Genericon XXIX (2016) Debrief

Hi there, folks! We had a fantastic time and Genericon this past weekend, and we wanted to thank everyone who came out to see us for panels and trivia. It was great to see so many people interested in our presentations. A huge thank you also goes out to Genericon staff for all their hard work pulling off another amazing con.

We’ve listed the anime and games we presented this year below so you can take a look if you’re interested. If you have any questions or thoughts on the series, leave a comment or contact us directly.

Good Anime:

Garden of Words (2013)

Scott – The Garden of Words is a short but beautiful film about rain and relationships.  It features some of the best art I’ve ever seen in anime alongside a touching and believable story about two characters going through a difficult time in their lives.  It’s worth a watch for absolutely anyone.

Anime Mirai
Death Billiards (2013)
Aki no Kanade (2014)
Ojiisan no Lamp (2010)
Harmonie (2014)
Little Witch Academia (2013)
Little Witch Academia: The Enchanted Parade (2015)

Su – The Anime Mirai Project has been around since 2010 and allows young animators the chance to show their stuff by creating a short anime piece. All the above shorts came about as a result of Anime Mirai from various years and offer an amazing visual/auditory/narrative experience in just 25 mins (LWA: Enchanted Parade being the exception as it is almost an hour long)! Please be sure to check them all out and drop comments about what you thought of them.

Patlabor: The Mobile Police (1989)

Dan – Patlabor delivers great robot fighting action, lots of humor and a ton of charm and positivity. Beautiful mechanical designs and a fun cast help round out this solid and entertaining show. If you want a classic mecha series with a strong focus on character and slice-of-life antics, you won’t be disappointed. 

Watch Patlabor: The Mobile Police on Hulu

Bad Anime:

Please note that the Con Artists in no way recommend watching these shows. They’re presented here for informational purposes only. Seriously, run while you can. Save yourselves!

Wizard Barristers: Benmashi Cecil (2014)

Dan – The idea of a magical crime drama sounds great, until this show crashes straight out of the gate with irritating characters, a nonsensical plot and some spectacularly bad artwork. Wizard Barristers is less a waste of potential and more like someone decided to assassinate the very concept of novelty. Avoid this miscarriage of justice at all costs.

Please don’t watch Wizard Barristers on Crunchyroll

Kantai Collection (2015)

Scott – There’s these girls, see, and they can sort of transform into combination warship/girl hybrid… things?  And they’re re-fighting World War II’s Pacific Theater, but there are alien fish things and scantily-clad evil girls representing America?  But sometimes there are cooking battles and idol concerts?  Plus, the whole thing is based on a free-to-play browser game, and the influences on the anime are much stronger than you’d expect.  Just avoid this one.

Wandaba Style (2003)

Brendan – Sure, a show about a group of down-and-out musicians of varying genres trying to contain their resentment for each other long enough to get global exposure for their act by performing on the moon sounds interesting, but Wandaba Style squanders this premise.  Too much time is spent switching between them, their blithering manager, the family issues of the boy scientist designing their ridiculous spacecraft, and, of all things, fanservice, to produce a cohesive experience of any kind.

Please don’t buy Wandaba Style on DVD, no matter how low the price is.

Symphogear GX: Believe in Justice and Hold a Determination to Fist (2015)

Su – I swear Symphogear is powered by copious amounts of sake and the JPop. While the music of Symphogear across all seasons is 100% recommended, the show… could use some help. This is the third season of this nonsense and it pulls out all the stops to be simply ridiculous. The plot involves alchemy, homunculi, memory combustion (yeah…), and creepy lesbian undertones. I do not recommend this title or its predecessors. Instead, I suggest grabbing the music and then watching my panels for all three years of this hot mess. If you do pursue this show, be ready for Season 4 and 5. God help us all…

Please avoid Symphogear GX and its predecessors on Crunchyroll

Bad Games:

Our anti-recommendation applies to the videogames we presented as well. Find a better way to spend 40+ hours of your life. Read a book. Pick up cross-stitching. Find someone who will love and respect you, because these games certainly won’t.

Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 1 (2014)

Scott – This game is a mess from start to finish.  No world to explore, no lore to learn, bland, uninspired characters,  a large number of nearly identical dungeons full of lazy palette-swapped monsters (in some cases, they didn’t even bother swapping the palettes), and a plot so basic and by-the-numbers it’s a wonder they even bothered.  Not to mention one of the most pointless  crafting systems I’ve ever used paired with drops that are stupidly unintuitive to find and grind.  But slap a little (and I do mean just the smallest amount) of fanservice in there and you’ve got yourself a bona-fide franchise.  I need to go lie down.

Ar Nosurge: Ode to an Unborn Star (2015)

Dan – Packed to the gills with backstory and techno-jargon, Ar Nosurge can’t decide if it’s a high-stakes interdimensional tale of tragedy and hope, or a bloated pile of fanservice. Its plot makes no sense, its characters grate and its crafting system will drain you of any zest for gaming you have ever possessed.