Top 13 Anime I Will Never Recap: 3rd Strike

Hey everyone, I just wanted everyone to know that my look at my favorite episode of My Hero Academia is taking longer than I expected, since my class term is winding down and the Crunchyroll hack earlier this month threw a monkey wrench into my plans for it. It's just now getting back up and they have implemented new security to prevent a similar problem.

In the meantime, I thought that I would give you my third and final installment in my Top 13 Anime I Will Never Recap series. I could easily tell you all the stuff I don't feel like covering, but I don't want to keep milking this. I don't work for Activision after all. So, I present the final installment of this trilogy: The Top 13 Anime I Will Never Recap- 3rd Strike!


13. Any series centered around cycling

I will be the first to admit: I'm not the best at cycling. Even after 20 years since I first tried, I am not sure if I will be able to fully master it; nor do I enjoy it as much as some other folks. While other anime centered around sports have some entertainment value (though there will be other entries on this list I will finally have to decline); ones that have cycling as their main focus are just ones I can never get into. While most of them are fine from a technical standpoint (Yowamushi Pedal, Overdrive and Long Ride are ones that I can think of from the top of my head), I just don't get the appeal. To me, if the work itself is well-made; you can still enjoy it even if you don't take part in the activity or even have interest in it. An interest in bicycles is no more required to enjoy something like this is no more required than an interest in space travel to enjoy Star Wars or an interest in robotics to enjoy any given version of Transformers (material I covered here excepted). Still, I will probably not do anything related to cycling here, since it's not something I could get much out of covering.

12. Hikaru No Go

While I do enjoy the manga of this series (and not just because the artist would later go on to work on Death Note and Bakuman), this is one I keep forgetting there is an anime of. Maybe it's just me, but I don't feel comfortable to see how the manga would translate onto a screen. Even though changes between the anime of Death Note and Bakuman are interesting from the manga; it's something that I don't feel qualified to get into.

11. Reborn!

Related to the previous entry, this is a manga that is somewhat enjoyable; but I keep forgetting there was an anime adaptation of it. I do like gangsters as a concept (especially the classic "Chicagoland" variety); but I don't have much to work with, even with a show that has a premise of an enchanted bullet that makes people confess their dying wishes after blowing off their clothes like some kind of "nude bomb." Some of you might have to Google that last joke, but in any case; it's something I'd have less to talk about than Al Capone's infamous vault. Again, some of you might have to Google that joke.

10. Inazuma Eleven

It's finally time for me to say that I won't be doing this anime at all. While something I saw from JSPlayground a while ago recommended this, I just could never get into it. While it's something that many people enjoyed in Europe and its native Japan, I always found this anime to very quite dull. I may not find the actual game of soccer boring, but this anime always felt like that to me. It may be another Level-5 adaptation that I find disappointed by, but it's not even something that I can deconstruct extensively like Yo-Kai Watch. It's in a similar case to that series to: the anime didn't catch on here, and the game was only given a brief release on eShop; since I guess someone must have realized (correctly) it would bomb at retail. I also don't buy into the whole "PokéIre" thing, since I find the second part of that name inferior to the first. That's also the opposite of how it usually works. Metroid: Yes. Castlevania: Yes. Metroidvania? Oh Hell Yes. Even so, I also have a loyalty to "Whistle," a series with a similar premise that I saw first. I may not like this show, but it's just so dull there's almost nothing I could write about it that I would enjoy or you would enjoy reading.

9. Kuroko's Basketball

It's a similar case to the last entry: I may have joked about it before, but that was only part of the story. Even though many people like this series, I don't have anything to say about it that I would enjoy writing about or you would enjoy reading about. Plus, I have a preference of an older series known as "Slam Dunk," which should tell you something about how I feel. My preference of b-ballers is less like future GQ models and more like high-school versions of Dennis Rodman and Michael Jordan, among countless others. So, I'm afraid there's as much chance of me doing this as the LA Clippers making the Final Four.

8. Silver Spoon

While many people have praised this series, least of all, series creator Hiromu Arakawa of Full Metal Alchemist fame; I think my reaction can be summed up best by that Jason Bateman meme: "I didn't know what I expected." Granted, I don't think it's bad; but I also don't find it as great as others say. Much like Inazuma Eleven, there's not enough material for me to work with even though I've watched enough episodes to make this decision. I guess I'm just not a farmer, I have too much of my father in me.

7. Broader "Kodomo" Series

Much like my decision to not look at any series in the "shojo" (young woman) or "josei" (adult woman) genres; as my field is more "shonen" (young man) or "seinen" (adult man), I don't see myself looking at any broad series in the "kodomo," or "young child" demographic. To me, making fun of pre-K shows from any country is much too simple a target for me. It's like picking on someone I deem beneath me: what could I gain from it? As you can tell, Pokémon and Doraemon do not count for this; so you probably won't see me cover any Shimajiro, least of all the now memetic toilet training video. You know the one.

6. Hanamaru Kindergarten

On the other end of the spectrum, is similar rationale to why I'm not doing any of Mitsudomoe. I like this anime, since it's a strange blend of shout-outs to Gainax's other works and kindergartners who act like young lovers. I'm not making that up: I've laughed pretty hard at this anime, and not just because the lead kindergartners are basically Asuka and Rei if they were little girls. It's something that I just couldn't do justice, so I'd recommend watching it and deciding for yourself. I will keep watching it on Crunchyroll, but there won't be any more coverage on this site.

5. Sweetness and Lightning

Even though I wasn't sure about this anime at first, it's actually not that bad. The premise of a single father trying to raise his young daughter and bonding over cooking is very charming in how it's done; and it could pass for an anime adaptation of the Yotsuba& manga, which I absolutely love. While I don't intend to recap it, I will say that even though Azuma doesn't believe that Yotsuba could work in anime like it could for Azumanga Daioh; this will be another series that I will keep up with on Crunchyroll.

4. Re-imaginings of old Tatsunoko Production IPs

While I am considering doing some anime from Tatsunoko Production as part of my "From Humble Beginnings" series, I will be focusing on the original versions to show how much the medium has changed since it first started and came to the US. That, and their re-imaginings have often been hit or miss for my tastes. For everyone I've enjoyed such as Casshern Sins or Yatterman Night; there have been ones that I didn't really care for such as Gatchaman Crowds. Even though Infini-T Force looks cool, I won't be recapping it when it comes out. You might see a post about it when it comes stateside, but I will favor more of the older series over their newer adaptations.

3. Any Boxing Series

While I have heard much about boxing series such as Hajime no Ippo; it's not really something that I feel qualified to address. It also falls into my moratorium on tournament arcs,  since many of them have those as their primary story focus. I've only recently begun experimenting more with multipart episodes as one recap; not counting that look at Monsuno I did a while ago. Even so, I'm not someone that could do them justice. My knowledge is also less "Floyd VS Mayweather" and more "Little Mac VS Glass Joe," so I will have to sit this out.

2. CLANNAD (Includes After Story)

This is a great series, and given its reputation; I feel trying to recap this would be like putting arms on the Venus di Milo: anything I would have to add would be superfluous at best. It's a simple, but effective story about people that has good animation, a relatable story and sympathetic characters. That's all.

1. Pokémon Live

As someone who's covered plenty of content from the franchise, both good and bad over the years; and has begun experimenting with live-action coverage this year, I just can't do this one at all. This stage musical, which was made with no input from Nintendo or Game Freak; is arguably the most infamous Pokémon production I can think of, and yes; that includes Chronicles and the banned episodes. Long before the smash success of Pokémon Go helped generate hype for Detective Pikachu from Legendary Pictures (talk persists of the game being brought stateside as well), this play has never been given an official home release, and The Pokémon Company has essentially denied it exists. Still, it's a piece of utter insanity that I just can't express here. The only way I could think it would be crazier would be if there were a follow up called "Pokémon: Turn off the Dark-Type" by Julie Taymor, with music by Bono and the Edge of U2.

That just about wraps this list up, and I at least want to make a dent in some of my plans with the time I have left in the year; and make December filled with gifts to both myself and you as readers, especially with my look at Pokémon The Movie I Choose You. That will be all for now. Bang.