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What Anime are you watching now?


Ryoji

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2 minutes ago, PrincessOfFinch said:

I might like the ending, who knows!

I've never read the manga to Elfen Lied  but the show was my first 'adult' anime so I guess it's kinda special in that regard. I still think the show is cool but it's not the best.

Regarding Gurren Lagann, I am a tear jerker for happy endings. Well...

Spoiler

The marriage scene almost made me cry. And I don't know how I feel about it.

I don't really enjoy bittersweet endings, but I can see the beauty in them.

The manga has not the most perfect story in the universe, but it is damn worth a read, at least once.

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Soo, I couldn't sleep much today, but on the bright side, I was able to binge the rest of Mahoutsukai no Yome and... Eh, it was kind of disappointing - in the end the series felt 40% brilliant and 60% pompous, overstylized mess. I was absolutely charmed by the prequel OVA, as they showed the best elements of the show: awesome production quality, climate-building and Chise herself, who's consistently an interesting and compelling protagonist. The main series however was very hit and miss, often feeling just weird and overindulgent. The further it went, the more inconsistent it got, leaving me with seriously mixed feelings. And that's a real shame, because I really for this series to be special and its main building blocks - the characters of Chise and Elias, their backstories and the peculiar relationship that grows between them - are quite excellent.

As a whole, this anime has its share of 10/10, deeply touching moments, but even more 6/10 or 5/10 ones - it all sums up to a fairly weak 8, although the prequel story and the first few episodes of the main show are still a solid 9. And well, I guess even a weak 8 sounds pretty good in the end, but it could've easily been much more than that...

Edited by Plk_Lesiak
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3 hours ago, Plk_Lesiak said:

Soo, I couldn't sleep much today, but on the bright side, I was able to binge the rest of Mahoutsukai no Yome and... Eh, it was kind of disappointing - in the end the series felt 40% brilliant and 60% pompous, overstylized mess. I was absolutely charmed by the prequel OVA, as they showed the best elements of the show: awesome production quality, climate-building and Chise herself, who's consistently an interesting and compelling protagonist. The main series however was very hit and miss, often feeling just weird and overindulgent. The further it went, the more inconsistent it got, leaving me with seriously mixed feelings. And that's a real shame, because I really for this series to be special and its main building blocks - the characters of Chise and Elias, their backstories and the peculiar relationship that grows between them - are quite excellent.

As a whole, this anime has its share of 10/10, deeply touching moments, but even more 6/10 or 5/10 ones - it all sums up to a fairly weak 8, although the prequel story and the first few episodes of the main show are still a solid 9. And well, I guess even a weak 8 sounds pretty good in the end, but it could've easily been much more than that...

Okay. It's not just me that really wanted to like it but ended up stalling it midway through.

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Alright. I started Kokoro Connect 3 days ago, and I've finished 13 episodes of it.

I was really skeptical of the show due to how it starts out its conflict. I'm not a fan of being thrown into the fire without warning, so when the conflict just came out of nowhere in the first episode, I felt really iffy about the show. Thankfully, it was entertaining enough to keep me watching up to the point where I am now.

Spoiler

To be honest, nothing makes sense in this damn show in relation to the entity Heartseed. They just throw you random stuff that he wants to happen to them, and you watch these people deal with it, powerless against Heartseed's will. The fact that nothing makes sense really irks me, because it just leaves me with the feeling that I'm watching a sort of simulation being controlled by an outside entity for his own pleasure.

But I also thought that maybe that was the point of not knowing anything. Being part of the side that knows nothing makes sympathizing with the five's plight easier, because you yourself become frustrated at your inability to come up with anything. Kokoro Connect begins to feel like an experiment concerning different kinds of conflict, and what can come out of instilling these conflicts in characters. Perhaps we're actually the kin of Heartseed, playing with our characters for our own satisfaction. Kinda metafictional, haha.

What I do like about the show is how it handles its arcs via the EDs. I'm a fan of how SHAFT handles the arcs in the Monogatari Series and Nisekoi by characterizing either the OP or the ED based on which character the arc focuses on or what the arc itself is, so seeing the name of the arcs in the changing EDs in Kokoro Connect really pumps me up to watch it. That particular aspect of the show may be the reason why I continued to watch it despite my prior qualms about it.

Spoiler

Though I did bash its plot progression a little, the growth the characters go through amidst these trials become very convincing because of the stakes they're forced into by Heartseed. Really appropriate name for an entity that forces people to grow by planting 'seeds of conflict' in their hearts. If you turn off your brain for a while, Kokoro Connect actually becomes an enjoyable watch, if not inspirational in a way. Its impact is better amplified by the EDs that cater to each arc, imo. The second and third EDs are actually pretty damn lit.

In its heart, Kokoro Connect is a rather roundabout way of telling a story about growth. You really get to know people more when you go through dire straits together, and it becomes either a boon or a crack in the relationships they have with each other.

One last thing, that I absolutely cannot ignore.

Spoiler

The first arc felt like the show was making me, forgive me for a lack of a better word, wank to Taichi with how he was saving girls left and right. An overly selfless sense of justice, Taichi is literally the second coming of Emiya Shirou.

Nagase Iori best girl.

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Okay. I finished Kokoro Connect, and I can see why these guys pick Inaban over Iori.

Overall, a pretty good show. Would give positive remarks about it should anyone ask me if it's good. While the start was really, really weird due to what I've mentioned before, it manages to better establish itself as its characters grow.

Spoiler

I absolutely loved everyone by the end. I still stand by the idea that maybe we're Heartseed's kin in our own context in relation to the show, and that the phenomena that push them to grow are ones that are conveniently placed for our entertainment. If anything, Heartseed succeeded in making it interesting, turning what would be normal conflicts in HS life into an overblown drama spurred on by increased stakes from supernatural events.

Not that it being an overblown drama is anything bad. That kind of drama is exactly what makes HS life (or maybe life in an educational institute in general) so colorful and interesting. At the peak of our emotional insecurities and personal instabilities, what determines our growth or recession is the people that stay with us through the ebbing tides. God, I seem to lose the ability to speak normally when it comes to expressing things that I'm sensitive to these days.

It was also good seeing the irresponsible claims Taichi made in Hito Random coming back to bite him in later arcs. Sometimes, being overly kind really hurts people, and Taichi's way of saving Iori was a perfect example of that. I'm glad he eventually realized how wrong the things he did were though. Props to him for that.

Inaban was hella cute. I love this lovestruck Dereban. Though, I still end up liking Iori better. I find it inevitable to like someone better after you see their vulnerabilities and how they succeed in dealing with them. Although hella weak from all the things she's been going through, she eventually reclaims herself through the help of her friends. I thought that was really beautiful. I hope Iori can find happiness in the next arcs of the series which, to my own regret, are arcs I won't be experiencing any time soon. Best girl doesn't deserve that kind of suffering.

Season 2 when?

Wonder what I'll pick up next, hmmmm.

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16 hours ago, Kosakyun said:

Okay. I finished Kokoro Connect, and I can see why these guys pick Inaban over Iori.

Overall, a pretty good show. Would give positive remarks about it should anyone ask me if it's good. While the start was really, really weird due to what I've mentioned before, it manages to better establish itself as its characters grow.

  Hide contents

I absolutely loved everyone by the end. I still stand by the idea that maybe we're Heartseed's kin in our own context in relation to the show, and that the phenomena that push them to grow are ones that are conveniently placed for our entertainment. If anything, Heartseed succeeded in making it interesting, turning what would be normal conflicts in HS life into an overblown drama spurred on by increased stakes from supernatural events.

Not that it being an overblown drama is anything bad. That kind of drama is exactly what makes HS life (or maybe life in an educational institute in general) so colorful and interesting. At the peak of our emotional insecurities and personal instabilities, what determines our growth or recession is the people that stay with us through the ebbing tides. God, I seem to lose the ability to speak normally when it comes to expressing things that I'm sensitive to these days.

It was also good seeing the irresponsible claims Taichi made in Hito Random coming back to bite him in later arcs. Sometimes, being overly kind really hurts people, and Taichi's way of saving Iori was a perfect example of that. I'm glad he eventually realized how wrong the things he did were though. Props to him for that.

Inaban was hella cute. I love this lovestruck Dereban. Though, I still end up liking Iori better. I find it inevitable to like someone better after you see their vulnerabilities and how they succeed in dealing with them. Although hella weak from all the things she's been going through, she eventually reclaims herself through the help of her friends. I thought that was really beautiful. I hope Iori can find happiness in the next arcs of the series which, to my own regret, are arcs I won't be experiencing any time soon. Best girl doesn't deserve that kind of suffering.

Season 2 when?

Wonder what I'll pick up next, hmmmm.

Did you watch the kokoro connect OVAs? There is no need for a season 2 because they complete the series. You should have watched 17 episodes in total.

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Yeah, that S2 is almost definitely not happening. Not after that whole fiasco with Mitsuhiro Ichiki...
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2012-09-04/kokoro-connect-staff-issues-statements-on-performer-treatment

A real shame, too. Apparently this was the result of a harmless joke gone viral, and everyone losing their shit for no reason.

This is why we can never have nice things.

Edited by Kenshin_sama
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16 hours ago, Fred the Barber said:

Season 2 never, I'm sure, but the LN series is being officially localized, and the translator is a friend and is doing good work with it, so there's always that option: https://www.amazon.com/Kokoro-Connect-1-Hito-Random-ebook/dp/B07FNMCNGR/

Yea I was hoping the LNs were getting localized. Thanks for confirming it for me. It was last year, huh?

I'll try ordering it through my local bookstore. I was looking for another series to collect after catching up with the current releases of Monogatari and Dragon Maid, so I'll consider this if I'm able to order it. Either this, New Game, or something else that I'm forgetting. I know I wanted that 'something else', but I can't remember what it was. Oh well. I still need to find a goddamn job. Wonder if I can land a translation job? Also how dare you ignore my special pun.

14 hours ago, Kenshin_sama said:

Yeah, that S2 is almost definitely not happening. Not after that whole fiasco with Mitsuhiro Ichiki...
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2012-09-04/kokoro-connect-staff-issues-statements-on-performer-treatment

A real shame, too. Apparently this was the result of a harmless joke gone viral, and everyone losing their shit for no reason.

This is why we can never have nice things.

Damn, that sucks. Backlash really does land unwarranted impacts on different projects. rip Iori dreams

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I guess it's a sign that I'm slightly depressed when I start binging terrible shows just to laugh at them? Whatever might be the case, yesterday I burned my afternoon watching Jashin-chan Dropkick and it was kind of OK, surprisingly enough? It's basically gore comedy and Gabriel DropOUT mixed together, with Jashin, a lamia demon, being an absolute scumbag with near-unlimited regeneration powers and constantly being punished for her behaviour in appropriately brutal ways. It does not even bother with worldbuilding or giving more context than a 2-minute, bare-bones introduction and just jumps straight into the gags and I kind of respect that. It's a trash show, but one that knows exactly what it's doing and never pretending to be something more than a chain of dumb slapstick gags. It does get strangely wholesome by the end and there's actually a lot less violence in it than I've expected, but generally, it served it's purpose well and with no pretence of dignity. 7 bloody chainsaws that just disembowelled a scumbag demon out of 10.

But hey, you can't just live on casual trash, so I decided to step up my game and watched the first episode of Happy Sugar Life today. This show is absolutely hysterical with the kind of messed-up edginess it tries to generate, it makes School Days' final episodes feel tame and reasonable in comparison. Also, having the psychotic high school girl in love with an elementary schooler being voiced by Kana Hanazawa... I cannot even start to imagine how this became a thing but I thank the otaku gods for making it a reality. It's going to be a treat. :wahaha:

Edited by Plk_Lesiak
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Just completed Attack on Titan Season 3 Part 2. The secret hidden in Eren's basement has finally been revealed, making it a huge turning point in the series. The fight scenes were also top notch as expected. Overall a very good watch but it's a pity that there are only 10 episodes. 

On another note, the final season of AoT will premiere next year. It will start from Volume 23 (Chapter 91) of the manga and adapt 2 very long arcs, so I'm really looking forward to it.

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Currently rewatching Neon Genesis Evangelion (Netflix changed the ending song, so I am kind of annoyed at that) and boy, watching this again after you get older gives a totally different perspective on Shinji's character (not only him. The entire cast has a lot of inner struggles that you can barely understand when you are young).

Almost on episode 20 and this series is amazing (much more than I remembered).

On 02/07/2019 at 10:26 AM, wei123 said:

Just completed Attack on Titan Season 3 Part 2. The secret hidden in Eren's basement has finally been revealed, making it a huge turning point in the series. The fight scenes were also top notch as expected. Overall a very good watch but it's a pity that there are only 10 episodes. 

On another note, the final season of AoT will premiere next year. It will start from Volume 23 (Chapter 91) of the manga and adapt 2 very long arcs, so I'm really looking forward to it.


I also watched it and I heard the manga is also near completion. Do you have any idea how many chapters are left?

Edited by AstralSword
typos/quote
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3 hours ago, AstralSword said:

I also watched it and I heard the manga is also near completion. Do you have any idea how many chapters are left?

It hasn't been revealed yet, but I personally think it should have 2 volumes left, so that would make it 8 chapters.

Edited by wei123
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Watched the first 4 episodes of Falling of the Shield Loser. You know, for some reason, it doesn't feel like a very good adaptation of the original material. I read neither the original LN nor the manga, but it does feel a bit rushed.

Overall, didn't like this anime. Didn't really buy the character development, and there's nothing that impressed me so far. Plus, the whole storyline where "everyone hates the MC, and the story always likes to remind us of how unlucky he is, while he is actually a good guy inside", feels kind of cheesy and not very interesting to follow, at least for me personally. So, I guess, I have a strange masochistic desire to continue watching this to see if it gets any better, but, to be honest, I should probably drop it here.

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8 minutes ago, Dreamysyu said:

Watched the first 4 episodes of Falling of the Shield Loser. You know, for some reason, it doesn't feel like a very good adaptation of the original material. I read neither the original LN nor the manga, but it does feel a bit rushed.

Overall, didn't like this anime. Didn't really buy the character development, and there's nothing that impressed me so far. Plus, the whole storyline where "everyone hates the MC, and the story always likes to remind us of how unlucky he is, while he is actually a good guy inside", feels kind of cheesy and not very interesting to follow, at least for me personally. So, I guess, I have a strange masochistic desire to continue watching this to see if it gets any better, but, to be honest, I should probably drop it here.

Judging by your second paragraph, I'd say it is a fairly faithful adaptation.

The story, be it the original or any of its adaptations, IS fairly unimaginative, and the author gets stuck, not to say becomes obsessed, with the idea of the suffering martyr, to the point the MC gets a bit of development early on, and then absolutely nothing for practically forever. What I personally found funny is that, very early on, tons of people realise that he's not the scumbag they're told he is, and he gets tons of support and the undying loyalty of his slaves allies, but every single conflict is basically him going into a rage because "the world is unfair and everyone hates meeeeeeeeee". It's the kind of cheap drama that really gets the blood pumping when you're a teen.

To be fair, the original concept is pretty good. It's just that the author is incapable of doing anything that's not edgy af with the MC, or to have him grow past his first steps into "herohood". It probably doesn't help that the show tries its darnest to make the other heroes so uncharismatic and dumb, to the point that it's difficult to care about them both as potential enemies or allies.

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Watched the first episode of Sarazanmai.

Well, I did. :michiru: ( <- this is pretty much my reaction so far).

Would be better without anal humor though (if this is supposed to be humor).

Edit. Oh, well, looks like I missed the entire point of these scenes. Fell stupid.

Edited by Dreamysyu
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On 12/7/2019 at 8:02 PM, Dreamysyu said:

Watched the first 4 episodes of Falling of the Shield Loser. You know, for some reason, it doesn't feel like a very good adaptation of the original material. I read neither the original LN nor the manga, but it does feel a bit rushed.

Overall, didn't like this anime. Didn't really buy the character development, and there's nothing that impressed me so far. Plus, the whole storyline where "everyone hates the MC, and the story always likes to remind us of how unlucky he is, while he is actually a good guy inside", feels kind of cheesy and not very interesting to follow, at least for me personally. So, I guess, I have a strange masochistic desire to continue watching this to see if it gets any better, but, to be honest, I should probably drop it here.

I'll be a good person and save you some hours of your life. 

The first 4 episodes were the only decent part of the show. If you didn't enjoy even that, don't bother. It gets much, much worse.

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