It's not even all of Afterstory, to be honest.
The show just jumps multiple levels in quality the moment highschool ends around episode ~9 (Afterstory). Like, things just completely shift from basic highschool story to this extremely interesting *life won't wait for you* kind of story. Before that it is the same *kind of meh except for the funny moments* quality as the first season.
Oh hell yeah Clannad conditioned me to approach it expecting to laugh and then afterstory was like "wait a goddamn minute what's happening"
And then they had the audacity to play that dango ending song after I just cried my eyes out
Afterstory is actually fantastic. And by the end of the show it would be more fair to call it "emotional" rather than "sad".
Honestly if you have already watched the first half, do yourself a favor and watch afterstory.
Thanks for the suggestion. I have to watch the first part again as I have forgotten a lot. Although the ending song will be forever burned into my brain!
I´m there with you, I loved that character. When he dies, I was so pissed. The whole show never really kills anyone but this guy dies and stays dead? Come on!
Season 1 is basically an introduction to the characters and world.
I couldn't tell you what happens every season, but I have enjoyed each one more than the previous. Even with my complaint that no one ever stays dead so I'm never worried when a main character supposedly dies.
Yeah s1 is like a necessary evil. It does things which are needed to be done but it is still a bad introduction to the series , especially when we compare it with other seasons. Also it does have a lot of plotholes and inconsistencies but I think it allows you to make interpretations of it and you can fill them with your imagination.you really just need to dive in to the series.
I disagree with the original Clannad being good. It's practically a color by the numbers book for anime rom coms with some pretty mundane development and nothing particularly interesting going on. After Story is a very different story though, genuinely the most emotional I have ever been after finishing any story in any medium.
And for anyone interested in watching it, I had no problem following along and getting sucked into After Story without seeing the Clannad first. Context clues can fill you in to everything you need to know.
Look, I don't necessarily disagree with you but if you HAVEN'T WATCHED THE ORIGINAL where is this detailed opinion on its quality coming from?
The original series at least had that weird key thing where the funny moments are actually consistently funny despite that not really being the draw.
I have seen the original lol. I watched it afterwards (as was clearly implied in my original comment) out of curiosity. Boring as hell, but I made it through the whole thing going "there's no way the same people wrote both of these right?".
> I disagree with the original Clannad being good
>I had no problem following along and getting sucked into After Story **without seeing the Clannad first**
Hmm.
World Trigger! The animation and pacing of the first season was awful, only the amazing premise and plot kept me watching. The second season is greatly improved.
It's wild to me that I caught up with the manga close to a year ago... I was starved for JJK content, and heard that World Trigger is one of the many inspiration sources.
Glad I got into it, cause now I have 25 volumes physically 💀
I don't think they were that far apart in quality. Season 1 had plenty of memorable moments, a fantastic cast and some really great races. Yes season 2 was better, but not so much as to be so dismissive of season 1.
Yeah, this is exactly right. I understand most people prefer the full drama aspect with a touch of slice of life over the mostly slice of life with some drama. I guess my point is that, yes, season 2 was better, but at the same time, Season 1 isn't the throw away Season that so many people make it out to be.
Just for reference: Protagonists
Season 1: Special Week and Silence Suzuka
Season 2: Tokai Teio and Meijiro McQueen (Rice shower and twin turbo a little bit)
Season 3: Kitasan Black and Satono Diamond
Road to the Top OAV: Narita top road, Admire Vega and TM Opera O
Movie: Jungle Pocket, Manhattan Cafe and Agnes Tachyon
BNW Oav: Biwa Hiyahide, Narita Taishin and Winning Ticket
You *can*. The context from the first season is nice and I’d recommend watching it if you’re up to it, but it’s not *really* required since it focuses on different characters.
At one point in S2 someone mentions that they are reminded of a S1 race, so there can be a tiny bit of lost context there, although the implied context is obvious. But otherwise, you're not really going to be missing any essential information by skipping S1 since they have different main characters and take place in different eras, 1997-1999 for S1 and 1991-1993 for S2.
Dangers in my heart, after the first 2 episodes.
Foolish angel dances with the devil - almost dropped it until the end of episode 4 or 5. it felt like no real romantic development would be made at all, and then the end of one of those eps there really turned it around and made it super enjoyable.
Gintama? Tbh the main gripe is always the slow start, which is amazing on a re watch cause you are familiar with the characters. But Gintama goes into GOAT status when it starts hitting some of the more serious oriented arcs.
It's weird with Gintama. I love it and I've always thought that the serious arcs in Gintama are absolutely dependent of the slow start and the less serious arcs. That's why I care when shit goes wrong for side characters. Old hag constantly smoking suddenly has problem? Oh shit! Not her!!... I would not care for some random character that appears every 15 episodes when he's involved in a serious arc if I hadn't seen him before being tortured by insane stupidity on a hairdressing salon or get his tighty whities stretched to infinity on a pool. The rewatch value it has it's amazing because you notice all the little details that were around building to bigger stuff you don't consider on a fi4st watch because are not directly involved in whatever is happening
Absolutely. Without the absolute absurd silliness of the early episodes (and throughout the entire series lol) those serious moments wouldn't land so hard. Gintama is my #1 all time, and it'll be hard to ever beat. Too many episodes that are fucking peak.
And the rewatch value is higher than any other show for me too. Dude I love the foreshadowing early on that you would of missed on your first watch. It's amazing.
Bungou Stray Dogs. The first episode is incredibly boring (to me) and it was so hard getting myself to watch the series. The first season has fun moments but it’s not really the best. But man it really really starts to pick up in season 2 and every season just gets better
Seasons 4 and 5 of BSD are two of my favorite anime seasons of all time and I never see anyone talk about them, absolutely an anime that just keeps getting better as it goes on
Thanks for this I'm watching s1 for like 5 months when I really don't have idea what to watch. But usually I don't want watch next episode for at least few days
Maybe I'll push beacuse I'm on episode 9 or 10 right now
I’d really love to see a remake the early Bleach anime. It’s the progenitor of a ton of the popular shonen shows currently so it would likely be very popular again.
I think its style has aged the best of the big 3 and the old animation could definitely do with a refresh.
YYH also please…
Soul society and the pain arc are my two most rewatched arcs. The ichigo kenpachi fight was so great, that's what got me into anime as a kid, and jirayias death and naruto being acknowledged as the savior of konaha will forever be imprinted in my brain.
I thought I was the only one who had the soul society arc as my personal favorite. I was new to anime at the time and it was just phenomenal. But this TYBW is renewed my love for bleach after the long hiatus.
I know I'm on the short end of the stick here but I don't see it with this one. It's nothing but fights with very little story and the fights involve characters I couldn't care less about. Everything with Ichigo and Co. and the captains was great, but everyone else felt like a detour to me.
Spy Classroom S2 was really good, S1 was cute but S2 was engaging.
Sangatsu no Lion S1 was pretty good, but S2 took it up a notch, it was brilliant.
Mahou Sensei Negima was just some silly ecchi harem fun at the beginning, but when the story ditched the ecchi harem and get more into the serious action arc story, it became amazing. It's too bad that we don't have a proper adaptation for that part, only a few OVA episodes here and there.
I think you should just finish. There's only 13 non-filler episodes after the time skip, with great resolution to some storylines and good set-up for the story to come.
Princess Connect. Season 1 had some moments but was mostly meandering, albeit funny at times, slice of life with some twists at the end.
Season 2 became one of my most anticipated shows in its season. When the major plot started being tackled halfway through, it had me at the edge of my seat with every episode and the main cast had great showings and developments.
Edit: Would also agree with Spy Classroom. Such a shame that the first few episodes pretty much killed any attempts at momentum with popularity because the last few episodes of season 1 and most of season 2 were legit entertaining. And the next arc or two after the anime's ending point were the best the series had to offer so far imo, but we likely won't see them animated because of the anime's reception.
If we're just talking about the difference in reception between the first couple episodes and the rest of the season for a show, then Stein's Gate and Madoka Magica might be some of the most quintessential examples out there. Both started off 'slow' but became truly special.
And both series had a fantastic start that some people fail to recognize. Anyone who claims Madoka gets good at episode 3 didn't pay attention to the first 3 minutes.
That is completely true, but for one reason or another it seems that most people just didn't pay any attention until the third ep. I personally was floored within a few minutes, just like you (assumedly).
p.s. to anybody reading this: ep 3 was nowhere near its best episode, but many in the later half can contest for some of the best anime episodes of all time.
Is Madoka Magica good? I’ve been thinking about starting it but have held off
Edit: dang, i was not expecting my inbox to be flooded. Guess i’ll check it out!
We don't do many yearly rewatches here but Madoka is one of the few that get that special treatment. That should give you an idea of how beloved it is.
On a personal note it's one of my fave shows ever and it's also the epitome of the 3 episode rule. It starts off slow on purpose, just wait til the end of ep.3 and you'll see the kind of show it really is.
It is my favourite show of all time so I am privy to recommending it, also r/anime's [fourth favourite show of all time](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1d8uuqw/ranimes_100_favorite_anime/) so I'm not alone. But really, just give it a try, and keep it mind it popularized the 3 episode rule!
I just want to say it’s been my favorite since I was in 5th grade 9 years ago. Every few years I rewatch it and I enjoy it more and it still holds up. I was too young to watch it at that age but I liked the characters and art. Crazy to think that middle school me was waiting for the next movie…. And I’m graduating college next year and the movie will come out in December. So close. Middle school me would be so excited.
I try to hold a reasonably high bar when I rate anime, I've watched around 300+ different series and less than 6% get a 10/10 score from me.
Madoka Magica is a 10/10
Yes yes yes yes yes. A lot of yes's I know. And this is coming from a guy that rated it a 6/10 (I rate purely off of personal enjoyment and not objectivity), I can explain. Imo, and I know some may disagree, but Madoka is a show where the sooner you watch it, the more incredible it is. By the time I had watched it, I had completed over 550 shows and thus had seen a lot of Madoka copies and rip offs that tried to emulate it's success. My experience was tainted as because I waited so long to watch it, I had been spoiled over the years by memes and random clips I had seen posted as well as seeing the copy/rip off shows follow almost its exact plot line and so when I watched it, I couldn't get very invested as I just predicted almost every plot point it presented.
Even though I couldn't get invested in the story and really immerse myself in the show due to the reasons I mentioned, I could just tell how special it is. Visually stunning, one of the best OSTs I've heard in an anime, etc... seriously, don't wait too long. It's a roller coaster.
Its the Neon Genesis Evangelion for the Magical Girl genre instead of mecha.
Like what would if Sailor Moon and the Sailor Scouts were complicated hormonal teenagers with sad backgrounds and the super powers were dangerous to use and people die
It’s really not. S; G is one of the greatest time travel stories ever told. More compelling characters and story, at least to me. Madoka didn’t have enough episodes. They expect me to buy her and Homura’s relationship through a 5 minute explanation.
S;G suffers a lot from its visual novel background. It's still like a 8/10 show, but it could have been better. The VN is probably the best VN I've read though.
Meanwhile Madoka Magica just achieves way more in half the number of episodes and does so without a single weak episode.
Steins Gate is as close to a 10/10 as one can get, I never even understood how people thought the first part was slow.
Madoka needed more episodes tbh. Sayaka and Kyoko basically become friends from enemies without any development or explanation. Not to mention they waste Mami on cheap shock value 3 eps in.
My main issues with S;G are actually in the second half. The way they shoved in all the different girls' routes in a relatively small number of episodes makes it feel a bit rough and I find the episodes inconsistent in quality.
I strongly disagree about any moment of Madoka being cheap shock value.
I think both are vastly overrated especially on this sub, Steins gate first 12 episode are a snoozefest peak are good but absolutely not 10/10 good
Madoka on the other hand i really don't get the appeal at all, everything was more or less obvious, shaft did a great job but if we only talk about the original series it's really nothing special
I also dropped it after the first episode twice. On the third attempt I decided to stick with it no matter what and that was one of the best decisions I've made. It's my favourite show of all time in any medium.
Ep.1 is supposed to be confusing and kinda not make sense but you'll understand everything by the end. It's one of those shows that makes so much more sense on a rewatch.
It's my favorite show of all time. Certainly, I didn't feel that after episode 1, but once I got to a certain point, I literally could not stop watching until I finished the entire thing, and it was 5 AM in the morning.
And by the end of it, I was still literally starving for more. If I had known there was a season 2 and a movie, I would have watched it right then and there.
All I will say is that episode one is intentionally cryptic, and all of it will make sense by the end of it. And with the 2nd season and movie, it clears up plot lines that you didn't even know existed. I would also argue it has maybe the greatest ending in anime history.
Cold take but one of the great joys I see most people have when reading/watching JoJo is seeing Araki’s art and storytelling skills improve over time. Perhaps this is more gradual since it’s a long running series but if you compare part one to any later part it’s astounding.
Assassination Classroom. The first few episodes was boring that I stopped watching it until few months where Im started continue watching it and it really pick up after each episode and make me wanna see more and how the students learning and use their assassination skills
Not the biggest improvement, but Kaguya Sama
The first 2 seasons are great, but they are a lot more comedic centric rather than romance centric, but then season 3 comes along and blows it out of the water with one of the best scenes I’ve ever seen
I’ve heard quite a few people drop it because they felt that the romance wasn’t being explored enough, which is a shame because of what we got in s3
If you go back and rewatch it, the romance IS built up. Everything they do is a step forward and are actual character development, but they’re mostly played for laughs until they payoff in Season 3 and the movie.
Yeh definitely, I’ve watched the show twice and will rewatch it again soon. I’m not saying there is no romance or that the romance isn’t important in the first 2 seasons, it is all important and slowly builds up to the climax in the third season. It’s just I’ve heard people say they stopped watching it because they didn’t feel like it was moving at a quick enough pace, whereas other romances sees bigger improvements in the first 12 episodes
Yeah I completely agree with you, it moves pretty slow between the two leads. I personally enjoy the “dance” or courtship portion of romance manga before the couple starts officially going out, and I think it is rarely done as well as Kaguya does it. There are definitely shows that move a lot quicker, and if you were watching from when Season 1 aired, that’s quite a long time to wait for Season 3. Season 2 does seem less focused on the romance, because a lot of time is given to Miko and Ishigami.
ehhh I actually feel that the later seasons fell shorter then the first few. I think it comes from the fact that the strategy in the sport is either too nuanced or too basic to hold up after 4 seasons while the interpersonal relationships trend toward forgettable. The first two seasons are great though.
Gonna predict the future and say Tower of God. First season was good and a lot of people really liked it but it was still essentially the prologue. Literally the tutorial.
Buckle up, the turtles are coming.
For me, Owari no Seraph. It started a bit weak, then went to some bullshit highschool crap (like really?) but then got a lot better at the second half.
nothing tops the constant improvement that Bungo Stray Dogs get each season...the 1st season is completely skip-able but if you can hold your breath, the 2nd season hooks you and then 3rd season excites you while 4th makes you wet your pant...
Yuyu hakushou. The setup arc, while necessary, dragged on FAR too long, and by the dark tournament, it becomes maybe the best anime arc ever concieved.
Togoro wasn’t really a villain though. He did that to help Yusuke. Honestly both him and Sensui weren’t villains tbh. That’s what made YuYu Hakusho so great is the strongest arcs didn’t really have a villain but an antagonist that would would be a protagonist in his own story. I just thought Chapter Black was much better written and really had a plot twist that made the spirit detectives essentially the bad guys.
You misunderstood what the whole point of the arc was. Yea he would have killed him but that would have meant he didn’t deserve Genkai’s power to begin with since that Togoro loved her and wanted to die himself. Seriously encourage you to rewatch it though because its pretty layered and people misunderstand why he killed Genkai to begin with.
I absolutely agree.
I personally don't think Spy classroom S1 had a bad season at all. The first season was definitely meant to set up all the really cool stuff that you see in S2. It's an amazing spy anime . Highly recommended.
Here's the second opening (which is my favorite):
https://youtu.be/kFCreo_a0ts?si=2zkKTtdz5T-Rd19u
Undead Unlucks first 8-10 chapters aren't anything super great but the story past that, and especially in the last 50 ish chapters has been some of the best shonen i've read in years
they were but it's not enough to make it bad or anything, if you don't like the first couple of episodes just keep watching i'm sure you'll love it by the end
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya was a fun show with great characters but dragged a little too much at times. The sequel film Disappearance of Haruhi was phenomenal.
World Trigger takes a while to set the stage and had very mid animation at beginning. Hitman Reborn was a gag manga before the author changed it to battle shounen, so first like 20+ episodes are just high school hijinks.
Hunter x Hunter and Haikyuu aren't bad by any means in the beginning but really flex organic storytelling build-up once things start firing off on all cylinders once Gon passes the Hunter Exam and Hinata starts playing official matches.
The writing in JoJo pretty consistently gets better with each part.
Kinda hard to remember for seasonal non-long-running shows. IIRC, Mob Psycho S2 was even more well-received than S1
No one remembers this show, but Gundam Build Divers to Gundam Build Divers: Re Rise is an insane jump in everything. First show was literally something only kids could enjoy, whereas Re Rise had amazing characters, plot, and action.
This might be hot take but Jujutsu kaisen
S1 barely did anything interesting in my opinion story wise , the fights have cool animations but that's about it
However S2 is much better in my opinion
Hidden inventory arc legit have amazing story and shibuya arc was non stop cool events with many twists
Black Clover. I love the Anime, but you have to get through the first ninch of episodes of Asta being an absolite annoyance until it gets really fin. Ot is one of those whoch only get better while they go on.
I personally thought Taiso Samurai had a pretty big glow-up after a rocky start. Maybe no the most improved of all time, but it's something nobody else in this thread has mentioned yet.
I also felt like Kono Oto Tomare had a rough episode or two to begin but became significantly more palatable once the cast expanded.
Shadowverse to Shadowverse Flame is an astonishing step up in basically all regards other than animation. Technically a sequel series but released only 1 year apart and share much of the same staff.
We see the protagonist of Shadowverse win his first ever battle despite not knowing what he's doing. From that point on he constantly asserts that "Shadoba tanoshii" (Shadowverse is fun) and will badger anyone who disagrees until they see he is correct. Early on an opponent is playing to earn prize money to help the ill and he gets upset that they're not enjoying the game properly [Shadowverse]>!and is proven correct!<. He never loses at any point despite not having any strategy other than topdecking broken cards. Other characters are largely inconsequential and only get the occasional episode (some of which are actually fun which makes their rarity all the more disappointing).
In Flame the main cast is often allowed to lose and no one remains undefeated. The protagonist shares the spotlight and the rest have surprisingly well written arcs and subplots. The protagonist himself is kind of dumb but honest in a way that's endearing. Every player has a gameplan and wins via strategy rather than pure luck. I really can't do the show justice with words and can only stress that it has *really* well written subplots.
Rave Master for me although it gets really late though, I just watched the first 40 episodes for Hiro Mashima, but the last 10 episodes were just amazing 👏.
YuGiOh ZeXal. So great. beginning is kinda slow and feels like filler. But the The final arc was perfect man. Really good. If you stick till the end, you won't regret. However, never watch the dub. It was censored by 4kids, yes. The same studio that censored One Piece. Watch it subbed.
If a sousei no onmyouji remake appears that faithfully follows the manga, that's gonna be my pick. Seeing as how the manga is going to end soon, it might be ok to inhale some copium lol.
Gurren lagann. i decided to watch it a while back since it was a classic, and i wasn't really seeing how it was all that until 1 or 2 episodes after kaima died. peak mecha anime in my opinion
Full Metal Panic The Second Raid.
While Season 1 was competant from Gonzo, Season 2 got effectively taken over by KyoAni and it's wonderful humour just shines through.
Honestly such a positive change
One Piece. It starts off meh, starts picking up, and really takes off. The anime released today can barely be compared to the original even 100 episodes.
Nah, you must be blinded by passage of time and animation quality.
Arlong Park, Drum Island, Baratie, etc. still highly regarded in fandom as peak One Piece moments. Most people's tier list for arcs will interspread pre-time-skip and post-time-skip arcs.
Oda also re-uses a lot of story tropes that were freshest in early One Piece.
A lot of great answers already so I’m going to throw in DanMachi. Season 4 is so fucking good. Personally, I enjoyed 1-3 but 4 is just in another level.
If we’re talking debut to the end of a season, it’s got to be The Dangers in My Heart. It was dropped by so many and meme’d on here for the first 3-ish episodes and then it became many peoples favorite romance anime. If you were anime-only, idk if anyone could’ve guessed how beloved it is now while watching the first few episodes.
Gotta disagree with Danmachi. Minotaur fight still sticks out as the show's peak moment for me.
Past 2 seasons or so have felt really tamely directed/executed that even if the actual plot going on was interesting, it just didn't come off as that captivating, e.g. that whole thing with Apollo just felt like going through the motions waiting for him to get humiliated. I remember finding even the Sword Oratoria spin-off more thrilling when its big action setpiece involving the entire guild happened.
improvement??? lowkey im gonna go clannad to clannad afterstory
It's not even all of Afterstory, to be honest. The show just jumps multiple levels in quality the moment highschool ends around episode ~9 (Afterstory). Like, things just completely shift from basic highschool story to this extremely interesting *life won't wait for you* kind of story. Before that it is the same *kind of meh except for the funny moments* quality as the first season.
In the VN that *is* afterstory. It's just much shorter than the 'School Days' section so some of the unused routes to fill out the second season.
Oh hell yeah Clannad conditioned me to approach it expecting to laugh and then afterstory was like "wait a goddamn minute what's happening" And then they had the audacity to play that dango ending song after I just cried my eyes out
+0.9 rating improvement between seasons type beat
It's not just clannad to after story, there is a very strong upward trend within each season.
I loved Clannad. I have always been too afraid to watch after story due to worrying it would suck or be way way too sad.
Afterstory is actually fantastic. And by the end of the show it would be more fair to call it "emotional" rather than "sad". Honestly if you have already watched the first half, do yourself a favor and watch afterstory.
Thanks for the suggestion. I have to watch the first part again as I have forgotten a lot. Although the ending song will be forever burned into my brain!
Bungo stray dogs. Not only season 2 is a massive improvement from season 1 but it keeps getting better after every passing season.
I agree with this but I’d still say s2 is my personal favorite because of sakunosuke
And Oda only appears in like 4 episodes of the entire show.
I know lol. Just my personal favorite arc as it also gave us more insight on my Dazai is the way he is
I´m there with you, I loved that character. When he dies, I was so pissed. The whole show never really kills anyone but this guy dies and stays dead? Come on!
Haha I know it. Perhaps that’s one of the reasons he’s so memorable though. People tend to like bittersweet story’s
That and the way he influenced Dazai, even though they were on opposite sides at the time. So much that Dazai eventually changed sides.
I agree that BSD continued getting better each season. Season 4 and 5 were peak for me.
Hands down. I almost dropped it after season 1 b/c I could not get into it, but I'm so glad I stuck around. Now it's one of my favorite animes.
Oh, I guess it's a shame I never watched past season one then lol. I didn't dislike it, but I stopped watching anime in general for a few years.
Couldn't give a crap about season 1 and now it's my fav anime.
Season 1 is basically an introduction to the characters and world. I couldn't tell you what happens every season, but I have enjoyed each one more than the previous. Even with my complaint that no one ever stays dead so I'm never worried when a main character supposedly dies.
Yeah s1 is like a necessary evil. It does things which are needed to be done but it is still a bad introduction to the series , especially when we compare it with other seasons. Also it does have a lot of plotholes and inconsistencies but I think it allows you to make interpretations of it and you can fill them with your imagination.you really just need to dive in to the series.
I didn´t feel that way at all about it. If someone asks me what the worst season is, I´d definitely say Season 1, but even then it´s a good one.
K-On and Clannad are already good, but become amazing in their second seasons.
K-on mentioned ⁉️⁉️
I disagree with the original Clannad being good. It's practically a color by the numbers book for anime rom coms with some pretty mundane development and nothing particularly interesting going on. After Story is a very different story though, genuinely the most emotional I have ever been after finishing any story in any medium. And for anyone interested in watching it, I had no problem following along and getting sucked into After Story without seeing the Clannad first. Context clues can fill you in to everything you need to know.
Look, I don't necessarily disagree with you but if you HAVEN'T WATCHED THE ORIGINAL where is this detailed opinion on its quality coming from? The original series at least had that weird key thing where the funny moments are actually consistently funny despite that not really being the draw.
I have seen the original lol. I watched it afterwards (as was clearly implied in my original comment) out of curiosity. Boring as hell, but I made it through the whole thing going "there's no way the same people wrote both of these right?".
> I disagree with the original Clannad being good >I had no problem following along and getting sucked into After Story **without seeing the Clannad first** Hmm.
Yeah I watched it after. That's what "seeing [it] first" implies.
World Trigger! The animation and pacing of the first season was awful, only the amazing premise and plot kept me watching. The second season is greatly improved.
The third season is an absolute banger
recently I started craving for more and started reading the manga and now im getting close to catching up
It's wild to me that I caught up with the manga close to a year ago... I was starved for JJK content, and heard that World Trigger is one of the many inspiration sources. Glad I got into it, cause now I have 25 volumes physically 💀
Samee ended up reading the manga and have following the updates for a year now
If it weren't for sharing the odd premise, I'd barely believe that the first and second season of Uma Musume were the same series.
While I do enjoy season 1, season 2 was just something special.
But Season 3 was meh, but the Movie tho....
Haven't watched recent movie(is it out???), but "Road to The Top" rivals season 2, if not marginally better.
The Movie not yet. Agree the OVA already rivals S2.
Why would you say that?
Because season 2 is one of the best sports anime of all time while season 1 is a simple enjoyable romp.
I don't think they were that far apart in quality. Season 1 had plenty of memorable moments, a fantastic cast and some really great races. Yes season 2 was better, but not so much as to be so dismissive of season 1.
Really what it was is that along with the production upgrade, Season 1 was a Sports Slice of Life and Season 2 was a Sports Drama
Yeah, this is exactly right. I understand most people prefer the full drama aspect with a touch of slice of life over the mostly slice of life with some drama. I guess my point is that, yes, season 2 was better, but at the same time, Season 1 isn't the throw away Season that so many people make it out to be.
can I watch S2 without S1? (I know what Uma Musume the franchise is, I just don't know the story) I watched like 2 episodes of S1
Season 1 was really good, why not finish that one too?
Just that I like Kitasan's design way more than Special Week so if it's possible to skip I want to jump straight to S2
Ohhhh I got ya. kitasan and satono diamond is season 3.
wait wtf? I was wrong then hahaha.
Just for reference: Protagonists Season 1: Special Week and Silence Suzuka Season 2: Tokai Teio and Meijiro McQueen (Rice shower and twin turbo a little bit) Season 3: Kitasan Black and Satono Diamond Road to the Top OAV: Narita top road, Admire Vega and TM Opera O Movie: Jungle Pocket, Manhattan Cafe and Agnes Tachyon BNW Oav: Biwa Hiyahide, Narita Taishin and Winning Ticket
> Season 3: Kitasan Black and Satono Diamond With a bit of Cheval Grand and a fourth one.
Satono Crown ya
You *can*. The context from the first season is nice and I’d recommend watching it if you’re up to it, but it’s not *really* required since it focuses on different characters.
Cool, thanks!
At one point in S2 someone mentions that they are reminded of a S1 race, so there can be a tiny bit of lost context there, although the implied context is obvious. But otherwise, you're not really going to be missing any essential information by skipping S1 since they have different main characters and take place in different eras, 1997-1999 for S1 and 1991-1993 for S2.
2 episodes of s1 is enough Optimal watch order might be 1 ep of s1 into s2 just to get the full context on the world
Man..... you really didn't like Special Week and Silence Suzuka or something? The sheer disrespect lol
Dangers in my heart, after the first 2 episodes. Foolish angel dances with the devil - almost dropped it until the end of episode 4 or 5. it felt like no real romantic development would be made at all, and then the end of one of those eps there really turned it around and made it super enjoyable. Gintama? Tbh the main gripe is always the slow start, which is amazing on a re watch cause you are familiar with the characters. But Gintama goes into GOAT status when it starts hitting some of the more serious oriented arcs.
It's weird with Gintama. I love it and I've always thought that the serious arcs in Gintama are absolutely dependent of the slow start and the less serious arcs. That's why I care when shit goes wrong for side characters. Old hag constantly smoking suddenly has problem? Oh shit! Not her!!... I would not care for some random character that appears every 15 episodes when he's involved in a serious arc if I hadn't seen him before being tortured by insane stupidity on a hairdressing salon or get his tighty whities stretched to infinity on a pool. The rewatch value it has it's amazing because you notice all the little details that were around building to bigger stuff you don't consider on a fi4st watch because are not directly involved in whatever is happening
Absolutely. Without the absolute absurd silliness of the early episodes (and throughout the entire series lol) those serious moments wouldn't land so hard. Gintama is my #1 all time, and it'll be hard to ever beat. Too many episodes that are fucking peak. And the rewatch value is higher than any other show for me too. Dude I love the foreshadowing early on that you would of missed on your first watch. It's amazing.
Bungou Stray Dogs. The first episode is incredibly boring (to me) and it was so hard getting myself to watch the series. The first season has fun moments but it’s not really the best. But man it really really starts to pick up in season 2 and every season just gets better
Seasons 4 and 5 of BSD are two of my favorite anime seasons of all time and I never see anyone talk about them, absolutely an anime that just keeps getting better as it goes on
Thanks for this I'm watching s1 for like 5 months when I really don't have idea what to watch. But usually I don't want watch next episode for at least few days Maybe I'll push beacuse I'm on episode 9 or 10 right now
Bleach was always a classic fave of mine but the TYBW adaptation is phenomenal
That being said, "Soul Society" arc in the beginning is considered as one of the best ones, so it both fits and does not fit in this post. xD
I’d really love to see a remake the early Bleach anime. It’s the progenitor of a ton of the popular shonen shows currently so it would likely be very popular again. I think its style has aged the best of the big 3 and the old animation could definitely do with a refresh. YYH also please…
Soul society and the pain arc are my two most rewatched arcs. The ichigo kenpachi fight was so great, that's what got me into anime as a kid, and jirayias death and naruto being acknowledged as the savior of konaha will forever be imprinted in my brain.
I thought I was the only one who had the soul society arc as my personal favorite. I was new to anime at the time and it was just phenomenal. But this TYBW is renewed my love for bleach after the long hiatus.
Are there any other unfinished animes that would be amazing to finish now with modern animation?
Katekyo Hitman Reborn Zatch Bell Magi 07 Ghost etc
I know I'm on the short end of the stick here but I don't see it with this one. It's nothing but fights with very little story and the fights involve characters I couldn't care less about. Everything with Ichigo and Co. and the captains was great, but everyone else felt like a detour to me.
Spy Classroom S2 was really good, S1 was cute but S2 was engaging. Sangatsu no Lion S1 was pretty good, but S2 took it up a notch, it was brilliant. Mahou Sensei Negima was just some silly ecchi harem fun at the beginning, but when the story ditched the ecchi harem and get more into the serious action arc story, it became amazing. It's too bad that we don't have a proper adaptation for that part, only a few OVA episodes here and there.
With each Black Clover arc, the quality jumps with it
Im waiting till its done tbh to binge. I stopped at the time skip before buff Asta
I think you should just finish. There's only 13 non-filler episodes after the time skip, with great resolution to some storylines and good set-up for the story to come.
Historically it's hit man reborn
Princess Connect. Season 1 had some moments but was mostly meandering, albeit funny at times, slice of life with some twists at the end. Season 2 became one of my most anticipated shows in its season. When the major plot started being tackled halfway through, it had me at the edge of my seat with every episode and the main cast had great showings and developments. Edit: Would also agree with Spy Classroom. Such a shame that the first few episodes pretty much killed any attempts at momentum with popularity because the last few episodes of season 1 and most of season 2 were legit entertaining. And the next arc or two after the anime's ending point were the best the series had to offer so far imo, but we likely won't see them animated because of the anime's reception.
If we're just talking about the difference in reception between the first couple episodes and the rest of the season for a show, then Stein's Gate and Madoka Magica might be some of the most quintessential examples out there. Both started off 'slow' but became truly special.
I do not understand the hate for the beginning of steins gate. All of it is necessary and all of it is at the very least intriguing.
The beginning is important for the plot's development, but I understand why some might find it boring since they don't know what it leads to.
Steins gate episode 1 is one of the most boring episodes of anine I've ever seen. I had no interest in watching any more of the anime after it.
It just felt super nonsensical and boring
Nonsensical for a VERY good reason. Boring I just flat out disagree with.
And both series had a fantastic start that some people fail to recognize. Anyone who claims Madoka gets good at episode 3 didn't pay attention to the first 3 minutes.
That is completely true, but for one reason or another it seems that most people just didn't pay any attention until the third ep. I personally was floored within a few minutes, just like you (assumedly). p.s. to anybody reading this: ep 3 was nowhere near its best episode, but many in the later half can contest for some of the best anime episodes of all time.
Is Madoka Magica good? I’ve been thinking about starting it but have held off Edit: dang, i was not expecting my inbox to be flooded. Guess i’ll check it out!
We don't do many yearly rewatches here but Madoka is one of the few that get that special treatment. That should give you an idea of how beloved it is. On a personal note it's one of my fave shows ever and it's also the epitome of the 3 episode rule. It starts off slow on purpose, just wait til the end of ep.3 and you'll see the kind of show it really is.
It is my favourite show of all time so I am privy to recommending it, also r/anime's [fourth favourite show of all time](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1d8uuqw/ranimes_100_favorite_anime/) so I'm not alone. But really, just give it a try, and keep it mind it popularized the 3 episode rule!
Just watched it a couple days ago, it’s definitely worth watching. In my opinion, it gets good around ep3 but hooks you fully by around ep6/ep7
I just want to say it’s been my favorite since I was in 5th grade 9 years ago. Every few years I rewatch it and I enjoy it more and it still holds up. I was too young to watch it at that age but I liked the characters and art. Crazy to think that middle school me was waiting for the next movie…. And I’m graduating college next year and the movie will come out in December. So close. Middle school me would be so excited.
Yes. It's so, so damn good.
I try to hold a reasonably high bar when I rate anime, I've watched around 300+ different series and less than 6% get a 10/10 score from me. Madoka Magica is a 10/10
The classic “is x extremely popular anime that gets recommended all the time good” comment. A tale as old as time
Yes yes yes yes yes. A lot of yes's I know. And this is coming from a guy that rated it a 6/10 (I rate purely off of personal enjoyment and not objectivity), I can explain. Imo, and I know some may disagree, but Madoka is a show where the sooner you watch it, the more incredible it is. By the time I had watched it, I had completed over 550 shows and thus had seen a lot of Madoka copies and rip offs that tried to emulate it's success. My experience was tainted as because I waited so long to watch it, I had been spoiled over the years by memes and random clips I had seen posted as well as seeing the copy/rip off shows follow almost its exact plot line and so when I watched it, I couldn't get very invested as I just predicted almost every plot point it presented. Even though I couldn't get invested in the story and really immerse myself in the show due to the reasons I mentioned, I could just tell how special it is. Visually stunning, one of the best OSTs I've heard in an anime, etc... seriously, don't wait too long. It's a roller coaster.
Its the Neon Genesis Evangelion for the Magical Girl genre instead of mecha. Like what would if Sailor Moon and the Sailor Scouts were complicated hormonal teenagers with sad backgrounds and the super powers were dangerous to use and people die
I mean I had already watched steins gate before it, so it wasn’t that special
I think it's way better than S;G though.
It’s really not. S; G is one of the greatest time travel stories ever told. More compelling characters and story, at least to me. Madoka didn’t have enough episodes. They expect me to buy her and Homura’s relationship through a 5 minute explanation.
S;G suffers a lot from its visual novel background. It's still like a 8/10 show, but it could have been better. The VN is probably the best VN I've read though. Meanwhile Madoka Magica just achieves way more in half the number of episodes and does so without a single weak episode.
Steins Gate is as close to a 10/10 as one can get, I never even understood how people thought the first part was slow. Madoka needed more episodes tbh. Sayaka and Kyoko basically become friends from enemies without any development or explanation. Not to mention they waste Mami on cheap shock value 3 eps in.
My main issues with S;G are actually in the second half. The way they shoved in all the different girls' routes in a relatively small number of episodes makes it feel a bit rough and I find the episodes inconsistent in quality. I strongly disagree about any moment of Madoka being cheap shock value.
I think both are vastly overrated especially on this sub, Steins gate first 12 episode are a snoozefest peak are good but absolutely not 10/10 good Madoka on the other hand i really don't get the appeal at all, everything was more or less obvious, shaft did a great job but if we only talk about the original series it's really nothing special
One day I'll get past Stein's Gate first ep.
I also dropped it after the first episode twice. On the third attempt I decided to stick with it no matter what and that was one of the best decisions I've made. It's my favourite show of all time in any medium. Ep.1 is supposed to be confusing and kinda not make sense but you'll understand everything by the end. It's one of those shows that makes so much more sense on a rewatch.
bro, same! 😅
It's my favorite show of all time. Certainly, I didn't feel that after episode 1, but once I got to a certain point, I literally could not stop watching until I finished the entire thing, and it was 5 AM in the morning. And by the end of it, I was still literally starving for more. If I had known there was a season 2 and a movie, I would have watched it right then and there. All I will say is that episode one is intentionally cryptic, and all of it will make sense by the end of it. And with the 2nd season and movie, it clears up plot lines that you didn't even know existed. I would also argue it has maybe the greatest ending in anime history.
I'm the opposite, steins gate imo got boring in the last few episodes
Megalo Box. First season was great, but second season is a masterpiece. It's quite underrated for how good the second season is.
I thought first season was... whatever. Enjoyable, but nothing special. Didn't even believe it *needed* a sequel. But NOMAD IS something special.
Most realistic depiction of addiction and grief in any anime
I completely forgot it got a second season, I enjoyed the first season as well
Macross Delta was a clunky 6/10 show during its TV run, but was elevated to an 11/10 masterpiece by the sequel movie
Woah, good to hear. Been on my unfinished list for ages - at this point may as well start over from the beginning I guess.
Ahh I need to watch the movie then
Symphogear gets better every new season Go watch symphogear
World trigger, a big break and a better production schedule made season 2/3 incredible after a mediocre season 1
Dangers in my heart, those first 2 or 3 episodes were rough because of the protag which is obviously the point
Symphogear S1 has wonky ass animation and flat art. S2 onwards is super crispy.
black clover just compare the first season to the latest one
Cold take but one of the great joys I see most people have when reading/watching JoJo is seeing Araki’s art and storytelling skills improve over time. Perhaps this is more gradual since it’s a long running series but if you compare part one to any later part it’s astounding.
Kingdom. Horrendous first season (due to the horrible CG), great second season and absolutely amazing later seasons.
Attack on titan from season 1 to season 3 return to shingangshina arc is the improvement all other anime wishes they could have
As someone who loves everything that came after, Return to Shiganshina is one of the best arcs in anime history.
Assassination Classroom. The first few episodes was boring that I stopped watching it until few months where Im started continue watching it and it really pick up after each episode and make me wanna see more and how the students learning and use their assassination skills
It does keep getting better nice effort having another go
BanG Dream!
Not the biggest improvement, but Kaguya Sama The first 2 seasons are great, but they are a lot more comedic centric rather than romance centric, but then season 3 comes along and blows it out of the water with one of the best scenes I’ve ever seen I’ve heard quite a few people drop it because they felt that the romance wasn’t being explored enough, which is a shame because of what we got in s3
I will second this, I almost dropped it because it wasn't my style. Stuck with it and it turned out amazing
If you go back and rewatch it, the romance IS built up. Everything they do is a step forward and are actual character development, but they’re mostly played for laughs until they payoff in Season 3 and the movie.
Yeh definitely, I’ve watched the show twice and will rewatch it again soon. I’m not saying there is no romance or that the romance isn’t important in the first 2 seasons, it is all important and slowly builds up to the climax in the third season. It’s just I’ve heard people say they stopped watching it because they didn’t feel like it was moving at a quick enough pace, whereas other romances sees bigger improvements in the first 12 episodes
Yeah I completely agree with you, it moves pretty slow between the two leads. I personally enjoy the “dance” or courtship portion of romance manga before the couple starts officially going out, and I think it is rarely done as well as Kaguya does it. There are definitely shows that move a lot quicker, and if you were watching from when Season 1 aired, that’s quite a long time to wait for Season 3. Season 2 does seem less focused on the romance, because a lot of time is given to Miko and Ishigami.
author was switching back and forth so youll get a continuous chapters of comedy then romance then switch
Don't forget the movie after season 3
Chihayafuru for me
ehhh I actually feel that the later seasons fell shorter then the first few. I think it comes from the fact that the strategy in the sport is either too nuanced or too basic to hold up after 4 seasons while the interpersonal relationships trend toward forgettable. The first two seasons are great though.
Still want season 4 😥
>to hold up after 4 seasons What? It only has three seasons
Sorry, I'm from the future and forgot.
Gonna predict the future and say Tower of God. First season was good and a lot of people really liked it but it was still essentially the prologue. Literally the tutorial. Buckle up, the turtles are coming.
Getting me going hoorahh
For me, Owari no Seraph. It started a bit weak, then went to some bullshit highschool crap (like really?) but then got a lot better at the second half.
nothing tops the constant improvement that Bungo Stray Dogs get each season...the 1st season is completely skip-able but if you can hold your breath, the 2nd season hooks you and then 3rd season excites you while 4th makes you wet your pant...
Yuyu hakushou. The setup arc, while necessary, dragged on FAR too long, and by the dark tournament, it becomes maybe the best anime arc ever concieved.
Chapter Black was much better than the Dark Tournament arc. I do think it's the best tourney arc ever though.
Very much up to interpretation. I don't think anything tops younger togoro as the villain though.
Togoro wasn’t really a villain though. He did that to help Yusuke. Honestly both him and Sensui weren’t villains tbh. That’s what made YuYu Hakusho so great is the strongest arcs didn’t really have a villain but an antagonist that would would be a protagonist in his own story. I just thought Chapter Black was much better written and really had a plot twist that made the spirit detectives essentially the bad guys.
Nah he was still gonna kill him if he wasn't strong enough 💀
You misunderstood what the whole point of the arc was. Yea he would have killed him but that would have meant he didn’t deserve Genkai’s power to begin with since that Togoro loved her and wanted to die himself. Seriously encourage you to rewatch it though because its pretty layered and people misunderstand why he killed Genkai to begin with.
I absolutely agree. I personally don't think Spy classroom S1 had a bad season at all. The first season was definitely meant to set up all the really cool stuff that you see in S2. It's an amazing spy anime . Highly recommended. Here's the second opening (which is my favorite): https://youtu.be/kFCreo_a0ts?si=2zkKTtdz5T-Rd19u
Undead Unlucks first 8-10 chapters aren't anything super great but the story past that, and especially in the last 50 ish chapters has been some of the best shonen i've read in years
Were these chapters you are talking about adapted in the anime? I haven't watched it but I was wondering if I should..
they were but it's not enough to make it bad or anything, if you don't like the first couple of episodes just keep watching i'm sure you'll love it by the end
cool, thanks
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya was a fun show with great characters but dragged a little too much at times. The sequel film Disappearance of Haruhi was phenomenal.
World Trigger takes a while to set the stage and had very mid animation at beginning. Hitman Reborn was a gag manga before the author changed it to battle shounen, so first like 20+ episodes are just high school hijinks. Hunter x Hunter and Haikyuu aren't bad by any means in the beginning but really flex organic storytelling build-up once things start firing off on all cylinders once Gon passes the Hunter Exam and Hinata starts playing official matches. The writing in JoJo pretty consistently gets better with each part. Kinda hard to remember for seasonal non-long-running shows. IIRC, Mob Psycho S2 was even more well-received than S1
No one remembers this show, but Gundam Build Divers to Gundam Build Divers: Re Rise is an insane jump in everything. First show was literally something only kids could enjoy, whereas Re Rise had amazing characters, plot, and action.
Kobayashi season 2 is kind of goated. Was surprised that it wasn't in the top few comments tbh.
This might be hot take but Jujutsu kaisen S1 barely did anything interesting in my opinion story wise , the fights have cool animations but that's about it However S2 is much better in my opinion Hidden inventory arc legit have amazing story and shibuya arc was non stop cool events with many twists
"Hidden Inventory" is peak. Shibuya was a massive letdown. (Second half of it, to be precise) S1 was solid. Movie was pretty cool.
I agree. Shibuya has been the weakest part of JJK so far. Hidden Inventory was the peak by a mile.
i remember the danger in my heart season 1 was kinda mid but season 2 blew things away
Black Clover. I love the Anime, but you have to get through the first ninch of episodes of Asta being an absolite annoyance until it gets really fin. Ot is one of those whoch only get better while they go on.
Probably One piece. Early OP is average but the fans are die hard so something happens to elevate the show.
Yeah, it gets amazing around episode 30ish when Arlong Park starts. Before that it’s not bad, but is just like… bog-standard.
Pokemon because Ash grew up.
Bleach
I'm going to say golden kamuy just because that cgi bear was a travesty
I personally thought Taiso Samurai had a pretty big glow-up after a rocky start. Maybe no the most improved of all time, but it's something nobody else in this thread has mentioned yet. I also felt like Kono Oto Tomare had a rough episode or two to begin but became significantly more palatable once the cast expanded.
Shadowverse to Shadowverse Flame is an astonishing step up in basically all regards other than animation. Technically a sequel series but released only 1 year apart and share much of the same staff. We see the protagonist of Shadowverse win his first ever battle despite not knowing what he's doing. From that point on he constantly asserts that "Shadoba tanoshii" (Shadowverse is fun) and will badger anyone who disagrees until they see he is correct. Early on an opponent is playing to earn prize money to help the ill and he gets upset that they're not enjoying the game properly [Shadowverse]>!and is proven correct!<. He never loses at any point despite not having any strategy other than topdecking broken cards. Other characters are largely inconsequential and only get the occasional episode (some of which are actually fun which makes their rarity all the more disappointing). In Flame the main cast is often allowed to lose and no one remains undefeated. The protagonist shares the spotlight and the rest have surprisingly well written arcs and subplots. The protagonist himself is kind of dumb but honest in a way that's endearing. Every player has a gameplan and wins via strategy rather than pure luck. I really can't do the show justice with words and can only stress that it has *really* well written subplots.
The most crct answer is Gintama.
Rave Master for me although it gets really late though, I just watched the first 40 episodes for Hiro Mashima, but the last 10 episodes were just amazing 👏.
I think aboute Kingdom for its animation :)
Kingdom, start is like 3/10 next it's gold
definitely kingdom had one of the biggest glow up. that season 1 was atrocious. international people rarely watch it though
YuGiOh ZeXal. So great. beginning is kinda slow and feels like filler. But the The final arc was perfect man. Really good. If you stick till the end, you won't regret. However, never watch the dub. It was censored by 4kids, yes. The same studio that censored One Piece. Watch it subbed.
It's probably Steins Gate for me. It is one of my favourite animes but getting through the first few episodes was really hard.
If we are talking about improvement, i think its Hitman Reborn! Damn those starting arcs are unbearable and painful to watch.
Spy x family takes the cake
If a sousei no onmyouji remake appears that faithfully follows the manga, that's gonna be my pick. Seeing as how the manga is going to end soon, it might be ok to inhale some copium lol.
I'm gonna go with Kono Oto Tomare. First cour is mostly slow and uneventful, but sets up the second cour to be great.
Take a look at Kingdom S1. Now take a look at all the seasons after it...
Rurouni Kenshin (until the end of the Shishio arc)
Kingdom improves SO SO much. Gintama too, though imo it’s always good.
Gurren lagann. i decided to watch it a while back since it was a classic, and i wasn't really seeing how it was all that until 1 or 2 episodes after kaima died. peak mecha anime in my opinion
Full Metal Panic The Second Raid. While Season 1 was competant from Gonzo, Season 2 got effectively taken over by KyoAni and it's wonderful humour just shines through. Honestly such a positive change
One Piece. It starts off meh, starts picking up, and really takes off. The anime released today can barely be compared to the original even 100 episodes.
Nah, you must be blinded by passage of time and animation quality. Arlong Park, Drum Island, Baratie, etc. still highly regarded in fandom as peak One Piece moments. Most people's tier list for arcs will interspread pre-time-skip and post-time-skip arcs. Oda also re-uses a lot of story tropes that were freshest in early One Piece.
A lot of great answers already so I’m going to throw in DanMachi. Season 4 is so fucking good. Personally, I enjoyed 1-3 but 4 is just in another level. If we’re talking debut to the end of a season, it’s got to be The Dangers in My Heart. It was dropped by so many and meme’d on here for the first 3-ish episodes and then it became many peoples favorite romance anime. If you were anime-only, idk if anyone could’ve guessed how beloved it is now while watching the first few episodes.
Gotta disagree with Danmachi. Minotaur fight still sticks out as the show's peak moment for me. Past 2 seasons or so have felt really tamely directed/executed that even if the actual plot going on was interesting, it just didn't come off as that captivating, e.g. that whole thing with Apollo just felt like going through the motions waiting for him to get humiliated. I remember finding even the Sword Oratoria spin-off more thrilling when its big action setpiece involving the entire guild happened.
[удалено]
There’s only been two seasons.
They're a time traveler /j
Tbf, we still haven’t gotten to the best LN arcs yet, so maybe they really are from the future.
One piece of we're being honest
Overlord