Jump to content

What Anime are you watching now?


Ryoji

Recommended Posts

Just now, Jun Inoue said:

The manga Mr Heresyoon mentioned is infamous for an unexpected twist and controversial ending, which If It's for My Daughter, I'd Even Defeat a Demon Lord ended up doing, too.

It's a nice way of saying that both started as heartwarming stories of a bond between an orphaned/abandoned child and a foster parent and ended as creepy semi-incestous romances? :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Plk_Lesiak said:

It's a nice way of saying that both started as heartwarming stories of a bond between an orphaned/abandoned child and a foster parent and ended as creepy semi-incestous romances? :P

Spoiler

Very much so.

Funny enough, people try to defend the second work by claiming that the little child never sees the protagonist as her father figure, despite that being kind of literally the point of the show.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, Jun Inoue said:
  Hide contents

Very much so.

Funny enough, people try to defend the second work by claiming that the little child never sees the protagonist as her father figure, despite that being kind of literally the point of the show.

 

Spoiler

Well, people like their creepy romance and I can't say I'm always 100% innocent in this regard (although not really with child/parent plots, there's pretty much no possibility for those to not be fundamentally messed up). But the anime adaptations have a pretty easy job of just taking the good parts of the source material and stopping before the weird stuff truly kicks in. If Usagi Drop managed to do that, maybe UchiMusume also can restrain itself well-enough. :>

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Plk_Lesiak said:
  Hide contents

Well, people like their creepy romance and I can't say I'm always 100% innocent in this regard (although not really with child/parent plots, there's pretty much no possibility for those to not be fundamentally messed up). But the anime adaptations have a pretty easy job of just taking the good parts of the source material and stopping before the weird stuff truly kicks in. If Usagi Drop managed to do that, maybe UchiMusume also can restrain itself well-enough. :>

 

Spoiler

Well, I'd say I tend to be 100% fine with it... as long as it's 'porn'. People can get off to whatever they want.

But I personally dislike it when it happens in a narrative work. Like, in these examples, this development completely messes up and ruins their story as a family by recontextualizing the entire work from familial love to 'raising your own waifu'. In Usagi Drop it was especially weird because both father and daughter had very clear 'romantic' interests that the story was pushing (a widow - or was it a divorcee- and her son), then it does some crazy time skip and the daughter is getting ready to marry her own father. The author ruined his own story for a fetish.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So I went on and concluded Machikado Mazoku. I recall watching the first episode and thinking... not terribly much of it. It was good, but didn't really push me to continue watching. That's why I stopped a few months ago when I watched the first episode. That said, now that I restarted it the other day, I quickly finished the whole thing! It turned out to be so good!

Spoiler

It's wonderfully heart-warming to see our weak protagonist grow stronger and becoming healthier. Getting along more with people, and slowly becoming good friends with her 'enemy'. At the same time, the enemy in question, which never showed herself to be particularly antagonistic, also came to have some of her many heavy burdens relieved by the protagonist.

This kind of stuff is just so good! I really like happy shows about people growing closer and healing and becoming better that don't focus on the bad things in their past or present, but on surpassing them. I feel like there's a whole genre just for me that I've somehow managed to generally miss.

That said, this is a comedy and I really like comedies, so...

Over the course of the series, a narrator is her continuously going "Do your best, [Name]/[Nickname] at the protagonist.", which serves as a generally funny commentary to end segments with. However, with one of the final reveals of the series, a possibility arises... This narrator may be her father, which she hasn't seen since childhood!

The best thing about this series, besides generally funny moments, is how heart-warming it is.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Mr Poltroon said:

So I went on and concluded Machikado Mazoku. I recall watching the first episode and thinking... not terribly much of it. It was good, but didn't really push me to continue watching. That's why I stopped a few months ago when I watched the first episode. That said, now that I restarted it the other day, I quickly finished the whole thing! It turned out to be so good!

  Reveal hidden contents

It's wonderfully heart-warming to see our weak protagonist grow stronger and becoming healthier. Getting along more with people, and slowly becoming good friends with her 'enemy'. At the same time, the enemy in question, which never showed herself to be particularly antagonistic, also came to have some of her many heavy burdens relieved by the protagonist.

This kind of stuff is just so good! I really like happy shows about people growing closer and healing and becoming better that don't focus on the bad things in their past or present, but on surpassing them. I feel like there's a whole genre just for me that I've somehow managed to generally miss.

That said, this is a comedy and I really like comedies, so...

Over the course of the series, a narrator is her continuously going "Do your best, [Name]/[Nickname]!" at the protagonist., which serves as a generally funny commentary to end segments with. However, with one of the final reveals of the series, a possibility arises... This narrator may be her father, which she hasn't seen since childhood!

The best thing about this series, besides generally funny moments, is how heart-warming it is.

Eh it was a yawnfest for the first few episodes and I gave up. Perhaps I should go back and give it a chance?

/me checks watchlist and sees 18 current shows.

Perhaps not.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...

Inspired by the minor vampire theme in Karakara I've decided to finally give a try to a trashy shounen series I had on my to-watch for ages, that is Strike the Blood. It was... Well, like any other harem show really. There were a few things that I definitely liked: the vampires were implemented with no emo BS. The protagonist is OP but flawed enough in his handling of his powers that he gets his ass handed to him on a regular basis, rarely being in actual danger, but having to work for his victories. Also, every time he does win it is very much a team effort, with nearly heroines contributing in meaningful ways. Also, the obvious main heroine is how a complete dumpster fire like it's often the case. The magic system also felt pretty clean at first and the arc-based story structure was kind of refreshing, always building towards something...

But then, around the half of the first season, all the typical problems of harem shows came in force. The harem expanded at an absurd pace with girls getting less and less development. The story started introducing arbitral powers and new forms of magic when in an overly-convenient fashion. The was no real character progression for either the protagonist of the main girl. After episode 19 I simply lost all interest and I'll probably stop there for good. 6/10

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OK, so I had to cancel a trip I've planned months ago and was extremely looking forward to because of the coronavirus mess, so I'm depressed as fuck and indulging in self-pity-driven anime binging. Looking for something slightly more to my taste than harem crap I've watched Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry and... Well, it more or less delivered on the romance, which is refreshing, and the fights were really intense, but the plot was so paper-thin... Very little beyond empty cartoon villains and forced drama. Plus the main girl was just a walking cliche. I really hoped it would capitalize more on the funny-sounding premise (the one with first duel and the loser becoming other person's slave) or do something a bit more fresh, but the structure of the story was very standard and the chemistry between the main couple pretty weak. Hate SAO as much as you want, but I never felt that I didn't believe Kirito and Asuna as a couple. Even the weird "family" part made sense in the confusing and desperate situation of being trapped in that VR hell. Here... Let's just say, I don't think I'll remember much of this show a few months from now. 7/10

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, Plk_Lesiak said:

OK, so I had to cancel a trip I've planned months ago and was extremely looking forward to because of the coronavirus mess, so I'm depressed as fuck

You are not alone in that. Exactly the same thing happened to me. Lost about $600 in the process. I guess I should also watch some comedic anime or something. :makina:

By the way, the vampire talk made me realize how much I want to see my favorite Japanese WN to have an anime adaptation. I know it's not popular, and even the commercial LN release in Japan is pretty much dropped, but I can dream, right?..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, Dreamysyu said:

You are not alone in that. Exactly the same thing happened to me. Lost about $600 in the process. I guess I should also watch some comedic anime or something.

Harsh... I've only lost around $180, but basically the next opportunity to make this happen will be next March, so I'm extremely frustrated... And I'll be watching a lot of anime while stuck at home for the next few weeks... >.>

11 hours ago, Dreamysyu said:

By the way, the vampire talk made me realize how much I want to see my favorite Japanese WN to have an anime adaptation. I know it's not popular, and even the commercial LN release in Japan is pretty much dropped, but I can dream, right?..

Right, I think you talked about this one in other threads too? This could make for a cool anime... Or a cool VN. :3

Anyway, looking for the emotional comfort of mindless entertainment, I've finished the first season of Strike the Blood after all, along with that season's OVA. It... Was more of the same, but thankfully with a few fun developments between the protagonist and the main girl. While it's still hardly conclusive romance, at least it made her status of protag's future partner very explicit and I at least can appreciate the lack of pointless baiting there.

Also, I've watched SAO: Ordinal Scale, which was like the most SAO thing ever. Dumb, loud, occasionally melodramatic and once more showing that Kirito's magical protagonist powers can surpass any challenge if he bothers to try. And as usual, I really like it. It's the kind of nonsense that just flaws perfectly and throws flashy pictures at you in a way that makes you ignore the obvious stupidity of most things that actually happen. Outside of that cursed Fairy Dance arc, I still can't dislike SAO due to its sheer entertainment factor. And Kirito/Asuna relationship which is pretty refreshing as a constant axis of the story. I even think Asuna's character was handled better than SAO season 2, for the most time being more proactive and reasonable than Kirito. 8/10

Now, for the next thing I watch I'll probably go a little bit more adventurous. Bakemonogatari, let's see if I can stomach you after all...

Edited by Plk_Lesiak
Link to comment
Share on other sites

So, enjoying that new hikikomori livestyle I was always striving for, I was able to go through the first half of Bakemonogatari... And I was positively surprised. I still consider Kizumonogatari, which was my unfortunate introduction to the franchise, extremely obnoxious and pointlessly grotesque. But so far, Bake turned out to be a lot less whimsical and unsettling than I've expected it to be. The arcs are actually pretty cohesive, while I was worried the show will meander pointlessly. The characters are fun in their over-the-top silliness and their gimmicks are interesting. Experience of Kizu also made me pretty comfortable with the visual gimmicks and abstract storytelling the series relies on and once more, I kind of enjoy them more here than I did in the movies (actually, these were among the very few things I actually liked about the Kizu movies, after a short adjustement period).

Also, surprisingly enough, the fanservice didn't bother me much so far, mostly because it was flowing pretty decently with the overall story. I absolutely abhored how detached and pointless it felt in Kizu. The whole character of Hanekawa felt like fanservice prop there, barely having any other role in the story. Anyway, this series feels very promising, while the extreme praise Kizumonogatari gets still undermines what is left of my faith in humanity. :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, Plk_Lesiak said:

So, enjoying that new hikikomori livestyle I was always striving for, I was able to go through the first half of Bakemonogatari... And I was positively surprised. I still consider Kizumonogatari, which was my unfortunate introduction to the franchise, extremely obnoxious and pointlessly grotesque. But so far, Bake turned out to be a lot less whimsical and unsettling than I've expected it to be. The arcs are actually pretty cohesive, while I was worried the show will meander pointlessly. The characters are fun in their over-the-top silliness and their gimmicks are interesting. Experience of Kizu also made me pretty comfortable with the visual gimmicks and abstract storytelling the series relies on and once more, I kind of enjoy them more here than I did in the movies (actually, these were among the very few things I actually liked about the Kizu movies, after a short adjustement period).

Also, surprisingly enough, the fanservice didn't bother me much so far, mostly because it was flowing pretty decently with the overall story. I absolutely abhored how detached and pointless it felt in Kizu. The whole character of Hanekawa felt like fanservice prop there, barely having any other role in the story. Anyway, this series feels very promising, while the extreme praise Kizumonogatari gets still undermines what is left of my faith in humanity. :P

I tried watching Bake at some point, but I was almost immediately turned off due to some tasteless fanservice right at the beginning of the first episode, so decided to read the LN instead, which I got in the recent Humble bundle. As for the LN, my personal problem is that I simply hate the character of Senjougahara, and especially how the MC (forgot his name) reacts to her gimmicks. In the end, I just ended up dropping it pretty early because of that. I'll probably give it another chance at some point, but, I don't know, maybe I'm just tired of these over the top anime-style stories. :vanilla: I've noticed that most Japanese stories that I enjoy recently feel a lot more heavily inspired by Western fiction than the typical stuff. Makes me wonder if I should move on to something else.

On 3/13/2020 at 8:36 PM, Plk_Lesiak said:

but basically the next opportunity to make this happen will be next March, so I'm extremely frustrated...

Well, that sucks. I'm personally pretty free nowadays, so I'll probably be able to travel as soon as this situation changes. Still, I was pretty resolved to spend this year traveling a lot to break away from my depressive lifestyle, and I finally have some free money to afford that, so this situation feels incredibly frustrating.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 15.03.2020 at 12:45 PM, Dreamysyu said:

I tried watching Bake at some point, but I was almost immediately turned off due to some tasteless fanservice right at the beginning of the first episode, so decided to read the LN instead, which I got in the recent Humble bundle. As for the LN, my personal problem is that I simply hate the character of Senjougahara, and especially how the MC (forgot his name) reacts to her gimmicks. In the end, I just ended up dropping it pretty early because of that. I'll probably give it another chance at some point, but, I don't know, maybe I'm just tired of these over the top anime-style stories. :vanilla: I've noticed that most Japanese stories that I enjoy recently feel a lot more heavily inspired by Western fiction than the typical stuff. Makes me wonder if I should move on to something else.

I still have such a hard time even imagining how Monogatari could work as a light novel, considering how much the shows rely on abstract visuals, cuts etc... You can do that in manga, but it must require some extremely creative writing to pull off a similar feel with mostly just text. :o

Anyway, I'm nearly done with Bake and my previous impressions mostly stayed, it's really enjoyable in its craziness. I'm also on the exact opposite side when it goes to Senjougahara, I think she's a really cool partner for Araragi and her behaviour makes the romance pretty fun. As harsh as she might be in her words, she's really supportive towards Araragi and encourages his altruistic nature despite also being burdened by the messes he creates. Also, there was a full-on romantic episode suddenly breaking up the Hanekawa's arc and I really enjoyed how impactful it was and how it touched on some really serious themes, like Senjougahara's traumatic past being something she needs time to overcome before she can fully commit to the relationship. Monogatari formula is so wacky that it's often dangerous to dig for actual meaning in it, but the overall story is far from being random nonsense. There's some kind of balance here between the never-ending formal experiment and genuine storytelling, which is more than I'm willing to say about most "avant-garde" popculture. :P And the form itself is deeply unique, always introducing something new and subverting your expectations. Also, the production values and attention to detail are amazing... I mean, I'm not sure I've seen as many interesting elements in the OPs of all other shows I've seen as I did in just Bake.

The fanservice is still the biggest downside, particularly when it suddenly explodes from nowhere with middle-schoolers being the focus. There were situation when I could look past it, like the tension between the protagonist and Nadeko, who clearly has a crush on him, but in most cases it's just deeply off-putting. Also, I imagine for some the core formula itself will be absolutely unwatchable, but I dig it. If not for the awful horniness and some grotesque violence that I'm not sure serves any purpose, I'd rate it extremely high. As it is now... 8/10.

I'll probably take a break before I go to Nise though. This show is somewhat exhausting and I'll probably switch to some massive trash to laugh at and give my brain time to regenerate. Beatless maybe? :nico:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm halfway through W'z, the Hand Shakers sequel. I still don't understand how this show became a thing, but damn, it has all kind of stuff. Yuri bating. Yaoi baiting. Wierd romantic tension between the new protagonist and first show's main couple. All the absurdly cliched and dumb characters from the first series in supporting roles...

Pretty much, it's everything you would expect a Hand Shakers sequel to be, but infinitely more competent. I mean, it's still clunky, visually inconsistent and at times plain ugly, but words can hardly express how barfy and cheap the original was. Even the writing and characters are a major improvement, despite by no means being good – it's a step-up from the ultimate trainwreck of all time to just being amusingly bad. And I somehow find it very fun to watch, probably because of the memories of Hand Shakers being so very much alive in my mind. I'm not sure any bad anime will ever be able to beat it and while this second season is not the same, it satisfies my twisted nostalgia. Maybe it wasn't a mistake after all...?

5/10 so far, and I think it'll stay there. But the joy of seeing arguably the worst anime in history spawning an actual franchise? Priceless. :meguface:

Edit: After finishing W'z, I have to lower my score to 4/10, because some of the new characters proved incredibly obnoxious and once more, the rules of the world and character motivations were all over the place. To be honest, I still don't really know what was the main villain's deal... But I know that the heavily-implied yaoi ending he got with his butler was one of the most glorious things I've seen in crap-tier anime. :D Generally, the second half of the season was a little bit more of the side of "plain dumb" and less "amusingly bizarre". Still, I have no regrets about watching it, as the "so bad it's good" entertainment factor was never fully gone.

Edited by Plk_Lesiak
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nisemonogatari... Was interesting, but not as memorable as the first season. There was both less to hate in it (macabre and fanservice were kind of toned down) and less to love (openings were nowhere as catchy and stories were less focused and memorable, occasionally devolving into meandering nonsense I was wary of when approaching this series). I'm also still wondering whether the visuals and the general flow of the series were a little saner or I've just got used to it to this degree... But I think they actually are less over-the-top and I was missing the constant innovation and craziness of Bake. Maybe it's just not doable in the long run, but if I had to give something to Kizu movies is they managed to keep things fresh despite how late in the series' life they showed up...

What I liked about it still is the relationship between Araraki and Senjougahara. People write a lot of weird shit about who is the "main girl" and the romance in Monogatari, but so far it's really straightforward and consistent. With all the harem vibes in this series, Senjougahara's place as Araraki's partner is never really threatened and is developing over time, even when it's not the focus of the current arcs. I'm actually very positively surprised by this and it makes me much more eager to continue watching. I'm not super impressed by the Araraki sisters and their stories, but as the focus is soon going to the "core" heroines, I'm excited to see more... 7.5/10

Edit: And Nekomonogatari: Kuro was... OK. I really don't get what they're going for with the overall lore of this setting sometimes and this arc was spoiled a bit too heavily in the flashbacks to be genuinely interesting. Also, Hanekawa is my least favourite of the core characters at this point. Kind of a shame that Monogatari Series: Second Season opens with another arc of hers, but at least I don't know what that one is about... 7/10

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been watching Oregairu for the first time. So far, I'm enjoying it and I hope it gets better as it goes on. Just out of curiosity I watched some scenes of the sequel and the overall quality seems to improve a lot. I hope to have it finished before the new season begins.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Been watching Darwin's Game and caught up with the Crunchyroll release. So far it's a surprisingly enjoyable take on the death game genre where the main characters are actually likable, the action's good and the moment you see what special ability the main character gets you'll instantly know the creator of this series is probably a Fate fan :sachi:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...