big bad birtha's suggestion box 2: secret passions unveiled

[kaisap112]

I had a bigger issue with the baseball bloodbath scene. It was way more out of place than the accidental pantyshot.

[Talon87]

HorribleSubs declares they are a fansub group, denies that they are a CrunchyRoll ripping group.

A friend of mine brought this to my attention at lunch the other day. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. HorribleSubs? Not a CR ripping group? That's what they're famous for: being the premiere CR ripping group. Hell: I remember them even poking fun at CR in the past when CR got angry with them, saying how they were going to keep on ripping CR's files and there was nothing CR could do to prevent it. Here's an example from June 2013 where they admit, verbatim, to ripping their files from CrunchyRoll. And here's one from November 2012 where they admit to ripping files from Hulu Plus. So their announcement on October 6 leaves me scratching my head, wondering if this is a case of an amateur lawyer having fun with Legalese or what. 'Cause like, his choice of words is juuuuuuuuuuuuuuuust such that he never technically says that they don't rip files (and scripts) from CrunchyRoll. Just that they on occasion do more than that, that they aren't exclusively a CR ripping team.

Make of it what you will.

[Doppleganger]

I can't really make anything of it, since when I heard it I assumed it was trolling.

I'm surprised people cared so much to start this conflict! I will continue to parasite off Horrible (screw CR) and not expend money for entertainment, graces to my anonymous benefactors.

[kaisap112]

I'd be all for using CrunchyRoll and even paying for it, but their service isn't available in Finland so tough f*cking luck.

[Char]

Watched the first 2 episodes of Amagi Brilliant Park. Great watch so far.

Kanye West is the savior

[Doppleganger]

Speaking of that,

モッフル moffuru
ふもっふ fumoffu

Maybe the relation was a lot close to home than we'd thought...

Note that Moffle also ends his sentences with ~fumu. Macaron ends some with ~ron and Tirami ends everything with ~mi (which is typical of fairies, if you've ever seen PreCure).

I can't make heads or tails on the origin of Tirami's name, but I'll be macaron is based off of "macaroni". His horns resemble macaroni.

[Talon87]

Haven't seen the show but I would wager that Tirami is based off of tiramisu.

[Doppleganger]

Comyu

This has picked up. I think mentally assuming everyone in the story is retarded has helped me to weather through it. But, as a side effect, I think I've got all the major thematic elements of Jinsei wa Hikikomogomo! planned out. So, I just need to start writing that thing more seriously. I don't want to be a narcissist, but my own story is way more interesting than Comyu is!

[Doppleganger]

Amagi Brilliant Park - Episode 03

That swimsuit video was quite a hit in a certain parallel world to ABP's universe. At least, as of this writing the Episode 3 RAW on YouTube has a paltry 1,200 views...while the one in the episode itself has 210 after one day. But people have been talking about it for most of the day, I can assure one that.

Episode was fun but depressing. I thought the fight comedy was forced and hope it abates soon. Um, they need to average ~3,000 guests a day to meet the quota on the last day. With only 200-ish coming right now, that's really bad.

[Talon87]

I have a lot of shows I'd rather be watching than this next one, but a friend of mine requested I watch just the first episode such that we could discuss it. So I humored him and watched it.

Ore, Twintail ni Narimasu: this is one of those "so absurd it's comical, but is it intentionally so or not?" series. You'll spend most of the episode wondering whether they're taking the piss out of the genre (what my friend had alleged) or whether (as I believe) it's a sincere donation to the genre that stands at the peak of the genre's ridiculousness. Cutting to the chase: this is a story about a high school boy who has a thing for twin tails; his osananajimi is a tsundere twin tail; he's approached by an eccentric busty woman (from the future?) who recruits him to become a superhero; he becomes a superhero who transforms into a girl with twin tails and an Angelic Layer-esque bodysuit; and his mission is to protect the twin tails of the Earth from an alien/monster invasion, the aliens'/monsters' aim being to erase twin tails from existence.

It's silly.

Won't be watching any more of it, I think. I didn't hate it, but I'd give it a 4/10 objectively and, if I was feeling like a softie, a 5/10 on the sheer basis of its admitted "charm through absurdity." I mean, it is so silly that you can't help but to smile at times. But nah. Okay animation, non-memorable music, boring characters (thus far) ... just isn't worth my time.

Then I saw that this was airing and I decided to watch the first seven minutes or so before posting here:

Psycho-Pass S2: So the second season is airing. I still have other things I will want to circle back around first and finish. (ILYA! Also Barakamon and quite a few others.) But Psycho-Pass S2 is at least something I want to give eight episodes of my time before I decide whether to drop it or not.

Why so negative? Because here's the thing: seven minutes in and I just can't take it seriously.

Spoiler: show

Three things are killing my ability to enjoy it:

• that it's a forced sequel. It doesn't naturally pick up where the last series left off. Instead, we start off 1.5 years in the future. I don't mind timeskips, but in Psycho-Pass's case it just feels wrong to call this a sequel when what I'm watching seems to have absolutely no respect for the final five episodes of the previous season.
• the knowledge that Gen didn't write it.
• that I'm being asked to take seriously the idea of Akane as the veteran cop and the new girl as the Akane-esque rookie

That third bullet is how Season 1 ended -- and it's a perfectly fine way to end a series, which is what it originally was; but as a way to end a season, it just doesn't feel right. I can't take Serious Akane seriously, I miss Rookie Akane, etc.

Worse still ...

Spoiler: show

The second season opens with the premise that, 1.5 years later, Japan is still living in ignorant bliss under the SYBIL system. Really? To its credit, it also has the opening premise that right about now we have some free thinkers who are plotting terrorist acts against the government (i.e. against the SYBIL state), so it's not like we're being asked to watch an entire season where everyone save Akane and the Enforcers believe in SYBIL. But still. It's kind of tough to believe that, one and a half years later, Akane has neither killed herself, died in the line of duty, been killed off by SYBIl, been turned into a brain in a jar, OR fled the country. Like, she's done none of these things. 1.5 years later and she's still working for her brains-in-jars masters.

Thing is, nearly everything I have complained about is the sort of problem that can be solved within a couple of episodes. Or heck: even solved by the end of this episode. So I don't want to write off Psycho-Pass Season 2 just yet. I'm just saying: I have my concerns. :\

EDIT: The episode picks up in the end. I'll just say that this feels, so far, more like A than like B:

• you had the Star Wars movie trilogy, and then you had all of those spinoff novels that were okay but (for the most part) not as good as the films. Also, they tell their own stories; they're not closely connected to the films.
• you had LotR: the Fellowship of the Ring, and then you had LotR: the Two Towers. Total sequel, equal quality, etc.

The stories that this second season wants to explore seem neat so far ... but also seem to be an A-style sequel rather than a B-style sequel.

[Doppleganger]

I would not continue watching PSYCHO-PASS personally. There have been cam-phone uploads of people getting C&Ds from FUNimation for torrenting the second season. Cam-phone pictures because the ISPs of the people who got served the C&D shut down their internet service as a warning for violating their TOS. Added to all the other baggage of the forced sequel, and it doesn't seem worth the trouble.

Shirobako - this feels like what Bakuman is supposed to be for manga - a window into the anime creation process - but lacks the political/propaganda bent that really characterizes Bakuman. It's a fairly impartial portrayal of the hectic, time-pressured career animators have to live through.

If there's any biases in it, it's that the whole staff is Japanese and located in Tokyo (most animation is farmed to Korea or elsewhere, these days) and one third of the animation studio consists of smoking hot girls. They're probably ordinary girls in-real life whose attractiveness got boosted by virtue of the pen conversion into an "anime girl", but that doesn't invalidate that the entire female staff is smoking hot as anime girls.

There were some funny, possibly ghoulish jokes in the episode that hinted at a darker edge to what was largely PG showing of the animator. One of the male animators, reviewing the internet response to the airing of the first episode of their anime, celebrates with his boss when their girls (the main characters of the show) pass the internet's "purity test".

Inou Battle wa Nichijou-kei no Naka de

Haven't watched this yet. I downloaded it for the cute girls. I'm totally serious, the designs were a real eye-catcher. Will try it out later.

Comyu

I'm knee-deep into the second route. BBB thought it was dumb and irrelevant. I disagree...except that the characters are acting out-of-character to how they did before I entered this route. At least it's less cringe-worthy.

[Talon87]

As seen on Smogon. (Someone's avatar.)

Allow us to believe that boobs work this way. :p

[kaisap112]

Originally Posted by Talon87

As seen on Smogon. (Someone's avatar.)

Allow us to believe that boobs work this way. :p

Even if they did, that'd hurt like a motherf*cker.

[Doppleganger]

Inou Battle wa Nichijou-kei no Naka de

Cute girls might save anime, but they won't save this title. While Trigger handles the animation and it's very nice to look at in action (ironically the stills are not that great despite the character designs) this title is dull and stupid. It's like Baka + Test without the hyperactivity. I mean, that's almost a perfect analogy for how to describe this title.

Dropped. I didn't even finish the episode!

[Doppleganger]

Crimsons

Rating: Masterpiece
Recommendation status: Read it right now

This was a manga brought to my attention today, and I read through all of it. It's like an anime-ized version of a Jack London title, describing the life cycle of the red sockeye salmon from their birth in a small estuary, migration out to sea and return. The protagonists are the salmon, anthropomorphized but also seen in "realistic" shots to remind the reader it's almost like a documentary. The story is very emotional and quite terrifying at times, with some very sharply delineated themes - namely, survival, passion, and journeying. The animals posit over the purpose of life given the cruelty and terror that surrounds them, and the author manages to skillfully connect the animal's experiences to a prescription for the human race. There's a 1970's style subplot between a Tokyo University professor and his Canadian graduate student, which I did not care for but socially paralleled the experiences of the salmon journey.

The ending was a bit of a mixed bag, one part powerful, one part weird, one part distasteful. But the story was so well written I don't think I could not ding it at all.

Science-wise, it was mostly solid. The author screwed up in a few places but admitted it later. Also, this guy is from Fukushima Prefecture (the setting for Jinsei wa Hikikomogomo!) so imma figure out a way to pay tribute to this guy for writing such a smashing manga.

[Char]

On Crimsons

I read the whole thing in one go maybe a year ago? Recommend it as well. It is different and interesting.

[big bad birtha]

Update on shows, I guess. I'm on episode 3 for most of them.

Hitsugi no Chaika: Avenging Battle
Once again, no real changes. Things are picking up and getting more interesting, so I'm looking forward to each episode as they come out.

Inou Battle wa Nichijou-kei no Naka de
This show is okay. I see our resident Doppel didn't like it, which is understandable. I can't say I like it either, but it's tolerable. The sad thing is that even though this is supposed to be a harem, the main guy's interactions with the male characters are much more interesting.

Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso
IT BURNS! THE CLICHE! IT BURNS! OH GOD MAKE IT STOP! I was dumb for expecting this to be as interesting as Nodable Contabile. Strangely enough, despite how cliche the show is, it's still tolerable....kinda.

Shingeki no Bahamut - Genesis
My initial excitement has died down a little. Just a little though. It's still an entertaining action show. I just hope this show turns into a little more than that.

For 3 episodes in, my rankings are like this.

UBW = Chaika > Bahamut > Inou Battle = Shigatsu > Grisaia

[deoxys]

Recently watched Mirai Nikki. It was... okay. Totally figured out the "big twist" by about episode 15 or so, my theory was only slightly off, but yeah, kind of predictable. Not a great anime. Not a bad anime. Not a waste of time, was quite a journey and fun romp, albeit pretty damn dark, but yeah - it had a lot of problems.


SAO, what can I say, I feel basically the same about this season as I did the first season.


Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun, fun, hearty slice of life romance comedy. I'm enjoying this (haven't finished yet).


This is funny, but I only just recently finished Kill la Kill. I stopped at around episode 10 last year and only just recently marathoned it to the finish. This show... absolutely insane, crazy, stupid, STUPID, hilarious, gut-wrenchingly emotional and twisted... as weird as the story got, I fell in love with the characters. Some of the best and most memorable characters in a long time. Gonna especially miss Satsuki and Mako. Eyebrow waifu for lifeu - a shame there probably won't be a second season.


To watch -

Aldnoah. Zero, Akame ga Kill, Amagi Brilliant Park, and then... fuck if I know, I'm not really sure what's interesting and what isn't. So much anime each season, I have a hard time knowing and finding out what's worth my time and what isn't...

[Doppleganger]

Haven't seen much since the World Series.

Amagi Brilliant Park - I forgot what episode this was. It felt like filler, to be honest. It was okay with the funnies. Konami needs to continue to milk the Elementario, they're the main attraction of this show.

That sounded wrong.

[Doppleganger]

I saw this week's AgK. A bit tired at the moment but it was fun but shallow. Which is the whole series in a nutshell.

Ore, Twintail ni Narimasu - I didn't watch this, but I read Talon's review of it. It looks retarded BUT the art is some kind of delicious budget splooge. How can something so bad look so good?

[Doppleganger]

Comyu

Hoooo boy, un-divided attention is a powerful thing. After lagging forever on the second route, I cleared both the Bad End and the Good End in one gulp. Overall, it was pretty stupid. I felt like the route had potential to be its own game, really, but the characters were either un-explained, simple or painfully convoluted. It was hard to follow the reasoning and the character development left a lot to be desired.

Also, there was a H scene that I felt strongly motivated to heckle. I may have done so at one point.

[Kindrindra]

Genei wo Kakeru Taiyou

Like Madoka, this is a Deconstruction Magical Girl anime. A show that plays everything juuuuuuust straight enough for you to realize how terrifying these standard tropes are when looked at from a different angle. However, while Madoka focuses on the "growing up metaphor' aspect, Kakeru Taiyou focuses on keeping things straight with a healthy helping of realism-stuff. By about halfway through the first episode, you'll have gotten some hints about where this is going. By the time you're watching through the third episode, you'll know exactly what kind of show it is.

And oh is it glorious.

There's a quote from some famous author about how you should subject your characters to as much adversity as possible, so that your readers can see what they're truly made of. This is that kind of show. It also manages to up the ante just when you think you've gotten used to what the show can dish out. By the end of the show, there are a few questions left unanswered, but they're not quite so relevant to the main plot and, frankly, you're given enough hints that you feel your mind being fucked just by brainstorming what the answers are. While I had my misgivings at the start (dat art style thou), I ended up thoroughly enjoying the wild ride the show put me through. A wild ride which, may I say, was pretty much microcosmed by Episode 12, which literally just had me screaming "OI" at the screen THE ENTIRE EPISODE.


It also has a character whose name is almost literally Moon Moon. Yes, all the character names play Meaningful Name sooooo straight I found myself having to pause and headdesk everytime someone introduced themselves. Of course, once I'd gotten caught up in the rollarcoaster ride, I did not care anymore.

So I'm not sure I'd recommend the show unless you're in the same kind of mood you'd need to watch Madoka (a mood generally accompanied with lots of chocolate eating), but I did in fact enjoy it. I'm a sucker for underdogs.

[Doppleganger]

Amagi Brilliant Park

These last two episodes have dulled the series' shine. Anyone else think so? I thought that this episode's sexual stuff was way too forced, along with the "Sento likes Kanye" angle. That hasn't been evidenced before. It also felt formulaic coming after the "we're broke" episode.

I want to see Kanye save the park already. We can move onto more convincing character development after that. Oh, and this series to KyoAni is like Dumbo to Disney: way lower budget. It shows up a lot.

[lilboocorsola]

Originally Posted by Doppleganger

I want to see Kanye save the park already. We can move onto more convincing character development after that. Oh, and this series to KyoAni is like Dumbo to Disney: way lower budget. It shows up a lot.

I doubt we'll see Kanye save the park before the last episode. That said, the recent episode felt rather filler-y. I've kinda noticed the lower budget as well. Hopefully it picks up again soon.

[Doppleganger]

Amagi Brilliant Park - 07

Ah man, this episode was cringe-worthy. So much of it was difficult to watch. It felt far too mature and "in-your-face" than was warranted. I dislike how everyone seems to be an open pervert now, especially Toriken and Tirami. The story was much more fun when their intentions were much more subtle.

I also dislike how everyone seems to have gone full caricature, too. Kanie is arrogant and loves to give fake laughs! Moffle is aggressive! Tirami is a letch! Isuzu is aggressive and can't be honest with herself! Latifa is your stereotypical weak girl!

Akame ga Kill! is still quite fun at least.