Music is as integral to a piece of media as visuals or plot, which is why for as long as The GLORIO Blog has existed, we have done some variety of a feature about our favourite anime songs. With the decade having come to a close, we’re presenting the most memorable tracks of them all right here, with all the pithy commentary from yours truly you’ve come to expect.
To celebrate our 5th anniversary, we decided to relive our favorite part of forcing ourselves to watch every anime that ever comes out: the surprises. Just about every season a show or two pops up out of nowhere and turns out to be pretty good, and we wanted to give a shout out to a few you might of missed. To start, we’ll be taking a look at 2012 and 2013.
I made an angry list last year, so this time I figured I’d go with a more long-form retrospective that hopefully didn’t end up quite as acerbic, but, well… read ahead.
This week we are a little late thanks to Wonfes so I made sure to throw in tons of good stuff for you all to empty your wallets on.
We say a bitter sweet goodbye to all our Winter Roundup shows, or at least until we give our Final Thoughts on most of them later this week.
More death and tragedy all over the place as Garo, Death Parade, Yatterman, and Yurikuma continue to deny us happiness. Fortunately Shirobako delivers the best episode of the season, but even that makes us shed a tear for completely different reasons.
In this week’s installment… We are getting near the end of the season which means plot twists and big reveals all over the place. Garo, Death Parade, and Yatterman give away a few secrets, plus Jel puts his entire writing career in jeopardy by quoting the Spice Girls.
Set your fun levels to ZERO as Death Parade brutally concludes its two part murder mystery, Yatterman reminds you that your childhood heroes are dead, and both Maria and Yurikuma throw in a few rape attempts to round things out. Good times!
Shirobako somehow makes a character worse than Tarou, Death Parade delivers the crime drama no one wanted, and KUMA SHOOOCK!! We catch up on Yurikuma Arashi during its week off. Yes, I just wanted to say KUMA SHOOOCK!! again. Shabadado.
Garo gets deep, Yatterman is even sillier than usual, and Death Parade helps me almost overcome my completely healthy and logical fear of mannequins… almost.
As we hit the midpoint of the season, all our shows put on their hardhats, grab a lunch pail, and go about their business as usual… well, all the shows except Death Parade, which decides to re-invent itself yet again.
Shoooooock! (kuma shock)… I’ve been waiting all season to slip that in and finally get my chance as Yurikuma Arashi guest stars in the Roundup this week. As one show enters, we also have our second drop of the season. What could it possibly be???
Things get HEAVY as Death Parade, Maria, and Yatterman reach into some of the darkest depths possible. Fortunately Shirobako, Earth Defense Club, and some Garo filler are also around to lighten the mood.
Good times all around as Roundup vets Shirobako and Garo deliver some fresh perspectives and the new shows continue to deliver on their potential. Earth Defense Club is somehow still funny, Death Parade expands its emotional range, Maria stays as sharp as ever, and Yatterman delivers one of the first get out of your seat and cheer moments of the season.
The Roundup returns with a brand new lineup of Winter shows and a few favorites from last season. Magical Boys, a swanky version of the afterlife, medieval sex witches, adorable dystopian uprisings, and a show already dropped in the first round? Just another Tuesday afternoon at the Glorio Blog.
So close to the end of the season, Garo, Log Horizon, and Shirobako set up to continue through Winter. Thankfully this does not include SeHa Girls which does little more than give us this week’s bizarre header image.
Video games rule this week as SeHa Girls manages a rare decent episode and Log Horizon shows us its actually about mutual respect between people with different opinions. Also, Garo and Shirobako are still good.
The lineup is thinning out as we approach the final few episodes of the season, but The Roundup is still going strong! Psycho Pass is conspicuously missing (more on that a bit later today), Garo reminds us that Rage of Bahamut isn’t the only rad show by Mappa this season, and Iro gets to yell DEEEEEEEEEEEN for the first time in a good long while.
Shirobako cements its place as The Roundup’s sleeper hit as Marlin gives it a second chance. Unfortunately most of the the other shows continue to flounder as Yona fights pacing issues, Argevollen stays irrelevant, and I am one blue hedgehog away from dropping SeHa Girls.
Most of the Glorio crew returns this week but unfortunately it’s to a mediocre batch of episodes. Marlin and I struggle to stick with SeHa Girls among other shows, but at least Aqua and Gee have Shirobako’s interesting topic of 2D vs. 3D animation to save this week from being a total wash.
