The Middle Ground Anime Of Summer 2017

We at BAYOG have discussed frequently how low our expectations were for Summer 2017. We’ve also discussed how pleasantly surprised we were with things especially the non-2 cour shows/sequels that obviously we were going to enjoy. Examples of things that turned into/remained trash/unwatchable were shows like Hajimete No Gal, 18if, and the second half of Hell Girl (seriously, 6 recap episodes?) Other things we have sang the praises of to the ends of the world are Re:Creators, My Hero, Ballroom, and Monogatari. What the other guys have touched upon briefly but we’ve never really talked about too much are the middle ground. This includes things that were good and just never hit great status and things that were bad and hit good status. What I’m specifically touching on are two shows that I enjoyed in the end, Gamers! and New Game!!

Don’t be deceived by the number of exclamation points, the shows really won’t have you pumped up, but they aren’t bad by any means (well Gamers in the end isn’t). Starting with this one, lets kick this off with the fact that the show pissed me off. We’re talking considerably excessive amounts of pissed off. As someone who has been in relationships that literally died due to shit communication, these “funny” misunderstandings left me enraged that it could literally be resolved with just talking to your significant other. Many people have had entertaining images to describe the craziness and communication SNAFUs but its rather sad that its so much of a hot mess. The show started to hit a genuinely insane level that would have had me just as pissed if I was in one of the characters but the final episode was actually surprisingly sweet. We hit a bit of closure towards the end of the penultimate episode and this last one just became an entertaining show where instead of stacking more and more cringe, we had a wholesome episode with only light overtones of paranoia and the characters becoming closer friends with some vacationing and fun.

Shifting gears, New Game!! was a great motivator for me personally and I really sympathize with the end decisions of the characters. Unlike most shows, we’ve been able to track genuine growth both of the character and their careers. The only show I can think of that’s done this well is Scrubs. There, we saw the progression of our characters through the early years of their medical careers starting with them as interns, then becoming residents, through to their status as attending physicians. Here we’ve seen characters attain their dreams to become character designers, promotion to team leads, producers, and Art Directors. Finally, Ko Yagami, our panty and t-shirt wearing dream boss, opted to leave the team and her best friend to go to France in order to genuinely become an amazingly better artist. I can really sympathize with this realistic progression of a career, as I myself am trying this and moving onto a different job.

Now here’s the thing about the both of these shows. Production value on both are pretty damn good. The voice actors for both are pretty good and conveyed what they wanted, which is why I could easily sympathize with the cast and crew of New Game! and felt the cringe and awkward listening to the gamers of Gamers! The art style for both was simply beautiful and made watching week to week not a chore but something I optimistically looked forward to Tuesday and Thursdays. Animation was done very smooth and crispy, with me liking New Game!! more but both had very good styles and execution. This is why I found both shows to be the middle ground, not by being average, but just not being shit nor amazing.  Both shows were things I looked forward to hoping they would be better and better. Did you have a middle ground choice for the season? Did you like/love/hate New Game!! and/or Gamers!? Let me know in a comment and feel free to like and follow our blog! Just for the love of the God-Emperor of Mankind, don’t bollocks everything…