Big Finale! – Saying Goodbye to #AnitTwitWatches (Featuring Big Order)

It’s Time to Say Goodbye

Over the past three years I’ve run a group watch called AniTwitWatches over on Twitter. In that time we watched 20 different shows, had wonderful discussions, and had a pretty good time (well, mostly) along the way too! Today’s article, however, marks the end of this program after season 20, Big Order. I’d like to take this time to explain why we stopped, how Big Order represented the spirit of the program (even if it might seem like a strange note to end on), and whatever related thoughts I may have along the way. This isn’t a typical review, but I will talk about my thoughts on Big Order here so if you want that I’ll section it in a way so you can easily find it. With that, let’s get right to it.

Fate/Stay Night (2006) & UBW Route 1 – My Fate Journey Begins…

A Great Place to Start?

For the past few years I’ve slowly been collecting all of the mainline Fate entries along with a few other editions in order to finally dive into the franchise in full. With both season 15 and 16 of #AniTwitWatches my chance to start finally came. During this period we watched both of Deen’s adaptations of Fate/Stay Night (2006) and the Unlimited Blade Works film. Rather than do a typical review, I’m electing to instead discuss my expectations with each and my general thoughts on the franchise moving forward as I prepare to continue this journey deeper into the fandom.

Key in Transition – Kanon (2006) Review & Discussion

Kanon is a Weird Show

A long time ago I had planned to review and discuss each of the “big three” Key anime. Those being Air, Kanon (2006), and Clannad + After Story. Each a brain child of Jun Maeda, who would go on to make additional works that could easily be added to this initial list. However, I never got around to that article partially because I wasn’t sure how to convey just how radically different, while still being very much the same, each show was. Today I plan to retackle that very same article and explain the significance behind Kanon (2006).

#Animexchange – White Album 2

Hitting (Almost) all the Right Notes

Before we dive into the review, this is the first in a series of reviews for the “Anime X-Change Project”. If you don’t know what that is, be sure to check out all the info here from an earlier post. My partner, @Animated_Andy recommended me White Album 2, which despite its name, is not actually a sequel. In his own words:

As part of #animexchange I would like to recommend @JS_Reviews White Album 2:https://t.co/HHLK6VgGpJ

Based on your affinity for shows with emotional payoffs I thought this may be in your wheelhouse (You don't need/want to watch White Album beforehand. Unrelated stories). Enjoy!

— Andy @ 2021 (@Animated_Andy) December 9, 2020

So let’s see just how on the money he happened to be!

Koi Kaze – This is Controversial?

Love is Complicated

After I covered School Days, I decided it was high time I explored some other “controversial” titles with comparable reputations. While today’s show, Koi Kaze has a better reputation in the more versed anime circles, the 2004 series still garners a lot of of negative discussion and criticism due to the subject matter it explores. Anime is no stranger to the siscon scenario, but what happens if we play it totally straight? Today, I’m here to tell you why it’s well worth your time, and for reasons you probably won’t expect.

Creating 20 Original Anime Valentine’s Cards

Happy Valentine’s Day!

If you are on Twitter or in my Discord, you have probably already seen that I made a bunch of anime-related Valentine’s Day cards. If not, then this post will discuss why I did this project and what inspired each card. Please enjoy!

School Days – “The Worst Anime Ever Made”

You May Just be Surprised…

Even if you are fairly new to anime, you have likely heard somebody caution you against watching today’s anime of focus, School Days. However, I’ve been a big advocate of not always taking things at face value, and if you’ll humor me for the remainder of this article, I think I may just be able to convince you to give School Days the time of day.

Saying Goodbye to School Days – Concluding our Third #Anitwitwatches

Come and Vote!

The time has arrived once again to say goodbye to another fantastic #anitwitwatches. For our third watch we settled on the infamous School Days but we will be preparing to move on to a new show after next week. That’s where you come in! Below I’ll leave a link to our vote on Twitter where you can help decide what we’ll be watching next. Keep an eye out as we’ll be announcing the winner alongside the concluding thoughts for School Days on 1/20/20.

Heya #anitwitwatches folks, since I'm home a bit earlier I'm going to be putting up our voting poll so we can decide what to replace School Days as we finish it off next week (1/19/20). I did an overhaul of the selection this time as well. As usual, more info in the thread.

— Jon Spencer Reviews (@JS_Reviews) January 13, 2020

I’ll be reviewing School Days shortly after the watch concludes, so please look forward to that as well!

What is #Anitwitwatches?

This is a community initiative I started a few months ago where we get together and collectively watch an anime. Then, we talk about it on Twitter using the hashtag #anitwitwatches. The first ever watch was for Tonari no Seki-kun which was a lot of fun. You can view more information on the watch, as well as my review on Seki-kun here.

Our second watch was for Rampo Kitan which I had already written about previously, so that review won’t mention the watch at all. However, you can find all of the threads about any previous watch by searching the hashtag on Twitter or by clicking the linked #anitwitwatches right here.

Why is X Show on the Poll?

As I mentioned last time, each show was carefully considered using a series of criteria to ensure that this activity remains fun and varied each time. Due to some oversight with the last voting round on my end and the heavy nature of School Days, I’ve elected to largely mix up the poll for this new season of #anitwitwatches. A short summary is provided below and in the actual voting thread above as well.

1. Wandering Son – This is a carryover from our very first watch. There seems to be a lot of interest in it and I’m all for watching it! This recently made my Top 20 Anime of the Decade list if you wants some quick thoughts.
2. Rolling Girls – A CGDCT show with just enough depth to be interesting week-to-week. Very colorful and fun!
3. The Pet Girl of Sakurasou – After School Days, I thought something positive with a hint of romance might be in order. It’s a story about failure, but learning to push on even in the face of adversity. For creatives like us, it’s perfect!
4. Girls’ Last Tour – Lets explore a world together! I have been wanting to finish this and the watch would be the perfect excuse. Each week would have something for us to contemplate as well.

Join in the Fun!

So get to voting! I hope to see you for the next watch and would love to hear about shows you’d like to see added to the poll in the future. If you have any questions feel free to ask, I’d be more than happy to answer!

Gamers! – Misunderstandings Abound

What’s up Gamers? Jon Here with Another Review!

Since I’ve been rewatching School Days for #AniTwitWatches, I thought it might be fun to look at another show that focuses on relationship drama and misunderstandings. Unlike School Days, however, this one is more comedy focused and a lot less… well, intense. I actually started this in Summer 2017 when it was airing but shelved it for whatever reason. Looking back, I can see why…

#Anitwitwatches 3 – School Days Watch Schedule & Announcement

Welcome to the Third #Anitwitwatches!

Can you believe we are already on our third watch? This time around we will be watching the infamous School Days. I want to be upfront by saying that this show won’t be for everybody, and it may even make some of you uncomfortable. Do not feel obligated to participate. However, what better environment to watch this anime where we can all have discussion with each other? I’m confident that if you stick with this one from start to finish, you’ll have one unique experience that you won’t soon forget!

I’ll admit though, I was surprised that School Days managed to beat out Wandering Son in the poll. It seemed for sure that Wandering Son couldn’t be touched. YOU spoke, and I listened. I hope you are just as excited to hop on board this roller coaster of emotion and decide once and for all, is School Days really that bad?

What is #Anitwitwatches?

This is a weekly community event meant to bring folks together to revisit old favorites and discover new shows. It’s meant to be something you can get as involved in as you want, there is no pressure to participate every week or every watch, but we’d love to have you to share in the experience and discuss the shows we are watching all the same!

I was inspired to do this after seeing the “rewatches” that people do over at Reddit in the r/anime sub. Since I interact with a lot of you guys on Twitter, I thought it would be the perfect place to do something similar! That said, even if you do not have a Twitter you can still join in by posting any content via WordPress, YouTube, or whatever suits your fancy. If you do, be sure to send me an email at jonspencerreviews@gmail.com so I can share your wonderful creations!

For everyone else, simply watch the episodes for the week based on the schedule below. Make sure to use the hashtag, #anitwitwatches when you do, and that’s it! Discuss with the other folks participating, create content, and generally just have a fun time!

This next show was chosen based on YOUR votes, so let’s get to the watch schedule.

School Days Watch Schedule

We will be taking a 1 week break, meaning that we will NOT be watching anything for the week of 11/11/19. This is to give me time to properly prepare for hosting the watch and give everybody else a little break before starting something new. We will be keeping the Monday time slot for this watch after careful consideration and feedback.

If you have not done so, you can see where you can watch School Days for free, and legally, by using because.moe. Unfortunately, I cannot realistically check all regions but I aimed to make this as accessible as possible. That said, I won’t stop you from doing what you need to in order to participate. The more the merrier!

Here are the dates (all Mondays) and the episodes for each:

• 11/11/19 – Break (Veterans Day)
• 11/18/19 – Episode 1
• 11/25/19 – Episodes 2-3
• 12/2/19 – Episodes 4-5
• 12/9/19 – Episode 6
• 12/16/19 – Episode 7
• 12/23/19 – Break (Christmas, please enjoy if you celebrate!)
• 12/30/19 – Episodes 8-9
• 1/6/20 – Episode 10
• 1/13/20 – Episode 11
• 1/20/20 – Broadcast “Ending” (will be provided and discussed as this date approaches) & Episode 12

This means we’ll have 9 weeks of School Days with 2 weeks off for breaks/holidays. I carefully split the episodes up in the most logical way I could based on the content in order to create a fun viewing experience. This series has a lot happen episode-to-episode so I wanted to avoid groupings (especially later in the series) as much as possible. I hope to see you for the watch!