Three Winter 2016 Anime Reviews

Dimension W

Genre: Action

This was one of the shows that was first introduced to me as the trailers were being released. I was intrigued to see how the Sci-fi element would be included. The idea of the discovery of a brand new dimension that provides unlimited energy for mankind's usage was a big draw. Yet since I was busy watching Erased as my subtitled show at the time, I decided to wait for the broadcast dub that just recently finished.

Kyouma is a cool ninja-like collector of coils that you find actually has quite a disdain for these objects that power this high-tech future. He gets dragged into conflict with the government and other collectors with a quest to find the first coils. This journey is brought upon with his run-in with a incredibly advanced robot, Mira, and that it's slowly revealed how it connects to Kyouma's forgotten past. Now while watching this, I found myself less interested in the story and more attached to the characters. Therefore it was a fun watch, but some of the story elements I found some plot holes in or found rather convoluted.

Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash

Genre: Action, Drama

I was very hesitant to check out this show while the Winter season was airing, since I knew it was another show based on gaming. With the slew of anime surrounding this setting lately, I was afraid it might be along the lines of Sword Art Online. When I also learned later that it had A-1 Pictures behind it (which was behind SAO), I figured it was a repeat of the same with a Final Fantasy-esque art style. Eventually, I allowed my bit of curiosity to give the show a chance.

I can say that I was pleasantly surprised by this show's presentation. I was convinced that it would be a more action/comedy, but it quickly brought into the drama of the plot. The realism of the world Grimgar built and the themes of survival and coping with loss in multiple angles had me hooked. Now this show may not be for everyone since unlike SAO, this show actually takes its time with the characters in a more day to day basis. The few time jumps forward never feel quite as drastic and less like you've might have missed out on some cool adventures. I really hope they give us another season as I've become very attached to this party of unlikely friends.

Prince of Stride: Alternative

Genre: Sports

Despite the sports anime you'll find on my list on myanimelist.net, I've never been a heavy watcher of this genre of anime. There's not many sports in real life that I actually take the time to keep up with, but I occasionally check in here and there. Though there are newer explorations into athletics that I find interesting, so news that there was going to be an anime focused on free-running/parkour grabbed my attention.

This story of the rebirth of the great Stride team of Honan Academy was one that I enjoyed every step of the way. It was cool to see them try to translate the energy and athleticism of parkour in an animated format. Also, seeing how they would integrate such a new sport in a way that makes it seem possible for high schools to take part was nice. I guess you can say it's an alternative to Track and Field! The themes of trusting each other and becoming like a family is the usual for team oriented sports stories, but it never felt monotonous. This was another show that I looked forward to when the new episodes would be released. This was certainly an easy watch for me that was a good balance to Grimgar for me. Any fan of sports shows I believe could enjoy this show, since it's not too hard to understand the Stride sport that's basically like a relay race with the city as the obstacle.