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What Anime are you watching now?


Ryoji

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So, I finally watched those last two Slayers episodes. 8/10
It tried. It tried really hard to slip into my 9/10 category, but in the end, its serious parts are still too cringy for me to handle. I'll give it credit for the great humour in the last couple of episodes, and I'm game to proceed to the next seasons sometime.

I think the other problem I had with this one has everything to do with the inconsistency between the characters abilities and powers. One episode a certain character is really powerful and another they're nearly powerless. The comedy exacerbates this issue, actually. For the sake of gags our main protagonist is presented as all-powerful against most everyone and everything, but some episodes, for the sake of plot, all she's able to do is tie them down for a bit or maybe she even loses.*

Egregious examples are when she's shown to be able to tackle a group of ogres with ease on one episode, but on other episodes similar groups of monsters are presented as large threats; or when she deals with a mage that gives her a lot of trouble on some episodes, but is easily handled on others. It's kind of similar to the typical shounen situation where the hero keeps getting stronger but the stakes just get higher and higher and the "most powerful foe" you handled last episode doesn't even compare to the "most powerful enemy" you have to deal with this episode.

Add to this that the rules of magic they use were never properly explained, and it's a really big problem. I found myself incredibly surprised when a character said "don't exhaust/waste your magic power" when up to that point there hadn't even been a mention of such a thing, and after that point I saw no more mentions of it. Credit where credit is due, they do explain some rules for magic, but nothing that helps me discern why her power is so lacklustre when she's so supposedly powerful.
She knows a lot of magic, she can cast some of the most powerful spells... Now someone tell me why every Average Joe mage she encounters, unless its for comedy, poses a threat to her?

*There are also a couple of episodes where she lacks power, but those are justified by the plot. I'm talking about all the other occasions.

 

Concurrently I also started and finished Genshiken. 9/10
I'll be honest, I still haven't figured out its genre. It might be a romantic comedy of sorts, despite so not focusing on romance. I started this anime thinking it'd be a simple slice of life and... I was clearly mistaken. This is a comedy. This is definitely a comedy, and maybe even a romcom. It might be slower-paced than the typical 50 gags per minute, but it's indubitably a comedy. Maybe.
Genshiken presents us with a club for otaku college students and shows us about the (Japanese) otaku lifestyle; how accurate it is is beyond me, but it definitely dabbles in a lot of matters, from going to conventions, playing videogames and buying physical goods, to building "toy" models, watching anime, reading manga as well as cosplaying. Even eroge is mentioned (I saw Muv-Luv in there).
I thought it included too much 18+ stuff and fanservice, but considering what actually sells in this market, it's probably an accurate depiction of a young adult's interests.

I'd say the most interesting points were learning a bit more about the market in Japan, from the consumer's eyes (represented by the Genshiken members) and the comedy, especially the situation regarding Saki, a non-otaku who is present for most of the show as one of the members' girlfriend, as she complains about the issues of having an otaku boyfriend and slowly gets used to the otaku lifestyle she is forced to deal with. She makes for a good contrast to the rest of the members, and, by not mindlessly hating but simply being uninterested, she makes for a good character representative of the non-otaku. Finally, her personality as is is already plenty interesting, as is her relationship with her otaku boyfriend.

It seems the sequel may dab in the fan production side of things, by participating in conventions as creators and organising cosplay sessions more professionally. So yes, I'm exited to continue in the near future.

You may have noticed I've been using "otaku" a lot. In this case, let's say it refers to characters who like anime and manga and games and light novels and models and cosplay and such.

 

At @Fred the Barber's recommendation I ended up also starting a finishing New Game!. 8/10
I'll just echo his thoughts. The characters may have been childish and fanservice-y and by no means a real depiction of working adults, but a lot of small details regarding the fact that they are working at an office can make a person empathise and just better the gags all around. I mean, trying to work quietly at your desk whilst, for one reason or another, a complete pandemonium seems to be taking place at your back? I can just imagine the giant sweat mark as I try to pretend it has sod all to do with me. I have enough crap to deal with without knowing what drama is going on at the office today.
My issues, as usual, lie with the moments it tries to be serious, as the characters are too infantile for me to take seriously, as were a lot of their drama/problems.

Nice comedy, not the best I've seen, but an excellent setting. In some ways, Working!! is similar, except it has less yuri, more episodes and more character variation.

 

Having watched New Game!, I decided the next anime to watch would be Shirobako. New Game! gave me a very light and superficial introduction to the industry, and Shirobako will develop that a wee bit more.

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11 hours ago, Mr Poltroon said:

Having watched New Game!, I decided the next anime to watch would be Shirobako. New Game! gave me a very light and superficial introduction to the industry, and Shirobako will develop that a wee bit more.

Let me know how Shirobako goes. I'm enjoying New Game (though it's on hold while I'm out of town), and Shirobako was the only thing I could think of in the same vein, so I was planning to move onto it next.

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started to watch a little old anime named 'Happy Lesson'.....don't know if it's worth watching cause didn't hear anything about it...after it planning to watch SABER MARIONETTE J...also don't know anything about it....if u guys hv any suggestion on old anime pls suggest me....of course no tear-jerkers though....cause i can't handle them very welll....

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On 15/01/2017 at 8:54 PM, Mr Poltroon said:

Finished Moribito. Enjoyed it a lot. It was a heart-warming and emotional experience.
Some people seemed to complain it lacked a sense of urgency or was too light-hearted for us to truly worry about anyone's fate, but that's probably one of the reasons I could enjoy it so much.
Did lots of interesting things and I think the storytelling was, a lot of the time, well done. Excellent antagonists.

 

On 16/01/2017 at 4:05 AM, Fred the Barber said:

I'm glad you liked it :D

All this praise for Moribito, I couldn't help myself so I went out and watched it myself since I'm a sucker for feel good anime, and the combination of action and feel good is very rare. I thoroughly enjoyed it and watched it over only 3 nights. There was something stiff about the facial expressions in the animation which was a little awkward, but otherwise it looked  great too. As MP said, I quite liked the lack of urgency; it concentrated on character interactions and storytelling without needing to ram action down your throat. I kept expecting a surprise attack, or someone to jump out of the shadows, or some convenient misunderstanding, or missing information contrivances, or some other standard trope, and yet it never once did that which was surprising in itself and actually refreshing. Things did tie in very neatly in ways that became apparent earlier on so it was never particularly surprising where the story went, but that made the execution no less pleasing. 8/10

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I've finished Shirobako. 9/10

Very interesting indeed. It aims to introduce the various concepts and explain what goes into making an anime, whilst caricaturing many of the aspects for the sake of comedy. Good examples are the reckless car driving assistant producers engage in for the sake of saving time or the "cowboy scene" -- if you've watched it you'll know what I'm on about. I especially liked it because I find the producer's, or in this case the production desk's, to be one of the most interesting jobs in the making of an anime. I especially liked small bits of comedy like her spontaneous reaction to "give me three days" with "make that two". After a while on the job it becomes instinctual.

Anyway, extremely informative, though not exactly accurate, view into what goes on behind the scenes.

 

I've also started Sanzoku no Musume Ronja, something I've had on my list for a while since it was a series Studio Ghibli worked on.

Interestingly, the bloody thing uses exclusively CGI characters, which is interesting to say the least. Shows how far technology's come, since it actually doesn't look half bad. Unusual, maybe, so it takes a while to get used to it. I really like the idea of anime using 3D characters like what's done here, and I'm sure nowadays' technology makes it more and more viable. I think 3D has a charm of its own, you see. Games nowadays have started using cutscenes using this kind of animation and I can't wait to see one of these pop up in anime on occasion.

As for the story itself, it starts off rather cute, I can already tell it's going to be the adventure family shenanigans I'm used to and like.

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Small report on Ronja because I'm sure I'll otherwise forget it it:

This is the first time I've really noticed sound effects like in this one. Excellent job. The sound effects are fantastic.
One could say that them being unnoticeable is a job well done, but I think I prefer it when they so often stand out to my ears. The fireplace burning, or the water pouch moving, or the noise the spoon makes as it touches the cauldron...

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Goddammit I jumped into Masamune-kun no Revenge w/o realizing that it's an ongoing current anime, aka I can't just marathon the whole damn thing now, fk me

I like the romance premise. This isn't some guy-who-is-naturally-going-for-a-girl-true-love-at-first-sight-destined-for-each-other-Re;zero-style or a guy-forms-unlikely-alliance-with-girl-only-to-eventually-fall-in-love-tora-dora style, but rather a guy-who-is-planning-to-get-revenge-on-a-girl-for-rejecting-him-during-childhood-by-wooing-her-10yearslater-to-then-instabreak-up-with-her-but-plotwist-he-will-probably-fall-in-love-for-real-cue-drama so it's pretty interesting to see how this pairing will develop and their interactions so far are quite entertaining

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Just finished watching Mirai Nikki and Redial.  Meh.

The ending was weird, everything past the first few episodes was pretty mediocre (IMO), and Redial was a waste of time, aside from the jokes.  The main plot twist was fairly unexpected (although I was starting to wonder if they were going in the direction they did), and made me pay more attention, but they failed to do anything interesting with it (again, IMO).

Not the worst shounen anime I've watched (Naruto and the Bount arcs of Bleach take the cake), but I felt that the premise was ultimately squandered, and that even Yuno, the most interesting character in the entire cast, wasn't developed that well after she was introduced.

JoJo time~

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Watched both seasons of "I Can't Understand What My Husband Is Saying" today.

Spoiler

Short version: I loved it.

 

Long version: I never did quite get the reasoning that the couple fell for each other, and I think that was kinda the point. Rather than trying to set-up the relationship with gallons and gallons of improbable experience, they just went for the 'they worked together, and kinda clicked' angle. And I liked that. I found myself sympathising with both characters at various points, particularly when it came to overthinking certain aspects of a relationship - it certainly happens, and this showed quite nicely that it normally takes the other one to just say "it's okay" for the worrying to stop. Despite the short time frame of each episode I felt their characters fleshed out pretty well over the, 80 minute (if that) run time. Finally, the bits that made me 'awww' didn't feel phoned in at all, instead feeling very natural in their usage. I'll watch it again.

 

Edited by AaronIsCrunchy
Got the title VERY wrong. gg me.
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I just finished Kamisama Dolls. That was a pretty good watch, with intrigue, action, comedy and romance. It was a little flawed;  at times it felt quite disjointed in the way it moved from serious to comedy and somewhat inconsistent bits of supernatural capabilities and story telling, but it all came together fairly neatly by the end, and despite the fact that there is obviously a second season in the works (clearly anticipated by the story and previewed at the end) they weren't afraid to having romantic progress and a relatively nice conclusion to the first season. That's rather unusual given most shows with more seasons planned simply leave you in the lurch with a half arsed conclusion as a minor consolation. On the other hand, the first season was in 2011 and there's no sign of any second season in the works.

 

But those boobs... man... I'm not sure if I watched simply fixated by those... The promo pic doesn't do them justice.

kamisama-dolls_837_1680.png

 

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On 1/20/2017 at 5:54 AM, Arkamondal said:

started to watch a little old anime named 'Happy Lesson'.....don't know if it's worth watching cause didn't hear anything about it...after it planning to watch SABER MARIONETTE J...also don't know anything about it....if u guys hv any suggestion on old anime pls suggest me....of course no tear-jerkers though....cause i can't handle them very welll....

Happy Lesson is not worth it.  Saber Marionette J ... I saw ages ago, and at the time I thought it was worth it but I don't know how I think it would hold up if I tried watching it today.

Old anime that are really awesome, in no particular order:  Evangelion, Escaflowne, Cowboy Bebop, Fruits Basket, Princess Tutu, Kanon (2006), the first two seasons of Kenshin, Full Metal Panic, Kino's Journey, Haibane Renmei, Dragon Half, Koi Kaze, Akazukin Cha Cha (no, really, it's hilarious), Crest of the Stars (and the Banner of the Stars sequels), and Spice and Wolf.

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On 21/01/2017 at 0:54 AM, Arkamondal said:

started to watch a little old anime named 'Happy Lesson'.....don't know if it's worth watching cause didn't hear anything about it...after it planning to watch SABER MARIONETTE J...also don't know anything about it....if u guys hv any suggestion on old anime pls suggest me....of course no tear-jerkers though....cause i can't handle them very welll....

How old is old? 2+ 5+ years? 10+ years?

2 hours ago, Nandemonai said:

Happy Lesson is not worth it.  Saber Marionette J ... I saw ages ago, and at the time I thought it was worth it but I don't know how I think it would hold up if I tried watching it today.

Old anime that are really awesome, in no particular order:  Evangelion, Escaflowne, Cowboy Bebop, Fruits Basket, Princess Tutu, Kanon (2006), the first two seasons of Kenshin, Full Metal Panic, Kino's Journey, Haibane Renmei, Dragon Half, Koi Kaze, Akazukin Cha Cha (no, really, it's hilarious), Crest of the Stars (and the Banner of the Stars sequels), and Spice and Wolf.

From my 10+ year old list, in addition to what @Nandemonai recommended, Eureka 7, Ghost in the shell (SAC), Love Hina, Lovely Complex, My Hime, Planetes, Kaleido star.

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Planetes is an awesome manga, but the anime pales in comparison; to the point I couldn't even sit through a couple episodes of it.  It's a very short manga that got drawn out to a full 2-cour show, and the added content is not nearly as good.  Love Hina I didn't much care for either, since the girls are entirely too willing to be homicidally violent over things they know aren't the main guy's fault.  Instead of Love Hina, I'd recommend going back to the progenitor of the whole harem genre: Tenchi Muyo - the first 2 sets of OVAs are great, and the first TV show is pretty good too.  Also, I second Stand Alone Complex; season 1 is excellent, season 2 is ... still good, but not as good.  Never seen any of the others @ittaku mentioned, but My Hime and Kaleido Star are both on my list of shows I want to check out one day.

Edited by Nandemonai
WTF fuwa I know you know how to fill in an @notify
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So I'm watching 'Lagrange: The Flower of Rinne". It started out being decent, looking like pretty stock standard big robot with girls fare in season 1 with a mildly annoying protagonist but was okay to watch. Now I'm in season 2 and it's almost like a different series being very good with some great strong female leads and intrigue... even though I doubt the ending will be unexpected. I'll probably marathon the rest tonight so I may well report my final impressions very soon.

EDIT: Finished watching it. Yes it was very good to the end, and with a mandatory happy ending for me to like it. The story's rather silly in places and a bit shaky but it has a feel good momentum that makes it enjoyable to watch regardless. It went a bit evangelion for a while there but recovered by the end :P

Next up: I've been convinced to at least try watching gintama so that's what I'll do... somewhere amongst Kokoro connect and Haibane Renmei which I've also queued.

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Watched TTGL. No words are large enough. Cried several times in the last 2 episodes. 10/10 if I ever saw it.

It's amazing how Imaishi's direction can just make you accept every absurd technicality the writer throws at you. 

Spoiler

(Edit: I now realize like 90% of everyone who watched it must have asked the same question, but whatever, I still sorta stand by it)

That said, I don't understand why Nia had to die in the end. I understand the explanation, but I'm sure they could have explained some way for her to stay alive if they wanted to. It just made the marriage scene (and in some ways, a lot of Simon's struggle) feel pointless to me, like a big middle finger at the end (hello gainax, I guess?) 

Can't I just get one epic, emotional story that ends with, like, a 20-second scene of the main pair, old and wrinkled, sharing one last moment of intimacy on a bench in front of their house, looking out at everything they've accomplished together as they let out their last breaths? No? Ok. Just me I guess

 

Edited by john 'mr. customer' smith
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Rewrite S2, yes yes the CGI monsters are terra-bad and all them non-VNers are getting totally shrekt on wtf is going on, but any1 who's read Moon route should've climaxed 9000x at the adaptation's version of it, seeing all the heroines' final moments in Moon along with the flashback snippets of their individual route CGs just gave me the biggest nostalgia boner ever.

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Just finished Haibane Renmei. It was a beautiful story of redemption with angel themes without being openly spiritual or religious as such. It had virtually no themes or tropes from any of the common anime productions of today and was nicely paced without being too slow despite being quite old. It was also really nice to hear Motoko's VA (from Love Hina) in a big role again; I recognised her immediately. My only complaint was what I watched was BD resolution but clearly only about 480p so it had upscaling artifacts which were worse than just watching DVD res. Nonetheless I highly recommend it if you're looking for something different. It's like... Angel beats without the deceptive action and artificial soppy romance.

Also I've started watching gintama... with my wife, since I have no intention of watching the whole thing through so far and then going back and rewatching it with her, so it's an experiment for both of us. We've made it 5 episodes in and so far it's okay and seems to be getting funnier as it progresses. Having survived that many episodes so far, I'm hopeful we'll both get an extended watch out of it.

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On 2/13/2017 at 4:18 AM, Eclipsed said:

Rewrite S2, yes yes the CGI monsters are terra-bad and all them non-VNers are getting totally shrekt on wtf is going on, but any1 who's read Moon route should've climaxed 9000x at the adaptation's version of it, seeing all the heroines' final moments in Moon along with the flashback snippets of their individual route CGs just gave me the biggest nostalgia boner ever.

Moon's adaption was the anime we wanted all along but didn't receive.

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