by your clothing. Very specific clothing. Clothing that is made with a certain amount of "power" in it. So literally, school uniforms have X amount of power in it, usually ranked in some fashion.... Ok, my explanation does not do it justice. Just go watch it. Note: Fanservice exists a bit.
I Couldn't Become a Hero, So I Reluctantly Decided to Get A Job - Yeah, that's a long title... But think of an RPG where you trained to become a hero, and the final boss was already killed by someone else? What would all those to be hero's do?! GET A JOB! Mix a bit of slice of life in an RPG setting, add in a LOT of fan service (seriously, physics do not apply here), and you have this anime. It started a little slow for me, doesn't really have the best plot, but is a decent time sink and can get a few kicks out of it.
Wanna Be the Strongest in the World - This one isn't high quality by any means. It's actually a cheap tactic to get sports anime lovers to watch more ecchi. It's about a J-Pop Diva who gets into the world of Female Wrestling. So you get an attractive female being put in all of these wrestling poses all the time. Definitely not a series to be watching for the "plot".
Golden Rule - Another slice of life anime that's grabbed my attention. A boy goes to university in tokyo, living on his own for the first time. He bumps into a guy on his first day and becomes friends. The friend, though, has a stalker of a "girlfriend". She refuses to believe they aren't dating. Some twists are added in as the series goes along, things get complicated, but intriguing. Definitely a good Slice of Life series. Some people may even categorize it as "harem", but it's too light hearted in the romantic areas to really classify it as such. +1
Old Series
Hajime no Ippo - The new season has been pretty awesome so far. Any follower of the manga will now it's about 15 years behind, but the current arc that it started on is pretty enjoyable. Any fan of Aoki will really enjoy the current episodes, but I'm noticing that it's feeling a bit rushed in comparison to the manga. I can't tell if they're trying to make as much ground as possible in the anime to catch up to the manga, or if they know they aren't really "continuing" the series as far in the anime. Either way, any fan of boxing should really watch the entire first and second season, and then continue with the current third season. Very enjoyable.
Hunter X Hunter (Remake/Extension)- This series has been a personal favorite since the original rendition and OVA's, but the "2011" remake has been fantastic. They sped through some of the beginning scenarios to reduce the amount of time it would take to get to the "meat" of the series. There are about 5 true arc's of the series, and the original manga only took it through the first 4. This remake is now a good portion through the fifth arc, and is being done BEAUTIFULLY. I was really worried originally of how the current arcs transformation from manga to anime would pan out, but so far the raw emotion has come through perfectly. The voice acting fits EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER (and trust me, there are A LOT of characters in the current arc). Definitely worth a watch through. You can jump right into the 2011 version and not watch the originals. Some parts are missed at the beginning, but get filled out when needed, so there is a small amount of missed foreshadowing.
New Series
Ace of Diamond - Currently my most anticipated series weekly. A typical sports (baseball) anime about a highschooler that just truly enjoys the game. A talented boy who loves the game more than anything leaves his town to pursue a challenge at the most prestigious baseball highschool. From episode one, you know it's a sports anime, feels like a sports anime, but there is a decent bit of gag moments in it as well to make you giggle. I'm expecting to see more out of it than say, H2 or Major or any of the "roughneck Baseball" animes.
Yowapeda - Another sports anime, but a very... surprisingly enjoyable sport. Cycling. This one really caught me off guard. I saw it being updated in the sports genre, and at first I thought to myself "huh... cycling... That doesn't seem very interesting." One night on a whim, I decided I would check out the first episode and then go to bed. Four episodes later, I was sad that I couldn't watch anymore until it was updated a week later and couldn't get to sleep! The main character definitely fills the criteria of "non-sports" character interacting on a sports level with "hidden talent". I mean, he's a dorky, anime loving teenager who has done everything in order to fulfil his needs of anime. Not realizing, he's actually trained himself in cycling by riding 40km each way on a bike for anime. Typical sports anime situations occur, and now his focus changes. Definitely worth a watch if in the mood for a sports anime.
Kill la Kill - This one is the weirdest thing I've watched since Gurren Lagen. In fact, mix Gurren Lagen, FLCL, and anime "magical girl transformation" genre with some flairs of shonen and you have Kill la Kill. Seriously, it is so out there, but HIGHLY enjoyable. It's about a girl who goes to a school while searching for her fathers murderer. Simple. But instead of typical shonen or any fighting type show, your power is drawn out by your clothing. Very specific clothing. Clothing that is made with a certain amount of "power" in it. So literally, school uniforms have X amount of power in it, usually ranked in some fashion.... Ok, my explanation does not do it justice. Just go watch it. Note: Fanservice exists a bit.
I Couldn't Become a Hero, So I Reluctantly Decided to Get A Job - Yeah, that's a long title... But think of an RPG where you trained to become a hero, and the final boss was already killed by someone else? What would all those to be hero's do?! GET A JOB! Mix a bit of slice of life in an RPG setting, add in a LOT of fan service (seriously, physics do not apply here), and you have this anime. It started a little slow for me, doesn't really have the best plot, but is a decent time sink and can get a few kicks out of it.
Wanna Be the Strongest in the World - This one isn't high quality by any means. It's actually a cheap tactic to get sports anime lovers to watch more ecchi. It's about a J-Pop Diva who gets into the world of Female Wrestling. So you get an attractive female being put in all of these wrestling poses all the time. Definitely not a series to be watching for the "plot".
Golden Rule - Another slice of life anime that's grabbed my attention. A boy goes to university in tokyo, living on his own for the first time. He bumps into a guy on his first day and becomes friends. The friend, though, has a stalker of a "girlfriend". She refuses to believe they aren't dating. Some twists are added in as the series goes along, things get complicated, but intriguing. Definitely a good Slice of Life series. Some people may even categorize it as "harem", but it's too light hearted in the romantic areas to really classify it as such. +1
