Merry Christmas, happy holidays, and a GREAT New Year to you all, dear readers!

As another year ends, it is time to update past reviews to reflect any changes in my thoughts on certain anime. I think it’s important to look back and learn, as I did with My Former Favourites list versus My Current Favourites list. There aren’t as many changes compared to 2.0. Furthermore, only changes of which I am certain went into effect – nothing pedantic. I hate pedantry.

The majority of adjustments this time relate to my increasing standards or rather, me going too easy in earlier reviews, wishing they were better. Ah My Goddess Season 2 leaps out at me as one such case. I truly wanted it to have what I loved about the first season, but it clearly didn’t – I say as much in the text of the review!

Similarly, a dozen awards, both positive and negative, have been stripped from titles. The awards are to reflect the best or worst of their criterion and some of choices no longer fit. In the cases of Allison & Lillia and Angel Heart (my 7^th and 8^th reviews), for example, their lead characters are good, but not noteworthy. My standards were so much lower back then.

The full list of changes are below.

Lastly, dear readers, I hope to see you all for the next year and many more beyond.

 

Patch Notes 3.0

Fixed trailers:

• Allison & Lillia and Baccano – both of these broke last year as well. In fact, A&L’s trailer was the first I tried to upload myself, but YouTube flagged it within seconds. The studio really doesn’t want anyone to know about this anime. The best I can find is the OP song without animation – can you believe it?

Ah! My Goddess: Fighting Wings – dropped to Low rating, compressed art/music/story sections, and removed the awards, as OVA don’t qualify unless significantly different from the main series. This wouldn’t have been reviewed in the first place, had I realised it was an OVA.

Ah! My Goddess: Flights of Fancy – dropped to Low rating – should have been this from the start. I was too nice. This is a pointless second season. I didn’t even have to change the body text.

Allison & Lillia – removed Strong Lead Characters award. Good characters, but not great.

Angel Heart – removed Strong Lead Characters award. Good characters, but not great.

Ano Hana the Movie – dropped to Low rating for much the same reason as Ah! My Goddess season 2 – pointless addition to the series.

Aria the Animation – dropped to Low rating. I was being kind with Aria. I mean, it’s so nice to you – how can you be cruel to this series? In truth, it has bothered me for a while that I wasn’t honest with this one. Aria could have done so much more.

Asura Cryin’ – dropped to Very Low rating. How did I savage it in the review yet score it as a mere Low? Added an Awful Dialogue award. Asura Cryin’ sucks!

Bakemonogatari – removed Fluid Animation award. The animation is good, but there isn’t enough for someone to watch specifically for the animation.

Bartender – removed No Development award. It doesn’t apply to this type of series.

Berserk (2016) – dropped to Low rating. I think I overrated this one because it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as I had been told. True, the CG was that bad, but the story had good elements. Still, more bad than good and thus a Low rating.

Blood Lad – erroneously had a Medium rating – fixed to Low. Not sure how I didn’t notice for so long.

Children Who Chase Lost Voices – dropped to Low rating. I trashed this film in the review and yet it still wasn’t enough. Several times in recent months, I’ve actively told people not to waste their time with Lost Voices. This doesn’t feel like a Shinkai film either.

Clannad – dropped to Very Low rating. Every time I think of this anime, my opinion of it worsens and it just so happens to be the first title I think of in relation to worst anime. The stupidity of the moral lesson, the drama— Better stop there before I repeat the whole review.

Erased – dropped to Medium rating. On rewatch, I noticed the lack of skill in crafting the mystery, giving a feel of half a series. Also removed the Strong Lead Characters award.

Full Metal Panic – removed Fluid Animation award. The animation is good, though certainly not top tier for the industry – increasing standards.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex – upgraded to Very High rating. I feel I unfairly limited this one because it wasn’t as good as the Ghost in the Shell movie. No reason they can’t both be excellent.

Hellsing – removed Holy Shit award. Hellsing Ultimate takes the wind out of everything in the original.

Infinite Ryvius – art downgraded to Very Low. There’s no way I wouldn’t have given it the lowest rating after seeing that art. Must have been a mistake.

Karas – removed Riveting Action award. Karas’s action looks great, but it isn’t riveting due to a lack of story or strategy within the action scenes.

Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV – dropped to Low rating. This 2-hour commercial didn’t deserve higher. Furthermore, having completed the game, Kingsglaive is largely pointless and should have been in the game itself.

Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi – dropped to Very Low rating. This anime is garbage. When I reread the review, I expected the lowest rating at the end based on what I had written. I was surprised to see a generous ‘Low’. I had rated it higher only because I had seen worse.

Michiko & Hatchin – removed Stunning Art award. I believe I just wanted to give it something positive. The art is good, certainly, but I would never point to it as an exemplar of anime.

Mind Game – story downgraded to Medium. The high rating must have been a mistake. I never recall liking it that much. Still a crazy film though.

Place Promised in Our Early Days – dropped to Low rating. Another Shinkai piece I went too easy on. Because I had already thought less of Place Promised than his other works, at the time, I must have settled for the medium tier, when honestly I should have gone further down. Shinkai is a director with a portfolio split down the middle between boring work and great work. Thankfully, he’s on an upward trajectory.

Re:Zero – dropped to Low rating. The more I think of Re:Zero, the worse it becomes. We truly have the stupidest protagonist in anime here and that princess selection episode, wow, spectacular… Humanity is collectively dumber for having seen that.

Sword of the Stranger – removed Stunning Art award. The art’s quality is more from the great animation rather than the overall art.

Tokyo Ghoul – dropped to Low rating. I went too easy on Tokyo Ghoul. A truly disappointing anime.

Zoids New Century Zero – removed Fluid Animation award. Yes, the animation is fluid, but not put to outstanding use, as I would expect of the award.