Finished Madoka Magica along with Rebellion and I understand why people still talk about it, probably would put it in a top 10 list if I made one. I will say I was surprised that the ending took the middle path rather than being soul crushing but I think it fit for the series. Really want a 4th movie now.

After PUMM I've hit a rough patch in the animes I've watched. Spoilers for Akuma no Riddle and BTOOM! ahead but honestly you shouldn't care because neither show is that great.

Akuma no Riddle- The premise got me really excited, in a private school you have a a class of 13 students. Twist is 12 of those students are assassins and are all trying to kill the 13th student for a prize. Furthermore one of the students changes their mind and decides to protect the student from the other assassins rather than kill her. So while the premise is exciting the show wastes no time falling off a cliff as soon as it finishes setting itself up. First major problem is while the show is about a group of deranged killers no one actually dies. Yeah most of the episodes end with the lead protagonist just getting the other person to either give up or run out of time (I should mention that once one of the students decides to go for the kill they only have 48 hours to do it) avoiding any type of satisfying resolution to the ridiculously short fight scenes.

Yeah the action in this series is also kind of letdown since there isn't much of it since the episodes have to spend most of their time setting up the character development assassin of for that episode. Now I don't think I have to tell anyone that a single episode is not enough time to create an entire character arc so obviously the majority of the characters here are really flat and you never really care about who they are or why thy're fighting and when they leave the show after their inevitably failure you don't really care. Honestly the best comparison I can make is imagine mirai nikki which I think is a rather subpar show and make it worse in all aspects. It might actually fitting that this was the next thing I watched after Madoka because while Madoka was series that appeared lighthearted but was actually very dark, akuma no riddle is an anime that appeared dark but was actually on the lighter side. I mean don't get me wrong some of the character backstories are messed up but nothing a teenager couldn't handle.

BTOOM!- DO NOT WATCH BTOOM! It's another survival game anime that doesn't go anywhere because it has a "read the manga" ending that gives you absolutely no closure. Like it really feels like this 12 episode anime should be 24 episodes and it just stopped midway through. The other weird thing about it was that rape was a topic that got brought up a lot and the show had a very weird way of handling it. In episode 2 the lead female protagonist gets raped in one of the most uncomfortable scenes I've ever watched in an anime which more or less winds up defining her character for the rest of the series. She hates all men, hates being touched, and is willing to commit suicide at a moments notice. Now all of this is understandable to some extent but the real problem is how the show tries to get her to get over this problem. By giving herself over to the lead male protagonist and becoming the typical character you'd see in a harem anime...

Good job BTOOM! To make matters worse the lead protagonist isn't really the greatest guy since he looks up her skirt the first chance he gets while she's unconscious. . The relationship does get slightly better from there but not in anytype of meaningful way just the typical lead female protagonist gets into the constant trouble and lead male protagonist has to go save her and through that she falls in love with him gradually over the course of the series. Yeah it's not great. The supporting cast can be interesting but they appear and disappear at will so you can't get attached to any of them. I think BTOOM! is my punishment for marathoning all the good anime this past month rather than pacing myself.

Though I loved the original Madoka Magica and Higurashi, I've yet to watch either of those series' sequels.

I thought the Madoka Magica movie (the sequel movie Rebellion, not the show-remade-as-movies movies) didn't live up to the show. It wasn't bad though.

@Btoom- Yeah, anime, or really any Japanese media treats women... well, let's just say that the Japanese aren't feminists, or even that their views on women make any sense.

I knew not to watch Btoom! from the description and cover art.

Unfortunately, I have found myself rewatching a slowly refining list of "good" anime from things I've already seen, even watching it multiple times, rather than touching anything new. I always look at reviews of the new stuff but almost all of it is obvious crap. The welcome exceptions are becoming too few and too far between.

you might like psycho pass if you haven't seen it yet, fable.

it is a pretty brilliant anime in general, and it has a dark atmosphere with psychological suspense elements

Shirayukihime, Durarara X2, KonoSuba, Shouwa Rakugo, Myriad Colors, Hibike! Euphonium, Kekkai Sensen, Ore Monogatari, Punch Line, Shokugeki no Souma, Gakkou Gurashi, Shimoneta, Prison School, One Punch Man, Osomatsu-san, Haikyuu S2, Noragami Aragoto, Owarimonogatari and Utawareromono: Itsuwari no Kamen are all great shows from 2015 only. There's more anime coming out than ever before, don't be ridiculous.

Japan is probably overall a fairly conservative society on that front, but I disagree with the notion that their portrayal in anime is any disservice.

I don't think the depiction of women in anime is universally sexist, I think it's about what shows you watch. If you watch shows targeted at teenage boys, like harem or shounen, a lot of the female characters will just be sex objects and damsels, whereas if you watch shows targeted at female viewers or adults, they're probably going to have better-developed female characters.

Yeah shoujo characters are usually pretty strong-willed and individualistic, and there usually isn't as much fanservice in general in shoujo manga, just a lot of sparkly guys.

The portrayal of romance might leave some to be desired for a lot of people though. There's a lot of "knight in shining armor sweeps the princess off her feet" stories, which might invalidate the character design.

Our definition of "Great Show" is different then for at least half of those. The rest I'd agree with, don't have access to, or have never heard of.

I probably consider 'great' to be 'appealing to its intended audience and showcasing proficiency in multiple areas', instead of a subjective measurement of whether I liked it or not.
Half seems like an exaggeration though. I'd expect you to not like Myriad Colors and Utawarerumono for being a harem, Punch Line because you wouldn't try to watch more than one episode, KonoSuba because you don't know how to laugh, and Shimoneta and Prison School because the subjects trigger you, but that's some aggressive culling and still only 1/3. I'd be hard pressed to find qualitative criticisms of the rest, as opposed to personal preferences. (Not that the shows I mentioned were really removed based on qualitative criticism, although Myriad Colors could probably be called shallow.)

Great is something I would remember and seek out to rewatch a year later. Not just something where I go "meh that was an okay show and I guess you should watch it but I don't really want to see it again." Usually something that makes you the target audience instead of just catering to a specific niche.

Most anime is just starting to run together now a days. I mean sure I liked Rokka but I wouldn't dare to call it a good show.

The prospect of rewatching anything is inherently pretty unappealing to me, to where it would have to be outstanding, so yeah.
I can call them good instead if that is what you'd like, since it's what I ranked most of them on MAL, out of those I watched. Point was that they are not 'obviously bad'.

So Naruto and Bleach but for whoever the target audience is?

I don't really know what you are trying to say, and even if you did, I've watched neither of those shows, so it might be lost on me regardless.

I just finished:
Bleach - Meh
The Seven Deadly Sins - Meh...also, sexual assault isn't something to joke about really.
Log Horizon - A show about politics?...relatively boring, but different
The Garden of Sinners - Confusing, was there a point to it not being linear? I'm glad I figured out the Fate/ connection without having to be told.
Beyond the Boundary - Interesting
Death Parade - Interesting



If anyone wants to recommend a viewing order...

Annnndddd:

I really like Nanatsu no Taizai. S2 hype.
And there is literally nothing that isn't 'something to joke about'. I didn't find the jokes themselves funny, but the implication that they're an issue is just denigrating.

Sure, joke about anything, but there are good and bad ways, and times, to do so.


Anyway, Sins seemed a bit boring to me. The only characters with any real depth were Ban and King (barely), the fight scenes were a bit boring, it felt like the story was randomly assembled by someone who wasn't sure where they wanted it to go, there was no strategic depth at all, and the characters changed sides with the loyalty of a prostitute. Maybe it will get better as time goes on, but it just didn't strike my fancy.

"Sexual assault isn't something to joke about."
Don't move the goalpost now. Besides, anime is almost over-saturated with uncountable numbers of scenes with male characters being freely physically abused by women on the most minor implication that they did something indecent, it really wouldn't surprise me if the comedic dynamic in NnT comes in part from trying to subvert it.

I like the show because it's full of stupid fun. It's an endless escalator of a myriad of characters that are all presented as overpowered, and feel fleshed out enough to be singularly defined by a gimmick. The only character I don't like is the pig. And if you didn't like the fight scenes, idk what to tell you tbh onii-chan.

also, if you're going to watch shows like Gintama and Hitman Reborn with too many episodes in the first place, I'd recommend Hunter x Hunter.

I already watched Hunter x Hunter. I liked it, outside of the creepy pedophilia theme. I wish they'd make more, and I hear they are.

Not sure why you'd consider a show to have too many episodes, outside of the fact that it would take forever to finish or catch-up. I burned through all of Bleach recently (skipping the filler episodes) so I can probably handle the others.