Darklord Rooke

Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii loved that they referenced Saekano

Watched the first episode of Steins;Gate 0.
Oh come on, I just finished Muv-Luv 


Seriously though, to be honest I didn't have much faith in this adaptation, what with the change in director and stuff, but this pilot episode looks promising af, not gonna lie 

Steins;Gate 0's first episode was...quite frankly, if the show stays at this level of polish and interestingness, we may have a solid contender for anime of the year.
 
 
 

The show is actually significantly better than I thought it'd be. Really enjoying it. 

Might also be caching, you never know with ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
A quick fix would be to stop caring about likes as much, but who am I kidding?

In days gone by, if a military plane was shot down behind enemy lines, the surviving crew (sometimes just one) needed to hide and escape, meaning they had a real risk of being on their own for days. They needed a water supply, which is small and light to have on an aircraft, yet can be filled with a lot of water and carried around. It turned out condoms are good for that and during WW2, all the planes were crewed with people, who had multiple condoms in their pockets. In fact this system was used for decades, but they have something custom designed for the task today.

I just finished it, and I thought it was a pretty solid game. In full disclosure, I've opted not to write a full review on it since a couple friends of mine worked on the localization, but I haven't seen anybody talking about it, so I thought I should at least start a thread here.
First of all, the gameplay is pretty fun! I have only a little past experience with ero RPGs (like... three games, I guess?), and with the notable exception of Alicesoft titles, I've generally found them to be pretty thin on the gameplay. But Re;lord has pretty solid gameplay! The combat requires you to do a lot of clicking, trading off between left- and right-clicking to attack and guard, and it's all in real-time. No taking your time over a decision on a turn-based strategy game: click or be clicked. It's not the most complex system, and it does stop evolving about halfway through the game, but it's both active and challenging without feeling punishing or random (which often seems to happen to poorly designed turn-based RPGs). The leveling up of skills is fine; nothing special here, but still a decent gameplay element. And the last gameplay element is the map-conquering segment of the game, which is also pretty gratifying, though it's very easy (they didn't get the balance right here). The gameplay has various balance issues (for instance... you should probably just stick to the Wind spell most of the time and leave Fire alone), but they're only ever imbalanced in a way that makes the game easier, at least, and the game is still often challenging, all the way through the end (especially the optional hidden boss, which I eventually gave up on, because they were pretty darn difficult!).
The script is pretty good. More typos than I would like, and there's some issue with line breaking around ellipses that gets annoying at times, but fortunately there just aren't that many ellipses hanging around. The writing is funny (cape jokes for miles), and also timely (right-wing nationalists, ahoy). The latter admittedly makes me a bit squeamish, but given the ending, I suspect it's not going to stay quite as hard-line on that front.
The only downside to the game, really, is that, while the story reaches a reasonable stopping point at the end, it barely scratches the surface of where it wants to go. So, get out there and buy it, so we can get localized releases of volume 2 and volume 3.
Do it for the cape jokes.

My first experience with Kino was with the remake, and I've been somewhat disappointed with what I've watched. I think the ideas are interesting, but the delivery feels kinda stale, and I've never really felt any sense of immersion despite its setting. One of my primary complaints about the anime is that I did not care at all about Kino, but if the older rendition doesn't focus on her as much as the remake, I may be more inclined to forgive that.
As a complete newcomer to the series, I didn't think the remake was terrible, but I probably will end up dropping it and picking up the original instead.

I rewatched the Original Kino's journey twice last year and kept on viewing certain episodes a bunch of times. It's a powerful show, in many different ways and one of my all time favourites.
I was sure the remake won't live up to the original. I won't have to waste my time.

Is inferior in almost every way to the 2003 original. I am so seriously disappointed by this lacklustre remake. The ways in which it doesn't live up are too numerous to count.
Firstly 2003 Kino is introspective. It's thoughtful, it's philosophical. It takes the viewer on a ride through the world and encourages them to think about what's going on. 2017 Kino succumbs to the urge of telling you what's going on. Thanks for taking a lot of the atmosphere out of the show.
Secondly when I talk about writing I usually talk about how genre fiction encourages the use of what I call "invisible prose", or prose that likes to get out of the way of the story. That way the reader doesn't notice it and is drawn into the story. 2017 uses the art/graphical (I dunno what it's called) equivalent of invisible prose, it looks good, it shows the background, it gets out of the way, it does a job without people pointing and laughing. Contrast this to 2003 Kino, which loves to use many techniques to draw attention to the style and then uses that style to get the viewer to think more on the themes and message. From the use of colours and blurred pictures, to the manipulation of sounds, to the soundless moments on the screen that pop up with the last pieces of dialogue. It's more dangerous - call attention to style and muck it up and it's so much more noticeable (because you're obviously calling attention to it), but it serves the philosophical and thoughtful nature of the show well.
And of course it would be more artistic. Directed by the legendary man who create Serial Experiments Lain, how could it not? That talent was missing from 2017, and boy did it show.
Story choice was poor, although that's what happens when you leave things up to a vote. Mobocracy is not a good method of making creative decisions. What we got was a focus on the "cool aspects" of the show, and a lessening of what actually makes Kino's Journey so damn great. The more action in a show of limited time, the less time there is for everything else, and when the show isn't really an action show that often becomes a detriment. It doesn't help when the powers that be decides to cut critical context out of the show which changes the character and leaves the audience a bit befuzzled.
Kino's character has always been a bit bland, but 2017 focuses more on that character whereas in 2003 she's more of an observer. She conveys to you the world, whereas in 2017 she's more interpreting it.
I'm not going to make this a long post so I'll stop there. I'm rewatching Kino's Journey 2003 and man it's so good. Rest in peace Ryutaro Nakamura, you were a genius and you died far too young.

Okay, update time.  I know it's not the first of the month, but there was no way I was going to try using Fuwa while that April Fools' thing was up.  It turns out not to matter because I've been, uh, 'busy' the last few days.  Busy playing Prey.  Which is an awesome game, and if you haven't tried it you really ought to look into it.
Shoku
    Main                             78% (8097/10321)(+15%)
    Battle                       100% (299/299)
    Aisha, Touka                 37% (1546/4137)
    Ei, Yue                      36% (695/1954)
    Enya                         59% (1632/2777) (+58%)
    Hinari, Shuri                57% (1660/2907) (+35%)
    Iishe, Pairen, Reiha, Toshi  51% (1730/3377) (+15%)
    Kikyou, Shion                48% (1083/2277) (+47%)
    Mii                          36% (518/1448) (+9%)
    Nenene, Ren                  23% (752/3330) (+7%)
    Rinrin                       43% (1245/2912)
    Sei                          70% (1911/2734) (+1%)
    Sui, Tanpopo                 80% (2722/3409) (+3%)
    Shoku TL:99% (+2%) (41497/41882)  Edit:57% (+15%) (23890/41882) Untranslated H-scene routes: Sei & Rinrin have partial h-scene translations.
Gi:     4% (1390/38852)     Go:    5% (1360/25983)
Total:    24% (+5%) (26644/108888)

Welcome to Fuwa. 
That knife of yours looks really quite sharp, so I'll be standing over here behind @mitchhamilton ... just in case  

I finished MMO Junkie. It pushed my buttons all the way through, and ended up being extremely satisfying. I'm sure it's not for everyone, but if you 1) like sweet romances, 2) are a recovered MMO junkie, and 3) enjoyed Welcome to the NHK but maybe thought it was a bit darker than necessary at times, then have I ever got the show for you.
I've since started my roughly annual re-watch of Maria-sama ga Miteru. I still enjoy it a great deal. Trying very hard not to look at subtitles this time through, which means I'm getting more enjoyment out of Yumi's goofy facial expressions than I ever have before. Otherwise, it's about the same as usual, which is to say, I still enjoy it a great deal.

You're welcome. I wouldn't go so far as to call it amazing, but it's a solid rendition of what a romance of this type in the Victorian era would have played out like. There are very few moments in it that feel like you're actually watching anime.

Welcome to Fuwa. 
That knife of yours looks really quite sharp, so I'll be standing over here behind @mitchhamilton ... just in case  

Emma: A Victorian Romance

Greeting to all the young at heart out there. My name is Joyce and I am the latest addition to this friendly community. It is so nice to find out that such forum exists. I am hoping to be friends with you all! 

NANA

Golden Time

I was looking forward to it, until the reviews started coming out.  I still think the original show is one of the best anime I've ever seen, but I don't think I'll even be bothering to watch this new one.  Such a shame, really.  After I watched the original I was desperate for more.

Is inferior in almost every way to the 2003 original. I am so seriously disappointed by this lacklustre remake. The ways in which it doesn't live up are too numerous to count.
Firstly 2003 Kino is introspective. It's thoughtful, it's philosophical. It takes the viewer on a ride through the world and encourages them to think about what's going on. 2017 Kino succumbs to the urge of telling you what's going on. Thanks for taking a lot of the atmosphere out of the show.
Secondly when I talk about writing I usually talk about how genre fiction encourages the use of what I call "invisible prose", or prose that likes to get out of the way of the story. That way the reader doesn't notice it and is drawn into the story. 2017 uses the art/graphical (I dunno what it's called) equivalent of invisible prose, it looks good, it shows the background, it gets out of the way, it does a job without people pointing and laughing. Contrast this to 2003 Kino, which loves to use many techniques to draw attention to the style and then uses that style to get the viewer to think more on the themes and message. From the use of colours and blurred pictures, to the manipulation of sounds, to the soundless moments on the screen that pop up with the last pieces of dialogue. It's more dangerous - call attention to style and muck it up and it's so much more noticeable (because you're obviously calling attention to it), but it serves the philosophical and thoughtful nature of the show well.
And of course it would be more artistic. Directed by the legendary man who create Serial Experiments Lain, how could it not? That talent was missing from 2017, and boy did it show.
Story choice was poor, although that's what happens when you leave things up to a vote. Mobocracy is not a good method of making creative decisions. What we got was a focus on the "cool aspects" of the show, and a lessening of what actually makes Kino's Journey so damn great. The more action in a show of limited time, the less time there is for everything else, and when the show isn't really an action show that often becomes a detriment. It doesn't help when the powers that be decides to cut critical context out of the show which changes the character and leaves the audience a bit befuzzled.
Kino's character has always been a bit bland, but 2017 focuses more on that character whereas in 2003 she's more of an observer. She conveys to you the world, whereas in 2017 she's more interpreting it.
I'm not going to make this a long post so I'll stop there. I'm rewatching Kino's Journey 2003 and man it's so good. Rest in peace Ryutaro Nakamura, you were a genius and you died far too young.

FSN, Dies Irae Protags are definitely not edgelords. They're the opposites, they're clueless, badly programmed robots, and a couple of dunces.

Oh dear. I haven't watched the 2017 remake but I was planning to, and I still will because I want to check it out for myself. From what you're saying they've stripped away its charm and soul.
It's 15 years old - realising that surprised me. The answer is, unfortunately, yes, by many anime viewers... who probably also think last season's anime is old. And complain about animation looking too old.
 

Recovery of an MMO Junkie: Moriko Morioka x Yuta Sakurai. The romantic tale of an "elite neet" finding love in an MMO.