LocalW's new Burst God review inspired me to do a quick write up on my thoughts on each (JP) Burst season again
Burst was way better than we give it credit for. It did a perfect job of setting up lots of fundamental aspects while keeping it interesting by using the hobby anime genre to its advantage. A lot of it seems basic on paper, but actually watching it is super fun. I'm also a big fan of how it progresses and sets up future plot points.
God was really good to be honest, but the low points are more noticeable than Burst's. At least half of the season has very poorly executed pacing that makes it feel like it drags on. The final act definitely kicks things up a notch, but not all these things are good. The core Red Eye plot line and how every major Blader is impacted by it in the tournament, is good, but everything else muddles it up. There was no reason for Free to leave BC Sol only to come back, like, the next episode, just a waste on time that muddies up a good plot line.
Chozetsu is a victim of biting of more than you can chew. There is just way to many characters here. The first few arcs still feel pretty good, but as time goes on you realize the series cannot juggle them all at once, and each side characters potential is snuffed out until its just Aiga, Phi, Hearts, and the returning cast. Phi and Hearts were alright, but I still think they are not compelling antagonists. They are very cool aesthetically, but nothing else about them interests me in the slightest. Also Aiga's Dark Resonance was an insane low point. What it does for Aiga's character is fine, but its impact of the rest of the cast (the fact that he can just beat everyone is battles now) is awful.
GT is low-key my personal favorite Burst series. Overall it feels like its not going for as much of an impact as God or Chozetsu in some aspects, but that also means it does its fundamentals very well, even better than Burst. The main cast is a blast to watch and character relationships and overall progression is a blast to watch. I understand that if you didn't click with any of the new characters GT wouldn't do much for you, but I think if you do, this series' consistently good plot and characters will leave an impact. Only major complaints is forgetting Pot (I understand not every Blader will be a main cast member, but come on, he's a member of the GT 3). Also I would have liked the writers to let Gwyn's character appear earlier, not because his characters felt rushed, he's amazing, but I think if he could be even better.
Sparking is the prime of example of the highest highs and lowest lows. I've neglected to mention is but Burst's visual quality steadily rose over time, and it peaked here in 2020. This series is a love letter to the entire Burst generation, and I feel like it somehow manages to do good by every single main cast member, except for the protagonists and antagonist. I actually like Lane alot, but he also had the Aiga problem early on, where him defeated others worked for his character but reflected poorly on everything else. Also the Asahi Brothers are pretty solid, not particularly good but not bad either, but good enough. But they could have actually been stand out if they just carried over their development from the manga, something that still infuriates me.
DB also feels way better in retrospect. As far as visuals go they definitely declined here, but not in as bad of a way as that should sound. They just went from amazing to good, not as great as Sparking but still awesome overall. Bell's character was a fun change of pace and didn't annoy me too much, but felt very repetitive. Again, I wish they character over hi development from the manga here. Everything else was actually pretty good though, but I'm sad that I didn't notice it while it was on air. As far as actual character writing goes there are ore compelling antagonists than Rashad, but the actions he takes are easily the most commanding, chaotic, and engaging in my opinion. Basara and Ilya also really impressed me. It felt pretty wild to see a simple but clean friend to rival pipeline executed so seamlessly, and they stood by it too. Nothing crazy on paper, but worked very well. Only big complaint is Pain, I don't think his needlessly took up space, his arc was fun, but I still don't think he needed to exist if he was going to disappear so quickly. Also, quick side note, the power scaling did feel a bit janky. It wasn't bad, pretty consistent over all, but needed more build up to make it feel consistent. Most of it is good (outside of some moments like Valkyrie breaking Belial out of nowhere) but I won't lie the raising of the power floor and ceiling felt very sudden as the series progressed, but the roles within that space felt consistent.
I don't feel like reviewing Quadsrike but shout out to it. Animation got way less consistent, ranging from good like DB to mediocre (a first for Burst), but writing was great, albeit a little slow paced at the start.
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