Been a bit out of the anime loop, and I'm still a bit behind with a few series, but here's initial expressions of this season, in order of enjoyment.
1. Kiseijuu: I thought it might be good, but it exceeded my expectations. The surreal images are both disturbing and funny. The parasyte relationship is surprisingly plausible (within the narrative). The animation is great; the soundtrack sounds great but felt a bit inappropriate to the mood at times (when it didn't it was wonderful). A winner.
2. Gugure Kokkuri san: Even more of a pleasant surprise than Parasyte. The dead-pan humour is totally up my alley. Lonely girl in loneliness denial meets needy fox spirit. Inugami and Tanuki are arriving in time. Great art and soundtrack. In some shows, characters go chibi for comedic moments. This show flips this on the head: the main character defaults to chibi and gets a detailled treatment only in scenes that are supposed to be emotional.
3. Hitsugi no Chaika ~ Avanging Battle: First episode picks up all the themes of the first. If you've seen the first season you know what to expect.
4. Akatsuki no Yona: A rather standard story (so far) about a princess escaping assassination, but very well executed.
5. Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso: Manic pixie dream girl teaches gloomy lead to love life? Sure seems like it. I'm a sucker for music shows, and they show signs to take this aspect seriously, which is good for me. Piano + violin is one of my favourite combos. I like the childhood friend. The drama isn't as overdone as I feared, but it's also not as subtle as I hoped. Some scenes make me roll my eyes, and the female lead hasn't won me over yet. Also the eyes in this show sometimes look creepy. All in all, though, the positives outweigh the negatives.
6. Inou Battle: Good fun. If they go with having super powers and nothing to do with them, rather than with a background conspiracy plot, I'll probably enjoy it more.
7. Madan no Ou to Vanadis: I thought it would suck, but it doesn't. It looks like a fairly standard fantasy show (and if the opening's anything to go by it might have harem elements), but after two episodes it's still pretty entertaining. Best voicework from Haruka Tomatsu since Tonari no Kaibutsu kun.
8. Sora no Method: This feels a lot like a key show (the last on that aired was Little Busters). It's confident and appealing, but not particularly interesting. Can go up, can go down; but it's certainly a competetently executed show.
9. Ore, Twintails ni Narimasu: I was sceptical, because I never got into Kämpfer, which this reminded me of. But this is so utterly silly it works for me.
10. Shingeki no Bahamut: Decent fantasy with a lovable rogue type protagonist. A bit too macho for my taste, but it's not too bad. The major turn-off for me is the overuse of cgi. I just can't get past that. Pity, because they seem to get it right (especially when compared to Karen Senki which looked so awful that I couldn't make it through five minutes).
11. Shirobako: PA Works makes an anime about making anime, and it's all right. Maybe it'll get better, but never have I seen a show the main girls' moe designs stand out so much. They're so awfully standard, especially when compared to the more individualised support cast. What were they thinking. Also, I didn't expect a car racing scene, and neither did I want one. I really hope the show gets its act together, because there's potential.
12. Donten ni Warau: Underwhelming premier, based around a middle-brother's I'm-not-strong-enough wining. There's potential in the setting. My hunch is if you enjoyed the most recent Hakkenden version, you'll enjoy this, too. The style is similar.
13. Nanatsu Taizai: Shounen fighter. Decent. About Magi level, I'd say. Distinct visual style. Serial boob fondling annoys me.
14. Denki kai no Honya San: Well, this is no Working! The characters are likable but one-note. The humour is so-so. I like the art style. Apparently it's funnier if you know Akihabara better than I do? For example, the shop "uma no ana" is apparantly a pretty good copy of a similar shop "tora no ana" (and replacing the tiger with a horse gives you the popular pun tora-uma = trauma). *Shrug*
15. World Trigger: Rather standard shounen fighter with just enough charm to keep my interest.
16. Daitoshokan no Hitsujikai: Looks like a bland harem show with a make-everyone-feel-good premise. Passes the time if you like the genre.
17. Grisaia no Kajitsu: Looks like a harem of assassins or something? Gratuitious panty shots. Interesting aside: the version I watched had censored nude breats, but uncensored nude (male) butt. The characters keep me mildly interested, but that's it. No big hopes for this one.
18. Ushinawareta Mirai wo Motomete: The art is ugly; the story boring. But there appears to be some sort of time-loop going on, so who knows? I'm not holding my breath.
19. Okami Shoujo to Kuro Ouji: Oh, dear god, no. Looks like they're trying to be self-conscious, but the entire show seems to be based on people embarrassing themselves and/or others. I'll see where this goes, but it's really not something I'll want to watch if it continues like this.
20. Terraformars: Definitely dropped. Hyper brutal shounen fighter with little redeeming features, and to top it off there's censorship to the point that you sometimes can't tell what's going on. Not that it matters; a black screen would be less aggravating anyway.
Still have to watch some shows; most of them second seasons. I also didn't rate any of the five-to-ten minute shows yet, as it's too soon to really say anything. Better season than the last one; that much is clear.
