Since 07 I've probably seen more anime than most folks outside of otakus. I even made some clear otakus in my Japanese courses question what I had seen cause they more specialized in watching certain genres only. I branched into just about every genre. Even genres I traditionally didn't like, Mechas, I branched into. Then I went back and covered a lot of the classics. When you go back and then go forwards, you really can see the shifts in styles and storytelling in Japan. Things tend to go in batches. Every few years, there is a shift. Each shift tends to be led by a major genre defining anime which everyone has to copy or improve. Trouble is, I see a lot of stuff that gets rehashed which is usually terrible.
Shinryakusha was more of a harem. There was a single magical girl character in it and she was a complete dunce, which was awesome. The series was more comedy centered. Even when a nemesis comes out, its still never serious. Lot of genre crossing mixed in. I watched it through, it had it's moments. I'd watch a season 2 of it but it wouldn't be the top of my list.
I don't hate moe completely, I just hate when it is used in certain things or they rely completely on it to get viewers. Some moe characters are fine but when they cross the line and make a whole series about it, then its painful to watch cause all they can do is spout trope after trope.
I watched part of a season of Korra and lost interest. Episodes were predictable and gave me a disney/westernized entertainment feel. When I start feeling like I'm watching western tripe, I walk away. I've had a film as lit class so I know all the tricks and stories they like to rehash over and over.
All female cast animes are ones where the main cast and much of the supporting are all female. Harems still have the main protagonist as a male and usually have male cast members mixed in, if only just to be antagonists or supporting roles. Usually one serves as the jerk or really perverted one to make the protagonist look better. Bodacious Space Pirates, Symphogear, and Last Exile: Silver Wing would be all female casts. Now I originally wasn't opposed to this. But taking those 3 series...I can give you the clear problem with all of them.
Simply, they're all the same story. Even if different in characters and structure, its all the same. These type animes tend to have girls dealing with war and its always the same story. "Lets love, not fight, then get in maid outfits and look cute for each other." Then when you have a character which acts more realistic, they suddenly consider her the greatest evil in the world. Last Exile has Dyan. While the main cast is spouting utter idealistic nonsense all the time, she goes and kills one of the antagonists. The next scene, she is seen as the villain. When that moment hit, I practically cheered for her to just get fed up and off the rest of the cast. She was the only true to herself in the series.
Bodacious Space Pirates started brilliantly, then it just went to moe hell. Everyone in cosplay, everyone as maids, forget realism and make ships which resist inertia. The show which built up and made you think they'd actually do some space pirating, turns into a parade through monotony as the cast just goes from trope to trope till the end. Lets not fight, lets love and put on pirate performances because we've got a warship and we're bound by a contract to only attack as a show! Doing that means we're pirates! ZOMG!!! It is then you realize, why are we watching this show when all the awesome stuff is going on elsewhere in the universe?
Symphogear, again, awesome design and some good music. Forget that its more of a magical girl series as you watch it. Then the idealistic tripe comes in and everyone is hugging with yuri undertones. Bad guys do horrific evil stuff and wipe out lots of people then the protagonists are all...no lets be nice and kind and beat them with the power of music and love! I actually saw both seasons. S1 is better only cause S2 really lays it on heavy. How many times must they let a bad guy escape and endanger people before they finally shoot him? But they never do.
During the time these shows aired, there was over a dozen shows just like it. Some much, much, worse. It was a long 12 weeks till those seasons were over.
