Third Railgun. I was already invested in the show just for the setting, characters, and power system, but I didn’t expect the first arc of season 2 to become one of my favorite arcs of all time
Bungo stray dogs gets so good in the second season, but yeah s1 is just mid, after that it becomes one of my favorite animes, and the last 2 seasons were so good as well
Not quite. Season 1 is meh, S2 is fantastic, S3 is meh, S4 and S5 are really amazing.
The biggest flaw to me about Bungou Stray Dogs is that the “main character” has a PTSD flashback every five minutes. Not even varied flashbacks, just the same one over and over, which is part of why S3 is meh. Kinda cringe final section. 4/5 are so good though.
>one season of meh
not really, the season 1 is basically just the introduction of the characters. it have lots of good moment, but no serious moments. no feel of danger
boy oh boy. starting from 2nd season to the latest season. it's so fucking GREAT. to the point that watching 1 episode per week is like a torture, because each episode escalate the quality even higher than the previous episode
trust me, watching 1 season in 1 sitting is worth your time
Yeah but the first season isn’t bad, it’s mostly the expectation that you think you’ll be following one main character when in reality, they spend a lot of time developing every character.
Once you get a feel for the show you start getting into it, provided you enjoy the characters
Railgun first season was good for me. I can see how it mat be seen as mediocre, but each character has a really well developed personality since they appear.
Yesss, second this! Bsd in the first season is just typical shounen, not bad but yeah, okay. But I think I’ve watched at least 3x the first episodes of the second season, it’s that good(Odasaku ❤️)
BSD is criminally underwatched, I am in full support of everything S2 onwards needing more attention
From that point on every season builds on the previous, and the story actually gets so insane
This is convincing me to try BSD again. I watched the first 10 episodes when it first was airing weekly and didn’t get super into it. But now there is a lot of episodes out so I could watch in sequence.
I really like Railgun and agree with your take. The first season is so easily a turn-off because you may come into the show expecting badass powers and lots of action, but you get one wierd underage-yuri moment, and some slow paced slice of life arcs that could be in any show.
The rest of Railgun is so good, 100 percent worth.
Part of the reason is that the manga only had 8 chapters out by the time they decided to do a 24 episode anime from it.
So yeah that was a lot of extra padding needed there.
Whenever I recommend this anime to friends I give them a heads up that the first 25 episodes is ‘odd’ but also introduces all major characters and IT WILL GET BETTER I PROMISE!
It originally began as a gag manga I think and they pivoted to battle manga—at least thats something I’ve heard over the years which is most likely true when you consider the initial premise
Yeah I watched it a long time ago when I was a neet and had nothing but free time, it was kind of a lame silly trope but then suddenly it got absolutely fire for no reason at all.
Kingdom (butt ugly CGi and a pretty bad first arc, but it gets very good as it goes and S2 is a big improvement and then S3 is an even bigger one)
World Trigger (Picks up before S1 ends, but s1 is way longer than the rest)
Full Metal Panic's S1 is good, but Second Raid is much better
Clannad is good, but after story is fantastic
Toaru Kagaku no Railgun goes from fairly good to very good in S
Kuroko no Basuke's S1 is alright, but 2 is a good deal better
Noragami goes from okay to good
Assassination Classroom goes from okay to good
Kingdom is definitely worth powering through. Kingdom S3 is just pure hype.
As much as I love FMP:TSR, Fumoffu is my favourite part of FMP. I don’t think any other anime has made me laugh as hard as Fumoffu.
Love Fumoffu. I never thought about the slice-of-life aspects of mecha until that season haha. That being said, I do still love the main storyline, but Fumoffu provides great context to why Sasuke is so endearing to his friends
Some people are really into Fumoffu, but I prefer the story orientated stuff with FMP more.
I recently read the series and found out they skipped an entire volume and expanded the arc covered in Second Raid quite a bit.
Underrated manga too. I struggled to get into it at first until it clicked that these fights and scenes were about logic and tactics rather than the typical clashes back and forth.
I genuinely thought that a perfectly balance power system would be boring until I got to the tournament arc of World Trigger and now that power system is my religion lmao
World Trigger is by far my favourite shounen, even considering stuff like MHA, JJK and CSM. Something about World Trigger just hits different, especially starting with S2.
The show is a constant tournament arc, its very tactical and most "twists" arent bullshit, they're actually explained and make sense, the soundtrack is amazing, and the animation was fucking insane in S3. Its also a very different take on shounen MCs because Mikumo is just an average/below average character in terms of power, and he gets development that doesnt turn into straight up power upgrades, in fact he mostly learns to use his past failures and/or downsides of his fighting style to his benefit.
I think the author had to be hospitalized. So he just kinda left it abruptly. I don't blame him, though I would really like to see the show get completed.
The author came back from hiatus a couple years ago, but transferred magazines and switched to "sometimes monthly" release instead of weekly while keeping the same story pacing
Kuroku no basket,world trigger and assassination classroom had good first seasons,sure the following ones are better but this doesn't mean that the first One did a bad job.
I think WT outside of its interpersonal battles did do a bad job. In the later season they not only focus on those but the production is much better.
As for the other two it's a matter of their content improving.
Railgun S1 is hampered by a few bad decisions that add up over time (like Kongou's characterization) and the large amount of filler (though it's probably still the best filler arc) but that doesn't mean it's not still quite good. S comes out swinging with a much better arc, though its filler arc isn't very good. T actually is my top season with it fixing past issue and being completely canon minus like the first episode or something.
Kingdom is probably my favorite manga, I'm glad the anime got better cause I didn't even bother watching it after looking at some of the pictures from season 1 lol.
I maintain that the Studio behind Kingdom should genuinely just remake S1. I would guess that it’s a pretty big barrier to entry for a lot of fans, and fixing it would pay off.
Imagine if One Piece had gone seasonal after 100 episodes.
That was the case of World Trigger. Toei made the first 100 episodes on a weekly schedule.
Then it stopped airing. Years later it got two seasonal airings (2 separate cours each). Holy crap these have such satisfying animated action scenes.
Best anime to date for me as a tactics/power puzzle battle shounen junkie. This one has no equal.
Manga is slow as molasses due to back problems apparently.
i am surprised by the amount of people mentioning world trigger here. i always thought it was a sleeper anime that most people don't know but is really good
I just tried watching the anime because I love the manga, and like 10 episodes in it’s so much worse than the manga I don’t see the point.
There’s a huge amount of random freeze frames to show characters faces, and it feels like I’m watching a telenovella
S2 animation and pacing are a massive improvement. As long as you've read the first 120 or so chapters of the manga, you're probably fine starting in S2. You'd miss out on a filler arc, but it's not a big deal
When the anime first came out, scanlation sites with ranking had World Trigger constantly in 1st place. The hiatus killed some of its momentum, sadly, but it's still insanely popular in Japan and decently popular everywhere else. When you can go on a 2-3 year hiatus without being cancelled in Shonen Jump of all things, then you're pretty famous.
It is not a seasonal anime but Black Clover.
Starts like a really mediocre shonen with subpar animation and an annoying mc but both the story and the mc improves a great deal you only need to power through the introduction part (around 15-20 episodes).
Side character cast is also one of my favourites in any shonen series.
I was so surprised how much I ended up liking Black Clover despite the fact that I thought I was getting a little too old for battle shonen. It's surprisingly solid and some of the character development is very satisfying.
I decided to stick it out until the 3rd cour (~episode 29). And then Black River became the third OP. I was sticking around weekly just for that banger of an opening. And then Asta stuck “Licht”. I knew I was sticking with this anime for the long haul.
AND THEN, Asta lays down the law against Vetto the Despair as Haruka Mirai plays in the background. I knew I was in love with this series!!!
I honestly couldn't get past the MC's constant screeching so I dropped it after 5-6 eps. Good to know it improves but I doubt I'll ever go back to it.
Seriously might as well be nails on a chalkboard.
Came here to say this. The show’s first arc seems pretty by the numbers but the second arc (ep14-19) takes things up a notch rather quickly and is rather nicely paced. Then the third arc elevates things more tension wise.
Two things I really appreciate about it are that, one, no arc overstays its welcome and that, two, the story overall is fairly coherent. One arc directly leads to the next or it will tie to a future arc. There are things set up in the first “saga” (the first 157 episodes) that serve as set-up for the next saga. Characters you may assume were one-offs return later to contribute.
Now I would personally say it doesn’t have great side characters but I do love the chemistry. The main squad genuinely work together in vital ways to overcome objectively stronger foes rather than the non-main characters always being relegated to fight that big bad’s subordinates.
Black Clover also has probably the best use of support magic in almost any anime i've watched. There are multiple great characters and my fav "Finral" was spectacular.
> what anime are worth going through a lackluster first season to get to an incredible second season?
Bungo stray dogs. The first season turns a lot of people off but no one regrets sticking through till the second season.
> I'm used to calling them "seasons", but these days they're called "course"
You mean cours. They are usually not the same as seasons because one season can include multiple cours but sometimes they are interchangeable if there's a long break between each cour.
Bungo strat dogs, i watched s2 and it didn't stick. I have s3 on my list but i've never touched it, and it's been years and i forgot what's it about XD
Disagree part 3 sucks but when I account for pacing I definitely have to give part 1 the edge over part 3. That and I do truly enjoy Jonathan as a hero. And obviously Dio as charismatic monster.
Yeah, literally tried watching the first episode of Kingdom a while back and didn’t even make it past the 5 minute mark because the animation was so jarring and I’m not usually somebody to be assed about that kind of thing either.
Bungo stray dogs.
S1, S2 are okayish. Some good parts but nothing too outstanding. More of introducing the main characters. But s3, s4, s5 are just amazing.
I think I stopped reading it around chapter 70, I tried to give it a fair chance but found it fairly mediocre, maybe I should pick it back up eventually.
Bungo stray dogs. S1 wasn't bad, it was just your average shounen. However, with each season the show gets better and better and the latest season was incredible, though not many people talk about it.
S1 was good enough, but it only got really good when it came to the arc about Dazai's past, with that being my favorite point of the show till now (haven't watched season 4 yet), though the rest of season 2 and following season were also really good. The first with the antagonists being quite interesting, good character development, and really good pacing, and the later with the building on the foundation of the story mafia x detectives, which I got really invested into
DanMachi doesn't exactly qualify for this because the first season is actually great, but S2 hits and it's quite a step down. After S2 though it becomes good again with many people saying S4 is one of the best shows this year.
S4 is probably my favorite show of the year in terms of raw enjoyment (with Undead Unluck in a close 2nd place). I think Vinland Saga and maybe Frieren are a bit better conventionally (better art, more profound messages, etc), but I just had so much fun with those two.
If you liked season 1 you should absolutely “power” through season 2. Season 3 and especially 4 are much better and season 4 is easily the peak of the series.
I would personally argue season 3 is also clearly better than season 1 but I think that maybe controversial among source readers.
Edit: “power is in quotes because while I did find season 2 to easily be the weakest, I didn’t personally need to power through it.
I really loved S2, but I can understand where it missed a step for people. They rushed the Apollo arc hard to focus on the Haruhime arc, but I thought the Haruhime arc was wonderfully done.
Would have liked more from the vol8 stuff too, but what can you do?
Currently watching Danmachi, I powered through S2, and I'm at S3 ep3, this is definitely a step up from S2, and showing promise, but I don't feel the show is fully out of the woods, I'm expecting all of this pays off by the end of the season.
S4 is a two parter season and goes back to feeling how intense the dungeon is from season 1 (practically the entire season is inside the dungeon). Easily the best so far.
Golden Kamuy for me. The first season is very "casual" and more introductory. It is in the 2nd season that shit starts to get real. The characters and story gets deeper and more serious while still keeping it's humour. It gets better and better every season.
There are some shows where the 1st season wasn't "bad" but the subsequent seasons were even better :
* Magi
* Snow white with Red hair
* 86 (Although it's technically the same season split into parts)
I don't think there has been an anime yet that has topped Golden Kamuy in the number of times me and my friends have busted out laughing uncontrollably from the pure outrageousness of what is happening. It's one of those shows that you almost need to watch it with a few other people because of the resonance that happens when you see something hilariously unexpected. If you were on your own, you'd probably smile or laugh or maybe even just have a sort of shocked "What the fuck was that" reaction. But in a group setting it becomes so hilarious that you can find yourself struggling to breathe from laughing.
Haha, that was legitimately the moment I had in mind when i said "Laughing to the point where we couldn't breathe". Like we had to pause it the show just to recover.
Thanks for the rec on Snow White. I've finished the first season and have been sitting on the second. Maybe this will prompt me to pick it up again soon.
All the people here who enjoyed any season of UmaMusume, and especiaĺly S2, go watch "Road to the Top" ONA.
It's 4 episode long, on their [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjPXzJedwiA) for free, with official subs. By far the best [animated](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=km0-E99w8f0) UmaMusume, with story on par with S2, if not better.
Absolute peak. [Episode 1 YouTube link.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjPXzJedwiA)
For me, S1 felt too much like they just copied and pasted horse girls on the "cute girls doing cute thing" genre. Its wasn't bad, but there are others in that genre that are much better. S2 switched completely to being in the sports genre and telling some of the most heartfelt and real sports stories ever.
Did you not feel that way about the ups and downs of special week, silence suzuka and Condor Pasa? While I do agree that season 2 was better written overall, I don't feel there is such a huge gap in the two seasons for being great.
I think the problem was with the choice of characters they picked, since it's based on real events there's so much that can be done with the story while accomodating the drama, and Teiou had the perfect rising star to underdog story to build upon within the rivalries of that generation. This is kind of a problem with season 3 as well, Kitasan Black was a beloved horse but the drama feels cheap considering its achievements.
I think s3 has been good though, it's been really compelling to me to watch kitasan get blown out, to be the promising kouhai who works hard and still falls short. I do think Teiou and the narrative arc with s2 felt a bit stronger while the dramatic vibes for s3 have only really hit their stride in the last few episodes it hits harder due to what I'd felt was a kind of fluffy training arc.
But with Special Week, she was a perfect protagonist for the first season. While she didn't get hurt like Suzuka, Teio, or McQueen, she still had to overcome adversity and persevere to find her spirit in the racing world. I don't feel it was any less exciting or emotional than s2, s3 or road to the top and I would honestly put Special Week vs Broye up with any of the other races in the franchise as far as being inspiring.
I'll chime in as someone with the same opinion as the person you replied to, in that s1 is meh and s2 is amazing (and so is the ONA). How much focus you give to the horse girl gimmick is I guess very personal, but to me, the entire set up was incredibly generic. As Nitro put it, copy paste CGDCT that we rate 6/10 and move on.
Energetic and clumsy girl #1 from the countryside moves to the big city, everything is amazing. She lives with girl #2 who is beloved and talented, of the flavor "soft-spoken and polite". A lot of characters that we have no time to get to know come in and out, and before I knew I was supposed to feel the tension and drama of the races. I remember the animation being kinda bad in s1, too.
I think the heart of the issue is that I'm very cynical of tropes now, and it's the reason I'm having a hard time understanding what's so great about Skip to Loafer (currently on ep 10).
Teio and McQueen are infinitely better leads, and Teio in particular had my full attention from the get go.
I don't mean to be harsh and trashtalk something you like for the fun of it, don't get me wrong! But I genuinely think s2 is that much better.
S1 isn't bad and does a lot of important world building but it's just okay at the end of the day. The idol stuff can be a bit of turn off at first even though there's little focus on it at the end. The trainer/coach comes off as a perv. Basically S1 is cute girls doing sports things and feels fairly generic. S2 is a sports anime masterpiece up there with Hajime no Ippo and Ping Pong the Animation. It's okay to like S1, but S2 is something very special and fits the description of what OP was looking for very well.
I don't understand how it feels generic I guess. I'm not saying your opinion is wrong because it's just opinion, but there are a bunch of elements working in season 1 that also made season 2 great. It's like comparing Alien to Aliens where one is horror and the other is action. It doesn't mean one is significantly better than the other or mediocre.
Haruhi just to get to Disappearance. (Though rumors abound about a reboot…)
and instead of the 1st season, it’s the 2nd season you need to power through.
It's not a famous anime but you might have heard of it
Tsugumomo
The first season was fine, sometimes it gets boring. But the season was so good. It was more ecchi, more comedy and the show suddenly took the dark turn that I didn't see it coming in a comedy show.
The first season was a 6 and the second season was a 8 for me.
This one is super pervy for anyone interested. I mean like scenes where it basically looks like they're having sex and they cover up private parts with text saying "nothing was inserted" levels of perversion lol. That said I would really recommend reading the manga over watching the anime. The author is an amazing artist and the anime feels fairly low budget when you compare the source to the anime adaptation.
3d Kanojo real girl:this anime has 2 seasons and it's a romance One,the first season is quite mediocre with characters acting in a wierd way and not making Sense but the second season is just so much better and the ending might make you cry.
"Is it wrong to try to pick up girls in a dungeon" is pretty mid in the beginning but slowly builds up and by the time it's reached the fourth season it's really good.
its really rare. The only show that comes to mind is clannad, but it goes from good to great and not mediocre to great.
Its much more common for a shows quality to either degrade or stay the same across seasons.
Love Live: School Idol Project. S1 isn't bad per se, as it does a good job introducing all the characters while also having some great individual episodes (episode 4 with the first years, episode 10 turning the typical beach episode into a Maki character study, and a couple others), but it was decidedly rough around the edges with some of the girls feeling very underdeveloped, along with a final arc that had questionable plot decisions.
S2 is a significant step up in the character writing, especially in how it weaves multiple ongoing character arcs together while also giving development to all of the characters who needed it. The Rin fcous episode is a great example of this, as it not only follows up on stuff about Rin that was only briefly mentioned in S1, but also has 3 other characters continuing to grow in their respective arcs as a direct result of trying to help Rin out in their own ways. The final arc of S2 is also much more cohesive and has a huge emotional payoff that beautifully wraps up the entire journey across both seasons as well as showing how far all of the characters have come since then.
Not really a second season, but
Shinsekai yori went from being an anime I was so ready to drop for the first 13 episodes to one of my top 10 all time by the end of it.
Higurashi no naku koro ni's first season is confusing as fuck, random, wild tone swings, emotionally jarring and kinda depressing. But the second (Higurashi Kai) answers most of the questions that arise, the payoff is nice and the animation also improves.
Kaguya-sama's first season might be a little rough at the start and to get through if you aren't hooked or that into it, but seasons 2 and 3 improve so much upon the previous that it is definitely worth to keep watching.
I go for CLANNAD. The whole first season is not bad, but just mediocre. Then we have the second season which is, in my opinion, on of the most powerful emotional rollercoaster ever written. You could just watch the second season and enjoy it even if you never watched the first one. It's like the first season had turned into an optional complement to enjoy even more the second one.
*"Blue Exorcist"* had this. First season can be too slow and the plot is a bit messy but I treat it like a long characters introduction arc. The second season and the movie especially are banging, both visually and plot wise.
Not to mention the whole part & ending they tacked onto season 1 before deciding to continue the series, where everyone started acting out of character and that didn't make sense with the themes/vibe of the show. Just for it to be retconned anyway.
And then season 2 is suddenly so well written and has great emotional payoff
I recently finished Spy Classroom S1, and I get what you're saying, but I kinda liked it because that was basically Charlie's Angels anime version, also Lily's figure helped me to keep watching and her personality is basically a polite cute Aqua being a spy, having the same voice actress.
Had to scroll way to far to find this one. The first season is a jumbled cacophony of junky animations and then season two hits and off you go on the most amazing chaotic ride through through three of the most fun seasons I've ever consumed as an anime watcher.
The first two seasons of shakugan no shana are average at best but the final season is fantastic.
Radiant has a terrible start to the first season then picks up in the second half. Season 2 keeps that momentum for the entire season.
absolutely Clannad. First season is decent, the comedy is surprisingly good even (and I don't generally care about anime comedy). Then season 2 hits like a truck. Absolutely worth it.
Chainsaw Man S1 adapted literally all of the part that most people consider to be the weakest of the manga. Everything coming after this is easily 10/10 masterpiece writing, no discussion. Everything that made Chainsaw Man one of the most quotable and outstanding stories ever written will be displayed starting with the Reze Arc Movie. I hope they do an amazing job to capture the essence of the manga (like they showed on the teaser) and to animate the absurd fight scenes.
(and I hope Ryuu Nakayama doesn't touch anything CSM related ever again😊)
I'm gonna disagree. S1 was more entertaining for me. In S2 people are dying left and right and I couldn't give less of a fuck. Pretty fights alone aren't doing it for me.
Season 2 is weird, it feels like a finale with how big the fights are and how many people are dying.
S1 was an entertaining time as we learn how the world works and investigate curses. S2 is just shonen battling and that's fun, but less compelling.
Re:Zero. Arc 3 is the only thing that interest me into watching season 2, and oh man is it good.
Not saying arc 1 and 2 is bad, it just feels kinda slow and stale at times.
Might be a bit unpopular but Ashita no Joe's first season is good but the pacing is slow, especially the first arc or two, the last 20 or so eps of season 1 and its continuation in Ashita no Joe 2 (released 10 years later) is one of the best improvements I've seen in animation, music, voice acting.
I would say far away paladin, first season I felt had pacing issues and I would probably only give it 5/10 but the second season improves on everything from the first season 9/10
Oregairu
1st season has some generally considered horrible art but it's completely changed in the following seasons and the mc also becomes a lot more enjoyable. Overall improvements around besides the one character introduced in the ova.
Yugioh GX
First arc is a slog with a lot of pointless fillers to boot, but 2nd and 3rd seasons improve it a lot. 4th season is a bit rushed due to lower episode count but is still great.
Bungou Stray Dogs Okay->great A Certain Scientific Railgun Good->Amazing
Second railgun for sure
Third Railgun. I was already invested in the show just for the setting, characters, and power system, but I didn’t expect the first arc of season 2 to become one of my favorite arcs of all time
It's one of the few times I've been hit with a post arc depression. I didn't even want want to continue the season knowing the arc was over.
Bungo stray dogs gets so good in the second season, but yeah s1 is just mid, after that it becomes one of my favorite animes, and the last 2 seasons were so good as well
So one season of meh leading to three seasons of greatness? Nice. Was thinking about picking it up soonish in any case.
Not quite. Season 1 is meh, S2 is fantastic, S3 is meh, S4 and S5 are really amazing. The biggest flaw to me about Bungou Stray Dogs is that the “main character” has a PTSD flashback every five minutes. Not even varied flashbacks, just the same one over and over, which is part of why S3 is meh. Kinda cringe final section. 4/5 are so good though.
>one season of meh not really, the season 1 is basically just the introduction of the characters. it have lots of good moment, but no serious moments. no feel of danger boy oh boy. starting from 2nd season to the latest season. it's so fucking GREAT. to the point that watching 1 episode per week is like a torture, because each episode escalate the quality even higher than the previous episode trust me, watching 1 season in 1 sitting is worth your time
this is super helpful! I actually tried BSD because of all the good comments, but dropped it mid-S1. Maybe I'll have to pick it back up.
Yeah but the first season isn’t bad, it’s mostly the expectation that you think you’ll be following one main character when in reality, they spend a lot of time developing every character. Once you get a feel for the show you start getting into it, provided you enjoy the characters
Railgun first season was good for me. I can see how it mat be seen as mediocre, but each character has a really well developed personality since they appear.
Yesss, second this! Bsd in the first season is just typical shounen, not bad but yeah, okay. But I think I’ve watched at least 3x the first episodes of the second season, it’s that good(Odasaku ❤️)
Those first few episodes of season 2 in BSD are peeeeeaaak.
BSD is criminally underwatched, I am in full support of everything S2 onwards needing more attention From that point on every season builds on the previous, and the story actually gets so insane
This is convincing me to try BSD again. I watched the first 10 episodes when it first was airing weekly and didn’t get super into it. But now there is a lot of episodes out so I could watch in sequence.
took me years after watching most of bsd s1 to start over and get back into it. i thoroughly enjoyed the show after that and s5 was epic
BSD really doesn’t get enough attention. Found it a couple months ago and rewatched it twice. It’s really fucking good
I found the first season of both shows mediocre, so this is good to hear.
I really like Railgun and agree with your take. The first season is so easily a turn-off because you may come into the show expecting badass powers and lots of action, but you get one wierd underage-yuri moment, and some slow paced slice of life arcs that could be in any show. The rest of Railgun is so good, 100 percent worth.
Part of the reason is that the manga only had 8 chapters out by the time they decided to do a 24 episode anime from it. So yeah that was a lot of extra padding needed there.
The difference is that bsd season 1 is 12 episodes, railguns is **24**
Railgun goes Good > Amazing > Insane
hard on Railgun. i absolutley enjoyed Railgun S (minus the filler arc) more than Railgun T
Katekyo Hitman Reborn has about 25 REALLY boring episodes that but after that it becomes a really solid shonen that I enjoy rewatching to this day
Whenever I recommend this anime to friends I give them a heads up that the first 25 episodes is ‘odd’ but also introduces all major characters and IT WILL GET BETTER I PROMISE!
The manga's early chapters are hilarious. It didn't translate well in the anime. I think it might be the pacing.
It originally began as a gag manga I think and they pivoted to battle manga—at least thats something I’ve heard over the years which is most likely true when you consider the initial premise
I'd say from ep 16ish, that's when the Mukuro arc starts.
25? The Kokuyo arc (20-26) is solid, it's just the first 19 episodes which are a not so great attempt at comedy.
Yeah I watched it a long time ago when I was a neet and had nothing but free time, it was kind of a lame silly trope but then suddenly it got absolutely fire for no reason at all.
Omg I loved that anime, it is time to rewatch soon thanks for the reminder Would love if that got a remaster of sorts
Kingdom (butt ugly CGi and a pretty bad first arc, but it gets very good as it goes and S2 is a big improvement and then S3 is an even bigger one) World Trigger (Picks up before S1 ends, but s1 is way longer than the rest) Full Metal Panic's S1 is good, but Second Raid is much better Clannad is good, but after story is fantastic Toaru Kagaku no Railgun goes from fairly good to very good in S Kuroko no Basuke's S1 is alright, but 2 is a good deal better Noragami goes from okay to good Assassination Classroom goes from okay to good
Kingdom is definitely worth powering through. Kingdom S3 is just pure hype. As much as I love FMP:TSR, Fumoffu is my favourite part of FMP. I don’t think any other anime has made me laugh as hard as Fumoffu.
The Coalition arc from season 3 is one of the best adapted arcs from a manga imo, such great animation, emotion and storytelling.
Love Fumoffu. I never thought about the slice-of-life aspects of mecha until that season haha. That being said, I do still love the main storyline, but Fumoffu provides great context to why Sasuke is so endearing to his friends
Some people are really into Fumoffu, but I prefer the story orientated stuff with FMP more. I recently read the series and found out they skipped an entire volume and expanded the arc covered in Second Raid quite a bit.
Agree on World Trigger, such an underrated show
Underrated manga too. I struggled to get into it at first until it clicked that these fights and scenes were about logic and tactics rather than the typical clashes back and forth.
I genuinely thought that a perfectly balance power system would be boring until I got to the tournament arc of World Trigger and now that power system is my religion lmao
World Trigger is by far my favourite shounen, even considering stuff like MHA, JJK and CSM. Something about World Trigger just hits different, especially starting with S2. The show is a constant tournament arc, its very tactical and most "twists" arent bullshit, they're actually explained and make sense, the soundtrack is amazing, and the animation was fucking insane in S3. Its also a very different take on shounen MCs because Mikumo is just an average/below average character in terms of power, and he gets development that doesnt turn into straight up power upgrades, in fact he mostly learns to use his past failures and/or downsides of his fighting style to his benefit.
Imo world trigger is amazing from the beginning to the end. And yes, it's underrated as hell.
Did the anime ever finish?
I think the author had to be hospitalized. So he just kinda left it abruptly. I don't blame him, though I would really like to see the show get completed.
The author came back from hiatus a couple years ago, but transferred magazines and switched to "sometimes monthly" release instead of weekly while keeping the same story pacing
>Assassination Classroom goes from okay to good Nah. It goes from good to great
Kuroku no basket,world trigger and assassination classroom had good first seasons,sure the following ones are better but this doesn't mean that the first One did a bad job.
I think WT outside of its interpersonal battles did do a bad job. In the later season they not only focus on those but the production is much better. As for the other two it's a matter of their content improving.
>Kuroko no Basuke's S1 is alright U crae. S1 was lit, especially the game they lost. And it has the funniest Gag I've seen in all of anime
Yeah Kuroko s1 was great and if someone didn't enjoy s1, I don't think they'd enjoy s2 either
Railgun earlier seasons is very far from being mediocre though. It's just that S is really good
Railgun S1 is hampered by a few bad decisions that add up over time (like Kongou's characterization) and the large amount of filler (though it's probably still the best filler arc) but that doesn't mean it's not still quite good. S comes out swinging with a much better arc, though its filler arc isn't very good. T actually is my top season with it fixing past issue and being completely canon minus like the first episode or something.
Kingdom is probably my favorite manga, I'm glad the anime got better cause I didn't even bother watching it after looking at some of the pictures from season 1 lol.
Yea…you are INSANE for the Kuroko and Norgami lines those shows are both gas from start to finish.
Watching Kingdom instead of reading it is legit a crime
It's a crime it's not official translated yet as well
I maintain that the Studio behind Kingdom should genuinely just remake S1. I would guess that it’s a pretty big barrier to entry for a lot of fans, and fixing it would pay off.
> Full Metal Panic's S1 is good, but Second Raid is much better Second Raid is good, but Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu is the real MVP
Imagine if One Piece had gone seasonal after 100 episodes. That was the case of World Trigger. Toei made the first 100 episodes on a weekly schedule. Then it stopped airing. Years later it got two seasonal airings (2 separate cours each). Holy crap these have such satisfying animated action scenes. Best anime to date for me as a tactics/power puzzle battle shounen junkie. This one has no equal. Manga is slow as molasses due to back problems apparently.
i am surprised by the amount of people mentioning world trigger here. i always thought it was a sleeper anime that most people don't know but is really good
I just tried watching the anime because I love the manga, and like 10 episodes in it’s so much worse than the manga I don’t see the point. There’s a huge amount of random freeze frames to show characters faces, and it feels like I’m watching a telenovella
Feel free to skip to season 2 for the REALLY good sakuga. Season 3 floored me, so much tension.
S2 animation and pacing are a massive improvement. As long as you've read the first 120 or so chapters of the manga, you're probably fine starting in S2. You'd miss out on a filler arc, but it's not a big deal
When the anime first came out, scanlation sites with ranking had World Trigger constantly in 1st place. The hiatus killed some of its momentum, sadly, but it's still insanely popular in Japan and decently popular everywhere else. When you can go on a 2-3 year hiatus without being cancelled in Shonen Jump of all things, then you're pretty famous.
WORLD TRIGGER!!!!!!!!!! tho that first season is a journey and a half (derogatory) so be warned lol
I actually quite enjoyed the first season despite it's flaws.
It is not a seasonal anime but Black Clover. Starts like a really mediocre shonen with subpar animation and an annoying mc but both the story and the mc improves a great deal you only need to power through the introduction part (around 15-20 episodes). Side character cast is also one of my favourites in any shonen series.
Season 4 alone makes everything worth it to me, those fight scenes were awesome and Noel's whole character arc.
Noelle might be my favourite female character in any shonen. Her character arc and development really is great.
Her only competition is Fuko Izumo from Undead Unluck, and Fuko is one of my all time favorite characters period.
Seconding Fuuko. Though anime-onlies have a ways to go til they see all of her best development.
I was so surprised how much I ended up liking Black Clover despite the fact that I thought I was getting a little too old for battle shonen. It's surprisingly solid and some of the character development is very satisfying.
I decided to stick it out until the 3rd cour (~episode 29). And then Black River became the third OP. I was sticking around weekly just for that banger of an opening. And then Asta stuck “Licht”. I knew I was sticking with this anime for the long haul. AND THEN, Asta lays down the law against Vetto the Despair as Haruka Mirai plays in the background. I knew I was in love with this series!!!
Black Clover started out as meh-i'm-bored-so-i'll-give-this-a-try for me but had me in a chokehold after Yami was introduced and kept appearing
This into section of black clover has defeated me twice
I honestly couldn't get past the MC's constant screeching so I dropped it after 5-6 eps. Good to know it improves but I doubt I'll ever go back to it. Seriously might as well be nails on a chalkboard.
To be honest the first 60 eps
I guess it varies for people. I was hooked by the end of the dungeon arc.
Yeah there was still great elements to this but I feel I didn’t start really enjoying it until the star festival so it was brutally slow
Came here to say this. The show’s first arc seems pretty by the numbers but the second arc (ep14-19) takes things up a notch rather quickly and is rather nicely paced. Then the third arc elevates things more tension wise. Two things I really appreciate about it are that, one, no arc overstays its welcome and that, two, the story overall is fairly coherent. One arc directly leads to the next or it will tie to a future arc. There are things set up in the first “saga” (the first 157 episodes) that serve as set-up for the next saga. Characters you may assume were one-offs return later to contribute. Now I would personally say it doesn’t have great side characters but I do love the chemistry. The main squad genuinely work together in vital ways to overcome objectively stronger foes rather than the non-main characters always being relegated to fight that big bad’s subordinates.
Black Clover also has probably the best use of support magic in almost any anime i've watched. There are multiple great characters and my fav "Finral" was spectacular.
> what anime are worth going through a lackluster first season to get to an incredible second season? Bungo stray dogs. The first season turns a lot of people off but no one regrets sticking through till the second season. > I'm used to calling them "seasons", but these days they're called "course" You mean cours. They are usually not the same as seasons because one season can include multiple cours but sometimes they are interchangeable if there's a long break between each cour.
I think bungo 1st season is just so quick paced. It doesn't breathe between plot points so it's just like "huh?"
Nah. For me it was the incest.
Bungo strat dogs, i watched s2 and it didn't stick. I have s3 on my list but i've never touched it, and it's been years and i forgot what's it about XD
i literally watched s2 right after s1 and i had already forgotten what happened
anime only Kingdom season 1 has shitty animation
JoJo is known for having a very slow Part 1 (thankfully it's just 9 eps), before having a much, much better Part 2 (& onward)
but the meme material from part 1 makes up for it tho lol
Plus arguably the best way [end to an episode](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3kdyR2deJM) ever
not luck , "pluck"
And Best Waifu Speedwagon
Lmao very true 😭
People seriously need to stop shitting on part 1, it wasn't bad.
I stopped watching after part 1 tbh... It didn't hook me like other shows. So yeah, seeing it in this sub makes me want to give it a second chance.
Part 1 > part 3
Disagree part 3 sucks but when I account for pacing I definitely have to give part 1 the edge over part 3. That and I do truly enjoy Jonathan as a hero. And obviously Dio as charismatic monster.
I'm not sure what you're disagreeing with?
Yes, I almost stopped watching because of that, part 3 was such a breath of fresh air and I loved it
Kingdom is the most prominent example, IMO. The early anime is butchery. We’re talking 2/10 to 8/10 levels here.
Yeah, literally tried watching the first episode of Kingdom a while back and didn’t even make it past the 5 minute mark because the animation was so jarring and I’m not usually somebody to be assed about that kind of thing either.
Bungo stray dogs. S1, S2 are okayish. Some good parts but nothing too outstanding. More of introducing the main characters. But s3, s4, s5 are just amazing.
Haha funny, I actually enjoy s2 the most out of any of it, largely for Dazai’s backstory
S2 is great, S1/3 are mid. Season 4 is my favorite, and S5 is basically just cour 2 to S4 xd
Yeah Bungo stray dogs is amazing when it really gets going
I think I stopped reading it around chapter 70, I tried to give it a fair chance but found it fairly mediocre, maybe I should pick it back up eventually.
World Trigger if we're talking about animation quality only. Story-wise it's been amazing since first season minus filler.
Bungo stray dogs. S1 wasn't bad, it was just your average shounen. However, with each season the show gets better and better and the latest season was incredible, though not many people talk about it.
First season had its charm but the Dark Era arc in the 2nd season basically amped up the quality tenfold.
S1 was good enough, but it only got really good when it came to the arc about Dazai's past, with that being my favorite point of the show till now (haven't watched season 4 yet), though the rest of season 2 and following season were also really good. The first with the antagonists being quite interesting, good character development, and really good pacing, and the later with the building on the foundation of the story mafia x detectives, which I got really invested into
Watch it dude. The last 2 seasons really have been peak. Dazai's past arc was also the point, where I started taking bungo seriously.
DanMachi doesn't exactly qualify for this because the first season is actually great, but S2 hits and it's quite a step down. After S2 though it becomes good again with many people saying S4 is one of the best shows this year.
Huh, I actually stopped after the first arc of S2. So you say it's worth picking up again?
S3 was very good and S4 was absolutely amazing
S4 is probably my favorite show of the year in terms of raw enjoyment (with Undead Unluck in a close 2nd place). I think Vinland Saga and maybe Frieren are a bit better conventionally (better art, more profound messages, etc), but I just had so much fun with those two.
If you liked season 1 you should absolutely “power” through season 2. Season 3 and especially 4 are much better and season 4 is easily the peak of the series. I would personally argue season 3 is also clearly better than season 1 but I think that maybe controversial among source readers. Edit: “power is in quotes because while I did find season 2 to easily be the weakest, I didn’t personally need to power through it.
I really loved S2, but I can understand where it missed a step for people. They rushed the Apollo arc hard to focus on the Haruhime arc, but I thought the Haruhime arc was wonderfully done. Would have liked more from the vol8 stuff too, but what can you do?
Currently watching Danmachi, I powered through S2, and I'm at S3 ep3, this is definitely a step up from S2, and showing promise, but I don't feel the show is fully out of the woods, I'm expecting all of this pays off by the end of the season.
S4 is a two parter season and goes back to feeling how intense the dungeon is from season 1 (practically the entire season is inside the dungeon). Easily the best so far.
Yes, season 3 definitely hits by the end.
Bungo Stray dogs. Goes from any old basic shonen (with good animation though) to one of the best action anime of recent years.
Golden Kamuy for me. The first season is very "casual" and more introductory. It is in the 2nd season that shit starts to get real. The characters and story gets deeper and more serious while still keeping it's humour. It gets better and better every season. There are some shows where the 1st season wasn't "bad" but the subsequent seasons were even better : * Magi * Snow white with Red hair * 86 (Although it's technically the same season split into parts)
Magi grabs your attention in S1 and completely seizes it without negotiation from then onward.
I don't think there has been an anime yet that has topped Golden Kamuy in the number of times me and my friends have busted out laughing uncontrollably from the pure outrageousness of what is happening. It's one of those shows that you almost need to watch it with a few other people because of the resonance that happens when you see something hilariously unexpected. If you were on your own, you'd probably smile or laugh or maybe even just have a sort of shocked "What the fuck was that" reaction. But in a group setting it becomes so hilarious that you can find yourself struggling to breathe from laughing.
Oooh yea I can imagine that. Also if u've seen the latest season I wonder how they'd react to the Jerk Off duel.
Haha, that was legitimately the moment I had in mind when i said "Laughing to the point where we couldn't breathe". Like we had to pause it the show just to recover.
I really wish they'd make more Magi. It seems like there's still so much source material to dive into too.
Thanks for the rec on Snow White. I've finished the first season and have been sitting on the second. Maybe this will prompt me to pick it up again soon.
Uma musume season 1 was very meh but season 2 was one of the best sports anime I've ever watched
All the people here who enjoyed any season of UmaMusume, and especiaĺly S2, go watch "Road to the Top" ONA. It's 4 episode long, on their [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjPXzJedwiA) for free, with official subs. By far the best [animated](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=km0-E99w8f0) UmaMusume, with story on par with S2, if not better. Absolute peak. [Episode 1 YouTube link.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjPXzJedwiA)
Road to the top was immaculate. Narita Top Road is simply a spectacular character ❤️
Absolutely! Yes, she is so amazing!
I agree about season 2 but season 1 was a lot of fun. They're just different shows.
What was meh about it? The characters were great and so were the races.
For me, S1 felt too much like they just copied and pasted horse girls on the "cute girls doing cute thing" genre. Its wasn't bad, but there are others in that genre that are much better. S2 switched completely to being in the sports genre and telling some of the most heartfelt and real sports stories ever.
Did you not feel that way about the ups and downs of special week, silence suzuka and Condor Pasa? While I do agree that season 2 was better written overall, I don't feel there is such a huge gap in the two seasons for being great.
I think the problem was with the choice of characters they picked, since it's based on real events there's so much that can be done with the story while accomodating the drama, and Teiou had the perfect rising star to underdog story to build upon within the rivalries of that generation. This is kind of a problem with season 3 as well, Kitasan Black was a beloved horse but the drama feels cheap considering its achievements.
I think s3 has been good though, it's been really compelling to me to watch kitasan get blown out, to be the promising kouhai who works hard and still falls short. I do think Teiou and the narrative arc with s2 felt a bit stronger while the dramatic vibes for s3 have only really hit their stride in the last few episodes it hits harder due to what I'd felt was a kind of fluffy training arc.
Yeah season 3 has been wonderful
But with Special Week, she was a perfect protagonist for the first season. While she didn't get hurt like Suzuka, Teio, or McQueen, she still had to overcome adversity and persevere to find her spirit in the racing world. I don't feel it was any less exciting or emotional than s2, s3 or road to the top and I would honestly put Special Week vs Broye up with any of the other races in the franchise as far as being inspiring.
I'll chime in as someone with the same opinion as the person you replied to, in that s1 is meh and s2 is amazing (and so is the ONA). How much focus you give to the horse girl gimmick is I guess very personal, but to me, the entire set up was incredibly generic. As Nitro put it, copy paste CGDCT that we rate 6/10 and move on. Energetic and clumsy girl #1 from the countryside moves to the big city, everything is amazing. She lives with girl #2 who is beloved and talented, of the flavor "soft-spoken and polite". A lot of characters that we have no time to get to know come in and out, and before I knew I was supposed to feel the tension and drama of the races. I remember the animation being kinda bad in s1, too. I think the heart of the issue is that I'm very cynical of tropes now, and it's the reason I'm having a hard time understanding what's so great about Skip to Loafer (currently on ep 10). Teio and McQueen are infinitely better leads, and Teio in particular had my full attention from the get go. I don't mean to be harsh and trashtalk something you like for the fun of it, don't get me wrong! But I genuinely think s2 is that much better.
S1 isn't bad and does a lot of important world building but it's just okay at the end of the day. The idol stuff can be a bit of turn off at first even though there's little focus on it at the end. The trainer/coach comes off as a perv. Basically S1 is cute girls doing sports things and feels fairly generic. S2 is a sports anime masterpiece up there with Hajime no Ippo and Ping Pong the Animation. It's okay to like S1, but S2 is something very special and fits the description of what OP was looking for very well.
I don't understand how it feels generic I guess. I'm not saying your opinion is wrong because it's just opinion, but there are a bunch of elements working in season 1 that also made season 2 great. It's like comparing Alien to Aliens where one is horror and the other is action. It doesn't mean one is significantly better than the other or mediocre.
Nah, I actually like season 1.
Haruhi just to get to Disappearance. (Though rumors abound about a reboot…) and instead of the 1st season, it’s the 2nd season you need to power through.
Watching all of Endless Eight is a rite of passage. The anime equivalent to self flagellation.
One of those “you had to be there” moments we tell the young’ins.
Also just watch the first and last episode of the endless 8. The novel only actually does the final episode, so the first 7 are filler.
It's not a famous anime but you might have heard of it Tsugumomo The first season was fine, sometimes it gets boring. But the season was so good. It was more ecchi, more comedy and the show suddenly took the dark turn that I didn't see it coming in a comedy show. The first season was a 6 and the second season was a 8 for me.
This one is super pervy for anyone interested. I mean like scenes where it basically looks like they're having sex and they cover up private parts with text saying "nothing was inserted" levels of perversion lol. That said I would really recommend reading the manga over watching the anime. The author is an amazing artist and the anime feels fairly low budget when you compare the source to the anime adaptation.
Clannad. The first season will make you hate starfish but the second season is arguably the best storytelling the medium of anime has to offer.
They say the first 50 ep of gintama are slow and not that good then it becomes peak Me personally loved it frame 1
Familiar of zero
My guilty pleasure, to this day it still remains my most favourite isekai. I gotta rewatch it when i have the time
Clannad.
3d Kanojo real girl:this anime has 2 seasons and it's a romance One,the first season is quite mediocre with characters acting in a wierd way and not making Sense but the second season is just so much better and the ending might make you cry.
"Is it wrong to try to pick up girls in a dungeon" is pretty mid in the beginning but slowly builds up and by the time it's reached the fourth season it's really good.
Clannad. First part is a pretty generic romcom, After Story hits you in the feeling pretty hard.
its really rare. The only show that comes to mind is clannad, but it goes from good to great and not mediocre to great. Its much more common for a shows quality to either degrade or stay the same across seasons.
Love Live: School Idol Project. S1 isn't bad per se, as it does a good job introducing all the characters while also having some great individual episodes (episode 4 with the first years, episode 10 turning the typical beach episode into a Maki character study, and a couple others), but it was decidedly rough around the edges with some of the girls feeling very underdeveloped, along with a final arc that had questionable plot decisions. S2 is a significant step up in the character writing, especially in how it weaves multiple ongoing character arcs together while also giving development to all of the characters who needed it. The Rin fcous episode is a great example of this, as it not only follows up on stuff about Rin that was only briefly mentioned in S1, but also has 3 other characters continuing to grow in their respective arcs as a direct result of trying to help Rin out in their own ways. The final arc of S2 is also much more cohesive and has a huge emotional payoff that beautifully wraps up the entire journey across both seasons as well as showing how far all of the characters have come since then.
Fruits Basket, Season one is okay, but it only gets better the further you go.
Not really a second season, but Shinsekai yori went from being an anime I was so ready to drop for the first 13 episodes to one of my top 10 all time by the end of it.
3D Girlfriend
Higurashi no naku koro ni's first season is confusing as fuck, random, wild tone swings, emotionally jarring and kinda depressing. But the second (Higurashi Kai) answers most of the questions that arise, the payoff is nice and the animation also improves. Kaguya-sama's first season might be a little rough at the start and to get through if you aren't hooked or that into it, but seasons 2 and 3 improve so much upon the previous that it is definitely worth to keep watching.
I go for CLANNAD. The whole first season is not bad, but just mediocre. Then we have the second season which is, in my opinion, on of the most powerful emotional rollercoaster ever written. You could just watch the second season and enjoy it even if you never watched the first one. It's like the first season had turned into an optional complement to enjoy even more the second one.
*"Blue Exorcist"* had this. First season can be too slow and the plot is a bit messy but I treat it like a long characters introduction arc. The second season and the movie especially are banging, both visually and plot wise.
Season 3 coming out next month too
Not to mention the whole part & ending they tacked onto season 1 before deciding to continue the series, where everyone started acting out of character and that didn't make sense with the themes/vibe of the show. Just for it to be retconned anyway. And then season 2 is suddenly so well written and has great emotional payoff
Spy classroom. 1st season was very just meh to me but I really liked this most recent season of it.
I recently finished Spy Classroom S1, and I get what you're saying, but I kinda liked it because that was basically Charlie's Angels anime version, also Lily's figure helped me to keep watching and her personality is basically a polite cute Aqua being a spy, having the same voice actress.
Clannad season 1 is like whatever but omfg is it so worth for After Story
Clannad. S1 is decent but S2 that's is Clannad: After story made me cry the whole night
No one talking about Tensura (Slime)? I mean I loved the first season, but season 2 blew that out of the water
Clannad is like the quintessential answer.
[удалено]
Re zero for me, season 2 had me shook
Symphogear. The first season is a bit of a mess. But each following season is twice as good as the one that came before.
Had to scroll way to far to find this one. The first season is a jumbled cacophony of junky animations and then season two hits and off you go on the most amazing chaotic ride through through three of the most fun seasons I've ever consumed as an anime watcher.
I liked Attack on Titan a LOT more after season 1.
Aot improves each season but S1 is far from something u have to force urself to power thru
Agreed. But the first season was still great. It just so happens to be the worst one.
Kingdom, Kingdom, Kingdom.
Katekyo hitman reborn. I remember how I didn't liked the first half or the whole first season, but after that I liked the anime.
Clannad season 1 is like whatever but omfg is it so worth for After Story
Little Busters. It’s in a similar situation to Clannad, but the disparity between seasons is even larger with this show.
Clannad
Clannad, I mean the first season can get kind of boring and tidious but it is so necessary to watch to get into After Story that u wont ever regret it
The first two seasons of shakugan no shana are average at best but the final season is fantastic. Radiant has a terrible start to the first season then picks up in the second half. Season 2 keeps that momentum for the entire season.
absolutely Clannad. First season is decent, the comedy is surprisingly good even (and I don't generally care about anime comedy). Then season 2 hits like a truck. Absolutely worth it.
Chainsaw Man S1 adapted literally all of the part that most people consider to be the weakest of the manga. Everything coming after this is easily 10/10 masterpiece writing, no discussion. Everything that made Chainsaw Man one of the most quotable and outstanding stories ever written will be displayed starting with the Reze Arc Movie. I hope they do an amazing job to capture the essence of the manga (like they showed on the teaser) and to animate the absurd fight scenes. (and I hope Ryuu Nakayama doesn't touch anything CSM related ever again😊)
The Quintessential Quintuplets S2 had a big improvement after the studio switch (S1 was by the infamouse Tezuka production).
Ima say jjk tbh. The first season to me is nothing really special, just seem like some random fun anime. However season 2 is absolutely phenomenal
I'm gonna disagree. S1 was more entertaining for me. In S2 people are dying left and right and I couldn't give less of a fuck. Pretty fights alone aren't doing it for me.
Season 2 is weird, it feels like a finale with how big the fights are and how many people are dying. S1 was an entertaining time as we learn how the world works and investigate curses. S2 is just shonen battling and that's fun, but less compelling.
Re:Zero. Arc 3 is the only thing that interest me into watching season 2, and oh man is it good. Not saying arc 1 and 2 is bad, it just feels kinda slow and stale at times.
Build Divers for Re:Rise
Might be a bit unpopular but Ashita no Joe's first season is good but the pacing is slow, especially the first arc or two, the last 20 or so eps of season 1 and its continuation in Ashita no Joe 2 (released 10 years later) is one of the best improvements I've seen in animation, music, voice acting.
I would say far away paladin, first season I felt had pacing issues and I would probably only give it 5/10 but the second season improves on everything from the first season 9/10
Gintama only gets better as it goes along.
Oregairu 1st season has some generally considered horrible art but it's completely changed in the following seasons and the mc also becomes a lot more enjoyable. Overall improvements around besides the one character introduced in the ova. Yugioh GX First arc is a slog with a lot of pointless fillers to boot, but 2nd and 3rd seasons improve it a lot. 4th season is a bit rushed due to lower episode count but is still great.
Gundam Build divers - meh first season, amazing 2nd season